 | |
 A Coach USA bus inNewburgh, New York | |
| Parent |
|
|---|---|
| Founded | 1995; 30 years ago (1995) |
| Headquarters | 160NJ Route 17 North Paramus, New Jersey 07652 |
| Locale | United States |
| Service area | New York,Pittsburgh andChicago metropolitan areas,Southern Tier of New York, southernWisconsin |
| Service type | Local, commuter, charter, contract, and yellow school bus service, Megabus |
| Routes | Northeast Division (excluding Megabus):
North Central Division (excluding Megabus and school buses):
|
| Operator | Various Coach USA companies, see#Operating companies below |
| Chief executive | Derrick Waters |
| Website | coachusa.com |
Coach USA, LLC is aholding company for various American transportation service providers providing scheduledintercity bus service, local and commuter bus transit,city sightseeing, tour, yellowschool bus, and charter bus service across theUnited States andCanada. It is owned by theRenco Group.
Coach USA traces its history back to 1922 as Lackawanna Bus and later Consolidated Bus Lines, a small outfit operating local service inBergen County,New Jersey, and later along theJersey Shore and throughout theNew York metropolitan area founded by Jim and Denis Gallagher.[1]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 inParamus, New Jersey, 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 ofSan Francisco) and Arrow Stage Line inArizona (not to be confused with unaffiliated Arrow Stage Lines).[2][3] Listing on theNASDAQ in 1996 under ticker TOUR, and later switching to theNew York Stock Exchange 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 inUpstate New York. Coach USA acquired additional companies throughout the United States in the next three years to expand to over 5,000 buses and many moretaxicabs, as its acquisitions also includedyellow 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.[1]
In 1998, Kristinik retired, and Larry King succeeded him.[4]Stagecoach Group would purchase Coach USA in mid-1999 for $1.88 billion.[5]
Under Stagecoach ownership and the helm of Frank Gallagher, the owner of its predecessors,[3] Coach USA sought to continue expansion, but the company, hit hard by the loss of charter business after theSeptember 11 attacks,[2] 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 thenortheast, where Coach USA today maintains subsidized transit operations and scheduled service.[6][7]
Retrenching, Stagecoach sold its companies inNew England toPeter Pan Bus Lines.[8][9] Companies in theSouthwest,West, andRocky Mountain regions were sold toKKR to formCoach America,[10] and companies in the southeastern United States were sold toLincolnshire Management, rebranded as American Coach Lines (which was merged with Coach America in 2006),[11][12] all at heavy losses. The contract transit division (Progressive Transportation) was sold to competitorFirst Transit.[9][13] As a result of the sale of most of Coach USA's operations, the company's headquarters were relocated fromTexas to theCommunity Coach garage inParamus, New Jersey. Eight of the sold companies would be reacquired when Coach America declared bankruptcy in 2012, along with Lakefront/Hopkins inOhio, with the intent of expanding (and in the case ofCalifornia, reintroducing) the Megabus brand.
Coach USA's operations today consist primarily of scheduled services in theNew York andChicago metropolitan areas, with a number of charter operations nearPittsburgh and scheduled operations in theSouthern Tier of New York and southernWisconsin, 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.[14][15][16][17] Coach USA closedChicago 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 inOhio and Central Cab inPennsylvania in 2020, due to thepandemic.[18][19]
In June 2024, Coach USA filed forChapter 11 bankruptcy, 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 theRenco Group.[20] Avalon Transportation acquired Lenzner, Kerrville, All West and ACL Atlanta. Wynne Transportation acquired Powder River and the Butler Motor Transit shop.[21]Peter Pan Bus Lines took over operations of the Megabus operations in the Northeast.[22]
In November 2024, it was announced that The Renco Group had completed the purchase of the company.[23]
Coach USA includes the following local operating companies:[24][25]
The following lines were not purchased by Bus Company Holdings US/Renco
Megabus is an intercity bus service providing discount travel services since 2006, 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.
