Bring on the Funk -- Bus
A fun persona, and a much bigger niche than you realize
If a funky friend tells you that those super-painted Funk Buses shuttling to and from beaches, bars, bashes, and bachelorette parties are rolling expressions of a multi-million-dollar business with more than 100 year-round employees, you might wonder what weird funkiness your friend is into.
But your friend would be right.
Raphael Richter is in the Funk Bus driver’s seat, 38, gregarious, entrepreneurial, smart and intuitive, now living in Truro and known around Provincetown due to family roots and time served on that town’s selectboard -- grandmother famous in local counterculture, father a town doc, mother raised there. His young public persona expanded with his decision to start driving an old Mercedes cab around town beginning in 2003, after he graduated from high school.
The Mercedes Cab company he slid into was “Flinstoney, in a good way,” smiles Richter. This was long before Uber and Lyft, a traditional on-demand taxi business, showing up at a lot of 1 am bar closings. That grew to seven ’Benzes rolling around the Outer Cape.
While Raphael was helping create “Shakespeare on the Cape” in 2005, a troupe that performed multiple seasons, he also was taking over the company that purchased competitor Cape Cab in 2008 and by 2009 was a 30-car fleet.
“I was always looking around, buying old vehicles,” Richter recalls. “I saw a limo, seven seats, that was cool. Then three mini-vans, and then on Craig’s List there was a 14-passenger bus in New Hampshire that was like $3000 or $4000, just a yellow school bus that could take larger groups. Interest in that exploded, people loved it.” Soon he tracked down another pair of buses, “not even $10,000 for two.”
Long-time driver and friend Michael Duplessis, whose drag queen stage name was Pearline, came up with the idea to paint the buses in outrageous ways; emphasis on pink like his stage presence (long before Barbie mania), eyelashes around headlights, leopard patterns, whatever. “The Funk Bus” seemed right.
“Other services focused on luxury, fancy limos and such,” says Raphael, “but for us it was more like life events, groups wanting to party together and not worry about driving. It was a simple concept on the surface but not easy to translate.”
Meanwhile, Wellfleet’s Beachcomber club was getting more popular by the minute. Richter contracted with the owners to create a shuttle service that ferried people from a nearby public parking lot to the club in the dunes, a steady gig that solidified the Funk summer – and created a big marketing/public relations splash.
That demand has diminished as town and Seashore worked to cut down on drinking crowds at Cahoon Hollow, but remains in the mix. Charters still make the funky summer trek to and from the ’Comber, partying in clusters, no designated driver necessary.
Now the Funk scene has diversified, staying ahead of Uber and Lyft that grabbed the old-school on-demand taxi business. With the recent purchase of locally-owned Cape Destinations in Harwich, itself 25 years in business, Richter added 10 more trolleys that tour “downtowns” from Ptown to Chatham to Falmouth and make for attractive wedding logistics. The company has a school bus contract for Cape Cod Tech students, black car SUV service and charters for events luxurious as well as funky.
The fleet is 160 vehicles, with a three-bay garage for in-house repairs and maintenance. This allows Richter to think about more school contracts — this fall has seen a serious crisis in public school transportation due to a lack of drivers — Regional Transportation Authority routes, and non-emergency medical transport (Richter did a lot of that during COVID).
But the Funk persona remains. And like many Cape business people, Richter muses about how he can extend his season, add cash flow, support people and rolling stock when the scene quiets down.
“The Funk Bus thrives off a core destination,” he muses, “but not really Boston, people want something fancier when they’re going to clubs and events in the city. So where’s a market? What might be the next step?”
He’s come up with an idea:
“Salem. Salem is Halloween, five weekends, that’s it. I think it’s a good possibility.” And the company’s flamboyant presentation suits the holiday’s modern spirit.
Looks like Funk is heading over the bridges.
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Always loved seeing the Funk Bus roll by, and wondered about it. Thanks!