Sign in

Private company

Bill's Bus

Logo: bills-bus.com3

Private bus service in Santa Barbara, California, United States

Bill's Bus is a privately owned commercial bus service that runs from Isla Vista, California to Goleta and Santa Barbara bars, picking up and dropping off college students. As an effort to prevent drunk driving, rides have sometimes been sponsored by local bars and UC Santa Barbara's Associated Students. It is popular among students, with multiple buses running on Thursdays and other busy nights.2 Wikipedia text CC BY-SA 4.0

Last updated Oct 21, 2026.

Overview

See how the biggest companies compare on our leaderboards

Bill's Bus
Photo: Jay Freeman, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons5

Bill's Bus is a privately owned commercial bus service that runs from Isla Vista, California to Goleta and Santa Barbara bars, picking up and dropping off college students. As an effort to prevent drunk driving, rides have sometimes been sponsored by local bars and UC Santa Barbara's Associated Students. It is popular among students, with multiple buses running on Thursdays and other busy nights.2

The story

William J. Singer founded Bill's Bus in 1991, when he was 19 years old. In 2002 the service was briefly suspended, and in a related news article, Singer said "There’s no money in it...I’m trying to do something that will make a difference." The business faced financial trouble in 2003, and in 2004 Singer sold it to Craig Jenkins, owner of the Velvet Jones bar in downtown Santa Barbara.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the service stopped operating in March 2020. Faced with an increase to their insurance premiums, the company organized a GoFundMe to stay in operation.

From Wikipedia’s article on Bill's Bus, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4

Sources

The numbers on this page point here. Each one links to the record it came from.

  1. 1
  2. 2
  3. 3
    Company websiteBill's Bus logo
  4. 4
  5. 5