Privacy policy

The information you give us

When you ask for a rental quote or request a private tour, we ask for your name, email, phone number, and the details of your trip — the date, headcount, pickup and drop-off spots, and the occasion. That's it. We ask because we can't quote a trip we know nothing about.

When you book a tour or a charter, the booking details — who's riding, when, and where — live in Farebox, the reservation system we use to keep the buses and the bookings straight.

We use standard website analytics (Vercel Analytics, with Google Analytics planned) to see things like which pages people visit and where visitors come from. That's aggregate, traffic-level stuff — it helps us figure out whether anyone actually reads the FAQ, not who you are.

What we use it for

Three things: sending you the quote you asked for, running the booking you made, and sending you messages about your trip — a confirmation, a weather raincheck, a "the bus is out front" heads-up. If we ever want to send you anything beyond that, we'll ask first, and every marketing email comes with a working unsubscribe link.

Sharing (spoiler: we don't sell it)

We share your information only with the service providers who help us run the business — the reservation system that holds your booking, the payment processor that handles your card, the email tools that deliver your confirmation. They get what they need to do their job and nothing more.

We do not sell your personal information. We do not rent it, trade it, or hand it to advertisers or data brokers. Ever. If the law ever requires us to disclose something — a valid subpoena, say — we'll comply, but that's the only other door.

Your card number never touches us

All payments run through Stripe, a payment processor used by a large chunk of the internet. Your card number goes straight to them over an encrypted connection — it never lands on our servers, and we never store it. What we see is what you'd expect a receipt to show: that you paid, how much, and for which trip.

Retention

We keep quote requests and booking records as long as we need them to serve you and to keep honest books — things like receipts and invoices stick around for tax and accounting reasons, the way they do at any business. If you asked for a quote and never booked, there's no reason for us to keep your details forever, and you can ask us to delete them any time.

It's your information

Want to see what we have on you? Want it corrected or deleted? Email help@thedetroitbus.com and a real person will take care of it within a few business days. We may keep records we're legally required to hold (tax stuff, mostly), and we'll tell you straight if that applies.

We're a small Michigan company, not a multinational with a compliance department — we don't claim any fancy certifications. What we can promise is simpler: we treat your information the way we'd want ours treated, and if you email us about it, a human answers.

One note about children

Our website and forms are meant for adults — parents, teachers, and trip planners. We don't knowingly collect personal information from children online. Kids ride our buses (that's the whole point of Ride for Ride), but the booking and the paperwork always go through a grown-up.

If this policy changes

If we change how we handle your information, we'll update this page and the effective date at the top. We won't quietly rewrite the rules behind your back.