Coach USA
Coach USA LLC is a holding company for various American transportation service providers providing scheduled intercity bus service, local and commuter bus transit, city sightseeing, tour, yellow school bus, and charter bus service. It is owned by Variant Equity Advisors.[1]
Coach USA's operations today consist primarily of scheduled services in Greater New York and Chicagoland, with a number of charter operations near Pittsburgh and scheduled operations in the Southern Tier of New York and southern Wisconsin.
Coach USA also operates a no frills, low cost intercity service called Megabus.
History
Coach USA traces its history back to 1955, as Community Coach, when the Gallagher family bought a company in Paramus, New Jersey, and acquired other companies in New Jersey, which would become subsidiaries of Coach USA at its inception in 1995, when Frank Gallagher sold the firm to Notre Capital Ventures.
At its inception, Coach USA consisted of six companies: Suburban Trails, Community Coach, Leisure Line, and Adventure Trails in New Jersey, Gray Line of San Francisco, and Arrow Stage Line in Arizona (not to be confused with unaffiliated Arrow Stage Lines).
Listing on the NASDAQ in 1996 under ticker TOUR, and later switching to the New York Stock Exchange under stock ticker CYI, Coach USA, under the leadership of Richard Kristinik, would expand quickly, acquiring companies throughout the United States in the next three years to expand to over 5,000 buses and many more taxicabs, as its acquisitions also included yellow cab firms throughout the United States.
In 1998, Kristinik retired, and Larry King succeeded him. Stagecoach Group would purchase Coach USA in mid-1999 for $1.88 billion US.
Under the helm of the original owner of Coach USA's predecessor, Frank Gallagher, Coach USA under Stagecoach ownership, sought to continue expansion, but the company, hit hard by the loss of charter business after the September 11, 2001 attacks, caused Stagecoach to crash to a loss of over ₤524 million GBP, at which point Stagecoach, having lost over 70 percent of its investment and now under the leadership of its founder, Brian Souter after the downturn cost the previous CEO of Stagecoach his job, announced that all of the taxicab operations and most of Coach USA's subsidiaries were for sale, as Stagecoach sought to focus mostly on operations in the northeastern United States, where Coach USA today maintains subsidized transit operations and scheduled service.
Retrenching, Stagecoach sold its companies in New England to Peter Pan Bus Lines. Companies in the Southwest, West, and Rocky Mountain regions, along with company headquarters, were sold to Kohlberg Kravis Roberts to form Coach America, and companies in the southeastern United States were sold to Linconshire Management, rebranded as American Coach Lines or under the previous names of subsidiaries, all at heavy losses. The contract transit division was flipped to competitor First Transit. As a result of the sale of most of Coach USA's operations, the company's headquarters were relocated from Texas to the Community Coach garage in Paramus, New Jersey. [2]
Stagecoach sold its North American division to Variant Equity Advisors in 2019.
Operators
Current
The following companies are owned and operated under the Coach USA brand.[3] Subsidiary brands operated out of the same physical location are also listed.
- All West Coachlines - Sacramento, CA/Reno, NV
- American Coach Lines of Atlanta - Norcross, GA
- Butler Motor Transit - Butler, PA
- Central Cab Company - Waynesburg, PA
- Coach Canada - Peterborough, ON
- Coach USA Chicago - Chicago, IL
- Coach USA Erie - Erie, PA
- Coach USA Elko - Elko, NV
- Community Coach - Paramus, NJ
- Country Road Tours - Clarksburg, WV
- Dillon’s Bus Service - Hanover, MD
- Gad-About Tours - Columbiana, OH
- Gray Line New York - New York, NY
- Kerrville Bus Company - San Antonio, TX
- Lakefront Lines - Cleveland, OH
- Lenzner Coach Lines - Sewickley, PA
- Megabus
- Olympia Trails - Elizabeth, NJ
- Pacific Coast Sightseeing and Tours - Anaheim, CA
- Rockland Coaches - Westwood, NJ
- Short Line Bus Company - Mahwah, NJ
- Chenango Valley Bus Lines - Binghamton, NY
- Hudson Transit Corporation - NY
- Hudson Transit Lines - NY
- Suburban Transit - New Brunswick, NJ
- Tri State Coach Lines/United Limo - Gary, IN
- Van Galder Bus Company - Janesville, WI
- Wisconsin Coach Lines - Waukesha, WI
Former
The following is an incomplete list of companies formerly owned by Stagecoach Group, or affiliated with the Coach USA brand.
- Airocar Inc.
- Arrow Line
- Bonanza Bus Lines
- Philadelphia International Airport shuttle
- Red & Tan Tours of Boca Raton
All-Time Roster
| Fleet Number(s) | Thumbnail | Year | Manufacturer | Model | Engine | Transmission | Operator | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 575 | 2009 | MCI | J4500 | Cummins ISM | ZF AS Tronic | |||
| 1300-1309 | 1999 | Nova Bus | LFS | Detroit Diesel Series 40 | Allison B400R |
| ||
| 4969 - 4976 | 2004 | Nova Bus | LFS | Allison B400R |
| |||
| 20620? | 2009 | MCI | D4505 | Cummins ISM | ZF AS Tronic |
| ||
| 53266 | 
|
? | MCI | 102-DL3 | Wheelchair lift equipped. | |||
| 63536 | ? | MCI | J4500 | Central Cab | ||||
| 64789 | ? | MCI | J4500 | Lenzner | ||||
| 65277 | ? | MCI | J4500 |
External Links
References
- ↑ [1] Wikipedia
- ↑ [2] Wikipedia
- ↑ Contact Information, Coach USA, retrieved 05-31-2017.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Coach USA orders 45 MCI coaches, mcicoach.com, retrieved on 09-01-27