The motorcoach industry is peppered with proof that family-owned and operated businesses can take management transitions in stride. There may be differences in management styles and temperaments, advances in technology and the changing face of today’s economy to contend with, but with proper steps and a little planning, the process can strengthen both the company and the family.
Public and private coach operators across the country are vying for and receiving federal funding under the recently passed American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), more commonly known as stimulus funding.
There is a lot of talk these days about shovel-ready projects. While it would be difficult to actually find a shovel on the production line of the Motor Coach Industries (MCI) factory in Pembina, ND, it is fair to say the nearly 250 workers at that facility are wrench-ready.
The hefty $25,000 donation from the Tennessee Motor Coach Association and the $10,000 North Carolina operators put together should send a strong signal that this industry is starved for attention and anxious for the exposure the Motorcoach Council promises to provide.
A standing joke at the headquarters of the Stagecoach Group, Perth, Scotland, is how the staff must be ready on Monday mornings to hear of some new project that co-founder and chief executive Brian Souter has dreamed up over the weekend. The man is always thinking of novel ideas to drive the company forward, and many of them have been very successful. Stagecoach is without doubt the most innovative bus operator in the United Kingdom.
Based on the success and growing popularity of Megabus, and the obvious demand for low fare express coach service in cities throughout the Northeast Corridor, Coach USA, Paramus, NJ, presents Dragon Bus as its newest iteration on intercity service.
It is not very often a motorcoach gets a spot on primetime television. But on ABC’s Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, the show just would not be complete without its bus.