SILVER LAKE, Ind. — Fortunate students at a few Indiana districts can now truly ride in style while traveling on activity trips.

In fact, they might not even realize they're on a school bus.

The luxurious vehicle in question is actually a Thomas Built Saf-T-Liner HDX school bus, but it functions and feels like a motorcoach.

Airline-style seats, air conditioning, DVD players with flip-down screens and overhead storage racks are among the amenities. To ensure a smooth ride, air-ride suspension has been added and the engine and transmission have been upgraded.

Kerlin Bus Sales in Silver Lake has sold six of the customized buses this year. The Metropolitan School District of Washington Township in Indianapolis bought three of them.

Norman Foust, director of transportation and security services at the district, summed up the vehicles' appeal: "We get the comfort of a coach with the price and safety of a school bus."

Motorcoaches, which can cost in the ballpark of $500,000, were out of the district's price range. But Foust said that customizing the school buses only added between $30,000 and $40,000 to the vehicles' normal cost.

The buses are used for sports competitions, field trips, band performances and other out-of-town activities. This summer, pupils from one elementary school went on a three-day, 500-mile tour of Indiana in two of the buses.