Coach USA, LLC is a
holding company
A holding company is a company whose primary business is holding a controlling interest in the Security (finance), securities of other companies. A holding company usually does not produce goods or services itself. Its purpose is to own Share ...
for various American transportation service providers providing scheduled
intercity bus service, local and commuter bus transit,
city sightseeing, tour, yellow
school bus
A school bus is any type of bus owned, leased, contracted to, or operated by a school or school district. It is regularly used to Student transport, transport students to and from school or school-related activities, but not including a charter ...
, and charter bus service across the
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
and
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
. It is owned by the
Renco Group.
History
20th century
Coach USA traces its history back to 1922 as Lackawanna Bus and later Consolidated Bus Lines, a small outfit operating local service in
Bergen County
Bergen County is the List of counties in New Jersey, most populous County (United States), county in the U.S. state of New Jersey.[New Jersey
New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...]
, and later along the
Jersey Shore and throughout the
New York metropolitan area
The New York metropolitan area, also called the Tri-State area and sometimes referred to as Greater New York, is the List of cities by GDP, largest metropolitan economy in the world, with a List of U.S. metropolitan areas by GDP, gross metropo ...
founded by Jim and Denis Gallagher.
Community Coach, today the headquarters of Coach USA, began operations in 1958 under Denis's brother, John. The latter took over the operations of Consolidated Bus Lines, using the operating authority of another company that the Gallagher family had purchased in
Paramus, New Jersey
Paramus ( Waggoner, Walter H, ''The New York Times'', February 16, 1966. Accessed October 16, 2018. "Paramus – pronounced puh-RAHM-us, with the accent on the second syllable – may have taken its name from 'perremus' or 'perymus,' Indian for ...
, three years prior; through other acquisitions by the Gallagher family, six of these companies would become subsidiaries of Coach USA at its inception in 1995, when Frank Gallagher sold the firms to Notre Capital Ventures of Houston, Texas.
At its inception, Coach USA consisted of six companies:
Suburban Trails,
Community Coach, Leisure Line, and Adventure Trails in New Jersey, Grosvenor Bus (Gray Line of
San Francisco
San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...
) and Arrow Stage Line in
Arizona
Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...
(not to be confused with unaffiliated Arrow Stage Lines).
Listing on the
NASDAQ
The Nasdaq Stock Market (; National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations) is an American stock exchange based in New York City. It is the most active stock trading venue in the U.S. by volume, and ranked second on the list ...
in 1996 under ticker TOUR, and later switching to the
New York Stock Exchange
The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...
under stock ticker CUI, Coach USA, under the leadership of Richard Kristinik, would expand quickly, acquiring Progressive Transportation Services Inc. a contractor of municipal transit systems in
Upstate New York
Upstate New York is a geographic region of New York (state), New York that lies north and northwest of the New York metropolitan area, New York City metropolitan area of downstate New York. Upstate includes the middle and upper Hudson Valley, ...
. Coach USA acquired additional 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. During this time, the Gallagher family would start another company,
Student Transportation of America, based in the area of its Coast Cities operation.
[
In 1998, Kristinik retired, and Larry King succeeded him. Stagecoach Group would purchase Coach USA in mid-1999 for $1.88 billion.]
21st century
Under Stagecoach ownership and the helm of Frank Gallagher, the owner of its predecessors, Coach USA sought to continue expansion, but the company, hit hard by the loss of charter business after the September 11 attacks
The September 11 attacks, also known as 9/11, were four coordinated Islamist terrorist suicide attacks by al-Qaeda against the United States in 2001. Nineteen terrorists hijacked four commercial airliners, crashing the first two into ...
, caused Stagecoach to crash to a loss of over £524 million, 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 northeast, where Coach USA today maintains subsidized transit operations and scheduled service.
Retrenching, Stagecoach sold its companies in New England
New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...
to Peter Pan Bus Lines.[Coach USA sell-offs keep strategy on track '' On Stage'' issue 51 July 2003 page 4] Companies in the Southwest
The points of the compass are a set of horizontal, radially arrayed compass directions (or azimuths) used in navigation and cartography. A '' compass rose'' is primarily composed of four cardinal directions—north, east, south, and west— ...
, West
West is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from east and is the direction in which the Sun sets on the Earth.
Etymology
The word "west" is a Germanic word passed into some Romance langu ...
, and Rocky Mountain regions were sold to KKR to form Coach America, and companies in the southeastern United States were sold to Lincolnshire Management, rebranded as American Coach Lines (which was merged with Coach America in 2006), all at heavy losses. The contract transit division (Progressive Transportation) was sold 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
Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...
to the Community Coach garage in Paramus, New Jersey
Paramus ( Waggoner, Walter H, ''The New York Times'', February 16, 1966. Accessed October 16, 2018. "Paramus – pronounced puh-RAHM-us, with the accent on the second syllable – may have taken its name from 'perremus' or 'perymus,' Indian for ...
. Eight of the sold companies would be reacquired when Coach America declared bankruptcy in 2012, along with Lakefront/Hopkins in Ohio
Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
, with the intent of expanding (and in the case of California
California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...
, reintroducing) the Megabus brand.
Coach USA's operations today consist primarily of scheduled services in the New York and Chicago metropolitan area
The Chicago metropolitan area, also referred to as Chicagoland, is the largest metropolitan statistical area in the U.S. state of Illinois, and the Midwest, containing the City of Chicago along with its surrounding suburbs and satellite cities. ...
s, with a number of charter operations near Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
and scheduled operations in the Southern Tier
The Southern Tier is a geographic subregion of the broader Upstate New York, Upstate region of New York (state), New York State, geographically situated along or very near the state border with Pennsylvania. Definitions of the region vary wide ...
of New York and southern Wisconsin
Wisconsin ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest of the United States. It borders Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michig ...
, along with its Megabus operations throughout the eastern and central United States. In December 2018 Stagecoach announced it had agreed to sell all of its North American operations to Variant Equity Advisors subsidiary Project Kenwood Acquisition with the deal concluded in April 2019. Coach USA closed Chicago Trolley & Double Decker Co. and Airport Supersaver in 2019 due to years of declining sales, poorly maintained vehicles, and negative reviews. Coach USA closed Lakefront Lines in Ohio
Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
and Central Cab in Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
.
In June 2024, Coach USA filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy
Chapter 11 of the United States Bankruptcy Code ( Title 11 of the United States Code) permits reorganization under the bankruptcy laws of the United States. Such reorganization, known as Chapter 11 bankruptcy, is available to every business, w ...
, blaming corporate impact caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The company has plans to sell its assets, and is planning to sell its Megabus subsidiaries to Bus Company Holdings, a unit of the Renco Group. Avalon Transportation acquired Lenzner, Kerrville, All West and ACL Atlanta. Wynne Transportation acquired Powder River and the Butler Motor Transit shop. Peter Pan Bus Lines took over operations of the Megabus operations in the Northeast.
In November 2024, it was announced that The Renco Group had completed the purchase of the company.
Operating companies
Coach USA includes the following local operating companies:
*Dillon's Bus Service ( Hanover, MD)
*Coach USA Elko ( Elko, NV)
* Gray Line Montreal ( Montreal, QC)
* Olympia Trails ( Elizabeth, NJ)
* Coach Canada ( Toronto, ON)
* Rockland Coaches ( Westwood, NJ)
* Short Line Bus ( Chester, NY)
* Suburban Transit ( New Brunswick, NJ)
* Van Galder Bus Company ( Janesville, WI)
* Wisconsin Coach Lines/Coach USA Airport Express ( Waukesha, WI)
The following lines were not purchased by Bus Company Holdings US/Renco
*Coach Erie (Butler Motor Transit) ( Erie, PA)
* Community Coach ( Paramus, NJ)
*Country Road Tours ( Clarksburg, WV)
*Gad-About Tours (Pittsburgh, PA
Pittsburgh ( ) is a city in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, United States, and its county seat. It is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, second-most populous city in Pennsylvania (after Philadelphia) and the List of Un ...
)
* Gray Line New York Sightseeing (New York, NY
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on New York Harbor, one of the world's largest natural harb ...
)
*Mountaineer Coach ( Beaver, WV)
*Pacific Coast Sightseeing Tour and Charters/Megabus West ( Anaheim, CA)Coach USA bus drivers, mechanics vote against joining union, 118 to 73
/ref>
Megabus
Megabus Was an intercity bus service that provided discount travel services from 2006 to 2024, operating throughout the eastern, southern, midwestern, and western United States and in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Megabus is notable for using curbside bus stops instead of traditional stations, low fares starting at $1, and in recent years, operating a point-to-point network of routes with buses making few stops en route to their destination.
See also
* Peter Pan Bus Lines – owner of former Coach USA New England Division
* Student Transportation of America – another company founded by the Gallagher family
* Number 22 Hillside LLC/Corp – A bus company in which Coach USA took over operations of.
References
External links
Official website
Megabus USA
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coach Usa
Bus companies of the United States
Bus transportation in Illinois
Bus transportation in Wisconsin
Companies based in Bergen County, New Jersey
Transport companies established in 1995
Gray Line Worldwide
Intercity bus companies of the United States
Companies that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2024
Surface transportation in Greater New York
1995 establishments in the United States
Transportation companies based in New Jersey
2024 mergers and acquisitions