The Van Hool Double Deck accommodates all

dapted for the U.S. market, the ADA-compliant two-door vehicle stands 13-feet high — 18 inches taller than the standard motorcoach with seating for up to 81 passengers. Standard features include cameras, seatbelts and escape hatches, onboard restroom, rear stairs and luggage area.

Best practices grow from downturn

Last year this column rang like a warning from Chicken Little, sounding the alarm for the inescapable recession coming down the pike and offering the good advice gleaned from industry leaders on how to brace for the year ahead.

Tough work, but some people get to do it

It is essentially unreasonable in this day and age to think an affluent demographic will choose to ride a coach on trips more than a few hundred miles.

The Freedom Bus rolls with a little help from its friends

As pastor of the Terrestrial Temple Church of God In Christ, Muncie, IN, and an active member of the Martin Luther King Dream Team, James Lawson has a keen sense of history and how it can inspire and motivate young people.

FirstGroup America commits to a smaller carbon footprint

Environmental consciousness has a definite effect on corporate policy. Corporate social responsibility programs are transforming forward-looking companies like FirstGroup America, challenging leadership to take a hard look at fuel choices, driving techniques and improved vehicle technology.

Sorry, a rogue is no reincarnate

The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) uses the word reincarnated to describe out of service operators who have returned in no better shape than when they left to do business under a new identity.

Chase down that cracked air filter indicator

For about a week I had been hearing a high-pitched whistling noise coming from an S-60 engine. I inspected it and drove it personally, but was still unable to locate the source. With a little more probing, I eventually diagnosed the disturbing noise as coming from the air intake system on the engine.

BCI put to the test

It has been almost three years since Bus and Coach International (BCI) debuted the Falcon 45 at the UMA Expo in New Orleans. Now with close to 120 units in the United States accruing more than 5,000,000 fleet miles much of the skepticism surrounding the introduction of this new full-sized motorcoach has ebbed.

Coaches carry the pride

Years ago when part-time driver Gene Mitchell was the crew chief for Purdue University Bus Department, he coined the saying, Anyone can get a bus anywhere, but no one can buy the kind of service that comes from someone who truly cares.

Lamers Bus Lines always ready, always there for the National Guard

A little after the fact, but still a relevant case study on the logistics involved in troop movements. Lamers Bus Lines made history this past winter in Wisconsin when it moved a total of 3,500 National Guard troops over the course of eight hours.

The soldiers of the 32nd Brigade were headed to Camp Blanding, FL, to receive training prior to their eventual 11-month assignment in Iraq.