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. [1] It was a subsidiary of the transportation consultant Transportation Management Services.
Transportation Management Services started in 1995; its first big contract was to coordinate the transportation for COMDEX. [2] In 2009, TMS acquired Horizon Coach Lines of Vancouver and Gray Line of Seattle. [3] In 2012, Horizon acquired 15 markets from the bankrupt Coach America. [4]
Horizon sold or closed its operations in 2014 and 2015. Florida operations in Miami, West Palm Beach and Jacksonville were sold to Academy Bus in 2014; [5] Orlando operations were sold to ESCOT Bus Lines. [6] Also in 2014, Vancouver operations were sold to Quick Coach and Durham operations were sold to Academy Bus. [7] [8] [9] In 2015, Denver operations were sold to All Aboard America! and the remaining North Carolina operations were sold to Sunway Charters. [10] [11] [12]
Mobico Group, formerly National Express Group, is a British multinational public transport company with headquarters in Birmingham, England. Domestically it currently operates bus and coach services under brands including National Express. The company also operates transport services including trains abroad: in the Republic of Ireland, United States, Canada, Spain, Portugal, Malta, Germany, Bahrain, Morocco, Qatar, United Arab Emirates and South Korea, and long-distance coach services across Europe. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange.
Veolia Transport was the international transport services division of the French-based multinational company Veolia until the 2011 merger that gave rise to Veolia Transdev, later renamed Transdev. Veolia Transport traded under the brand names of Veolia Transportation in North America and Israel, Veolia Transport, Veolia Verkehr in Germany and with the former name Connex preserved in Lebanon, Melbourne and Jersey.
Greyhound Lines, Inc. (Greyhound) is a company that operates the largest intercity bus service in North America. Services include Greyhound Mexico, charter bus services, and Amtrak Thruway services. Greyhound operates 1,700 coaches produced mainly by Motor Coach Industries and Prevost serving 230 stations and 1,700 destinations. The company's first route began in Hibbing, Minnesota in 1914 and the company adopted the Greyhound name in 1929. The company is owned by Flix North America, Inc., an affiliate of FlixBus, and is based in Downtown Dallas.
The Trailways Transportation System is a public transport bus service in the United States. It operates a network of approximately 70 independent bus companies. The company is headquartered in Fairfax, Virginia.
FirstGroup plc is a British multi-national transport group, based in Aberdeen in the north-east of Scotland. The company operates transport services in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.
Laidlaw, organized as Laidlaw International, Inc. was the largest provider of intercity bus services, contract public transit and paratransit, and contract school bus service in both the United States and Canada. In February 2007, FirstGroup, a bus and rail transportation operator in the United Kingdom with subsidiaries in North America, acquired Laidlaw International, Inc. FirstGroup completed the acquisition of Laidlaw International on October 1, 2007, and rebranded Laidlaw services under the First umbrella. The deal combined North America's two largest private school bus operators—Education Services and First Student Inc.—giving them a combined 40% of the school bus contractor market.
Amtrak Thruway is a system of through-ticketed transportation services to connect passengers with areas not served by Amtrak trains. In most cases these are dedicated motorcoach routes, but can also be non-dedicated intercity bus services, transit buses, vans, taxis, ferry boats and commuter rail trains.
Pacific Western Transportation provides a variety of bus services in the Canadian provinces of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Ontario and Yukon. Depending on the location, it offers scheduled and chartered school busing, municipal transit and handi-bus services, airport passenger services and local and long-distance coach charters.
Gray Coach was a Canadian inter-city bus line based in Toronto, Ontario, from 1927 to 1992. It was founded and initially owned by the Toronto Transportation Commission, until sold to Stagecoach in 1990. In 1992 the business was sold to Greyhound Canada and the brand was retired.
National Passenger Services, d/b/a Stock Transportation, is a Canadian school bus operator based in Markham, Ontario. The company provides student transportation and charter services for twenty-eight school districts in Ontario, Nova Scotia and Alberta.
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 United States and Canada. It is owned by the private equity firm, Variant Equity Advisors, based in Los Angeles.
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 United States from Boston to Miami. In 2014, Academy acquired Go Buses, which currently operates bus service between Boston and Washington, D.C., and in southern Florida. On September 27, 2023, Academy acquired James River Transportation, which operates in Virginia. Academy is the third-largest motorcoach operator in the United States and Canada.
Polynesian Adventure Tours, Inc. is a tour and transportation company in Hawaii. PolyAd was founded in 1977 by Bob George and his partner Don Brown who started the company as an operator of van sightseeing tours in Waikiki. PolyAd specializes in charters, commercial and personalized tours that utilize drivers as narrators and guides. In 2017 PolyAd was acquired by the same principals as California-based Transportation Charter Services (TCS). Polynesian Adventure Tours maintains offices on Oahu, Maui, Kauai, The Big Island and provides tours to Hawaiian landmarks.
First Student, Inc. is a North American provider of school bus services. The company works with districts in 38 states and 7 Canadian provinces, carrying approximately 5 million students daily. In addition to its regular routes, First Student also provides special-needs transportation, field trip services, and charter bus rentals.
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 operating under the Coach America, American Coach Lines, and Gray Line names. Coach America consisted of all former Coach USA operations except for the midwestern United States, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and New England, along with Lakefront Lines in Ohio. For the nine years of its existence, Coach America was based in Dallas, Texas.
MTR Western is an American motorcoach operator active in the western United States and Canada.
Bus companies in Ontario range in scale from small family-run businesses to subsidiaries of large international transportation groups. Many operate yellow school buses for student transportation on behalf of local school boards, while others concentrate on luxury coach charters and tours. Some municipalities use these private companies to run their public transit systems.
The American Bus Association (ABA) serves as a trade association for motorcoach operators and tour companies operating in the United States and Canada. With its headquarters situated in Washington, D.C., the association has a membership comprising approximately 1,000 companies engaged in bus operations or bus-based tours, alongside around 2,800 organizations representing the broader travel and tourism industry. Additionally, several hundred suppliers of buses and related products and services are affiliated with the ABA.
Transdev, formerly Veolia Transdev, is a France-based international private-sector company which operates public transport. It has operations in 17 countries and territories as of November 2020.
All Aboard America! is an American bus company that operates charters, tours, casino and cruise shuttles, and scheduled routes. Part of All Aboard America! Holdings, Inc. (AAAHI), it is the fourth-largest motorcoach operator in the United States and Canada.