 | |
| Founded | November 30, 1935 |
|---|---|
| Defunct | March 2020 |
| Headquarters | Visalia, California, U.S. |
Orange Belt Stages was a bus company based in Visalia, California, affiliated with the Trailways Transportation System. The company was incorporated on November 30, 1935, and operated scheduled service in California as well as charter services. The company ceased operations in 2020 as a result of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism.
The company had its beginning in 1916, when Cyril Haworth began a taxi service in Kern County, California, [1] serving oil field workers in McKittrick, Taft, and Bakersfield. [2] Pickwick Stage Lines leased its Bakersfield–Paso Robles route to Haworth in 1930, who was later granted the right to purchase the Delano–Exeter route (via Ducor, Porterville, and Terra Bella) and to start an Exeter–Hanford route (via Visalia) in 1933. The company was incorporated on November 30, 1935. [1]
Cyril "Pop" Haworth had three sons; two assumed control of the company as partners in 1943: Thoburn (T.S.) and Bryan (B.W.). [1] Cyril retired in 1952 but continued to drive buses. [2] [3] By 1955, OBS was serving routes totaling 400 mi (640 km). [1] Thoburn ran the Visalia branch while Bryan ran the Bakersfield branch until he was bought out in the mid 1970s. Thoburn's son Michael has run the company from Visalia since 1985. [1] The headquarters was in Visalia with branches in Fresno and Bakersfield.
The name Orange Belt Stages came from the route along the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains, where lush groves of oranges are found. [1]
In May 1969 a bus carrying a group of Girl Scouts from Universal Studios back to Bakersfield crashed and killed 3 young girls and injured many more. [4]
The company owned Orange Belt Adventures, a travel agency offering tours and charters.
Orange Belt previously ran a route from Visalia to Las Vegas; the route was cancelled in 2017. [5]
Orange Belt Stages operated scheduled routes as part of both the Trailways Transportation System and the Amtrak Thruway system.
The company ceased operations in 2020 as a result of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on tourism.
The California League is a Minor League Baseball league that operates in California. Having been classified at various levels throughout its existence, it operated at Class A-Advanced from 1990 until its demotion to Single-A following Major League Baseball's 2021 reorganization of the minor leagues. The league temporarily operated for the 2021 season as the Low-A West before reassuming its original moniker in 2022.
Visalia is a city in the agricultural San Joaquin Valley of California. The population was 141,384 as per the 2020 census. Visalia is the fifth-largest city in the San Joaquin Valley, the 42nd most populous in California, and 192nd in the United States. As the county seat of Tulare County, Visalia serves as the economic and governmental center to one of the most productive agricultural counties in the country.
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