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The Financial Modeller
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Airlines, shipping, rail and buses

Bus company financial model, built free.

A three-statement Excel model for a bus and coach operator, built from your own figures and checked to balance.

  • Free account
  • No card
  • Usually ready within the hour

We use generative AI in parts of our process, so mistakes can occur. Every model should be checked by a person before it is relied on. Read more

The business

Runs route bus services under government gross-cost or net-cost contracts, plus school, charter, coach and rail-replacement services, with drivers, depots and a bus fleet transitioning to zero-emission vehicles.

See the sampleHow the model works

In short

  • 01

    Three linked statements

    Income statement, balance sheet and cash flow, linked in every period.

  • 02

    Valued two ways

    Discounted cash flow and trading multiples, side by side.

  • 03

    Monthly to annual

    Monthly, quarterly, half-yearly or annual periods, for up to 30 years.

  • 04

    Checked every period

    A Checks sheet shows the balance sheet balances and the cash reconciles.

The sample

The sample, as Excel draws it.

Built by the same system and checks as yours: its structure and its inputs, ready for your own figures.

Annual · 10 years · Low detail
Bus company sample model.xlsx
The How It Works sheet of the sample bus company model

The sample describes no real business. Yours is calibrated to your own figures, so its results are your business’s.

How it works

How the model works for a bus company.

  1. How it earns revenue1 formula
    Revenue (top-down) · Across the business
    RevenueUnits soldAverage price
  2. What drives its costs3 formulas
    Direct costs (top-down) · Across the business
    Cost of salesRevenuefrom statementsGross margin
    Operating expenses · Across the business
    Total FTEsOperations and deliverySales and marketingTechnologyFinance, HR and administration
    Operating expenses · Across the business
    Total average FTEsOperations and deliverySales and marketingTechnologyFinance, HR and administration
  3. What it invests in3 formulas
    Operating vehicle and vessel fleet · All fleet classes
    Fleet capital expenditureUnits boughtPrice per new unit
    Operating vehicle and vessel fleet · All fleet classes
    Fleet depreciationDepreciation of the existing fleetDepreciation of new units
    Operating vehicle and vessel fleet · All fleet classes
    Disposal proceeds (book value of units sold)Book value of existing units sold (at resale value)Book value of new units sold (at residual value)
  4. How it is funded3 formulas
    Debt
    RepaymentsScheduled repaymentsPrepayments from an equity raise and the cash sweep
    Debt
    Closing balanceOpening balanceDrawdownsRepayments
    Debt
    Interest expenseOpening balanceAll-in interest rateshare of the year
  5. How profit becomes cash3 formulas
    Working capital
    Trade receivablesRevenuefrom statementsDebtor daysDays in period
    Working capital
    InventoryDirect costs (positive)from statementsInventory daysDays in period
    Working capital
    Trade payablesCash operating costs (positive)from statementsCreditor daysDays in period
What it covers

17 parts, each one tested.

Every part is a tested building block with its own checks: yours is put together from the ones your business needs.

  • CPI forecastConsensus curve with long-run anchor
  • Revenue (top-down)Price × volume
  • Direct costs (top-down)Gross margin %
  • Operating expensesHeadcount build by function
  • Corporate costsFixed cost base indexed to CPI
  • Working capitalFull working capital
  • Income taxCorporate rate with tax losses
  • Corporate fixed assetsStraight-line over remaining life
  • DebtAmortising term loan
  • Dividends and distributionsPayout of net profit
  • Discounted cash flow valuationDCF on free cash flow to the firm
  • Multiples valuationEV / EBITDA multiple
  • LeasesLease register
  • Key-metric summaryLast-twelve-month and run-rate metrics
  • Discount rate (WACC)CAPM at target gearing
  • Terminal valuePerpetuity growth on normalised cash flow
  • Operating vehicle and vessel fleetReplacement age and growth unitsBuses, trucks, vans, ferries and ground-support equipment owned or leased by an operator — numbers, capex, depreciation, disposals and zero-emission transition.
Key numbers

The numbers it tracks.

  1. 01service kilometres
  2. 02revenue per km
  3. 03driver cost per hour
  4. 04fleet age
  5. 05zero-emission share
  6. 06EBITDA margin
Used for

What it is used for.

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Every transport and infrastructure model

Looking for a bus company financial model template? Ours arrives built for your business, with your figures in it.

See a finished model, sheet by sheet

The sample is built on illustrative figures and describes no real business. Models are calculations prepared from the information you provide. They are not financial advice and must be independently verified. See our terms.