Coach America, also doing business as American Coach Lines, was a holding company for American bus services owned by New York-based private equity firm

Fenway Partners Fenway Partners is an American private equity firm that makes leveraged buyout and growth capital investments in transportation, logistics, consumer products, and manufacturing companies in the middle market. In 2002 Fenway acquired the moldi ...

operating under the Coach America, American Coach Lines, and Gray Line names (at some locations, operating under pre-existing branding). Coach America consisted of all former

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 across the ...

operations except for the midwestern United States, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New England, along with Lakefront Lines in Ohio (acquired separately). For the nine years of its existence, Coach America was based in

Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

History

The properties that became Coach America were previously owned by Scotland-based

Stagecoach Group Stagecoach Group is a transport group based in Perth, Scotland. It operates buses, express coaches and a tram service in the United Kingdom. History Stagecoach was born out of deregulation of the British express coach market in the early ...

's Western, South Central, and Southeastern divisions. Coach America was formed in 2003 when, after Stagecoach Group evaluated its Coach USA business, it decided to retain mostly its scheduled and local transit services in the Northeast and North Central region and put the rest of the company up for sale. The South Central and West divisions of Coach USA were sold to Kohlberg & Co., LLC, with these companies continuing to use the Coach USA name for a time, but eventually changing to Coach America. The Southeast division was sold to a separate buyer,

Lincolnshire Management Lincolnshire Management is a private equity firm focused on investments and acquisitions in middle-market companies across a range of industries. In 2010, Private Equity News ranked Lincolnshire as a top ten performing private equity firm. Additi ...

, and became American Coach Lines. In 2006, Coach America purchased American Coach Lines from Lincolnshire. In November of that same year, Kohlberg sold Coach America to another private equity firm, Fenway Partners. Coach America acquired the Ohio carrier Lakefront Lines in 2008. In early 2012, following a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the assets of Coach America were sold in units. Stagecoach repurchased eight of the Coach America properties that it had sold in the 2003 divestiture, plus Lakefront Lines/Hopkins Transportation in Ohio. Tornado Bus Company bought the El Expreso operation, Professional Transportation, Inc. purchased Coach America's rail crew division, and Transportation Management Services purchased the remainder of Coach America's operations, forming

Horizon Coach Lines Horizon Coach Lines was an American motorcoach operator. It mainly provided charter bus service, but also provided tours and scheduled service. Horizon was the third-largest motorcoach operator in the United States and Canada. It was a subsidiary of ...

, except for the Los Angeles DOT contract, which was sold to

MV Transportation MV Transportation, Inc., based in Dallas, Texas., is the largest privately-owned passenger transportation contracting services firm in the United States. The company can provide paratransit, fixed-route, campus and corporate shuttles, and studen ...

; three Florida locations were later flipped to

Academy Bus Academy Bus Lines is a bus company in New Jersey providing local bus services in northern New Jersey, line-run services to/from New York City from points in southern and central New Jersey, and contract and charter service in the eastern Unite ...

. The Dallas office closed in July 2012, ending Coach America operations.

Divisions

Coach America was organized into several divisions: *Mountain: Based in Las Vegas with the Western Division office, this division consisted of subsidiaries based in Arkansas, Colorado, North Dakota, Tennessee, Ohio, and Wyoming. *Northwest: This division based in Sacramento consisted of companies based in northern California, northern Nevada, and Oregon. *South Central: This division based in Houston comprised companies based in Texas and Louisiana. *Southeast: This division, based in Orlando, consisted of the former American Coach Lines companies. *West: Based in Las Vegas, this division comprised subsidiaries based in Arizona, southern Nevada, and southern California. *Crew Transport: Provided transportation to the industrial sector, with operations in 15 states.

References

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External links

Coach AmericaAmerican Coach Lines
American companies established in 2003 Transport companies established in 2003 Transport companies disestablished in 2012 Bus companies of the United States Companies based in Dallas Privately held companies based in Texas Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2012 Transportation companies based in Texas

History

Divisions

See also

References

External links