List of school bus manufacturers

A school bus is a bus that has been designed primarily for the role of student transport. In the United States and Canada, safety regulations have influenced the design of school buses to an extent that they have evolved into separate vehicles from transit buses, and that an industry has been created to manufacture them. In other parts of the world, vehicles used as school buses are outwardly similar to transit buses.

School Bus Configurations

In most instances, school bus manufacturers are second stage manufacturers; however, a few school buses (typically those of Type D configuration) utilize a body and chassis produced by a single manufacturer. The North American school bus industry produces buses in four different body configurations, listed below:

School Bus Configurations[1][2] (Images of Contemporary School Bus Models)
Configuration	Type A	Type B	Type C	Type D
Passenger Capacity (typical)	≥10 typically 16-36	≥10 typically 30-36	≥10 typically 36-78	≥10 typically 54-90
GVWR	Type A-I: ≤ 14,500 pounds (6,600 kg) Type A-II:14,500 pounds (6,600 kg) and up	Type B-I: ≤ 10,000 pounds (4,500 kg) Type B-II: between 10,000–21,499 pounds (4,536–9,752 kg)	over 21,500 pounds (9,800 kg) (typically between 23,000–29,500 pounds (10,400–13,400 kg))	over 20,000 pounds (9,100 kg) (typically between 25,000–36,000 pounds (11,000–16,000 kg))
Description	A bus body placed on a cutaway van chassis with a left-side driver's door Single or dual rear wheels on drive axles.	A bus body mounted to either a stripped chassis or a cowled chassis The entrance door is mounted behind the front wheels In most versions (stripped-chassis models), the engine compartment is located partially inside the passenger compartment next to the driver and the hood is significantly shorter than that of conventional buses (similar to step vans)	A bus body mounted to a cowled medium-duty truck chassis In the past, the chassis was often supplied from another manufacturer, but more recently, the chassis manufacturer and the bus body manufacturer are the same company. Although typically of cowled-chassis chassis design, a few Type C buses are of cutaway-cab design. The entrance door is mounted behind the front wheels. The engine is mounted forward of the windshield	A bus body mounted to a separate chassis. The entrance door mounted in front of the front wheels. Single rear axle or (very rarely) tandem rear axles The engine is mounted next to the driver inside the bus (front-engine/ "FE"), in the rear of the bus behind the rearmost seats (rear-engine/ "RE"), or in between the axles underneath the floor ("amidship" or "mid-engine") The last mid-engine Type D school buses were manufactured when Crown Coach ceased operations in 1991.

Lists of Manufacturers

Current Manufacturers
Company Name	Current Bus Production	Founded	Location	Notes
Full-line Manufacturers
Blue Bird Corporation	Type A (Micro Bird, Inc. joint venture) Type C Type D	1932	Fort Valley, Georgia	Blue Bird is a publicly-held company with Cerberus Capital Management as majority stakeholder In a joint venture, Blue Bird markets Girardin-produced Type A buses under the Blue Bird name.
IC Bus	Type C Type D	2002	Lisle, Illinois (corporate) Tulsa, Oklahoma (assembly) Conway, Arkansas (parts fabrication)	IC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Navistar International Corporation. IC is a rebranding of AmTran, the successor of Ward Body Works.
Thomas Built Buses, Inc.	Type A Type C Type D	1972	High Point, North Carolina	Thomas is a subsidiary of Daimler Trucks North America, LLC (Freightliner) Thomas Built Buses is the successor of Perley A. Thomas Car Works, founded in 1916.
Type A-only Manufacturers
Collins Industries	Type A	1967	Hutchinson, Kansas	Collins Industries is the parent company of Collins Bus Corporation, Mid Bus Corporation and Corbeil Bus Corporation. Corbeil and Mid Bus products are brand-engineered Collins buses marketed toward specific regions of North America.
Micro Bird (Girardin)	Type A	1935	Drummondville, Quebec, Canada	Micro Bird (formerly known as Girardin Minibus) produces Type A school buses in a joint venture with Blue Bird known as Micro Bird, Inc. Along with small-bus production, Micro Bird is also the Canadian distributor of Blue Bird full-size buses.
Starcraft Bus	Type A Type B (entering production) Type C	1997	Goshen, Indiana	Starcraft is a division of Forest River, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway company. Starcraft announced in November 2009 a joint venture with Toyota's Hino Motors to develop an all-new Type C design.[3] A prototype was unveiled in Fall 2010, but did not enter series production In 2014, Starcraft developed a Type B bus on a Ford stripped chassis to utilize alternative-fuel sources.
Trans Tech	Type A	2007	Warwick, New York	Trans Tech is a division of Transportation Collaborative, Inc.
Van Con	Type A		Middlesex, New Jersey
Type C-only Manufacturers
Lion Bus (Autobus Lion)	Type C	2011	Saint-Jérôme, Quebec, Canada	Lion Bus builds Type C buses on a Spartan Motors chassis. Lion is the sole Canadian-based manufacturer of full-sized buses.

Recently Defunct Manufacturers (1980-present)
Company Name	Foundation	Ceased Production	Location	Notes
Full-line Manufacturers
AmTran (American Transportation Corporation)	1980	2002	Conway, Arkansas Tulsa, Oklahoma	Produced Type A, C, and D buses. Marketed school buses under the Ward name from 1980-1992 (commercial buses adopted AmTran name in 1980.) Re-branded as International, then IC in 2003 after being purchased outright by Navistar International in 1995.
Carpenter Industries, Inc.	1919	2001	Mitchell, Indiana (1919-1995) Richmond, Indiana (1996-2001)	Produced Type A, B, C, and D buses. Carpenter was shut down in May 2001 by parent company Spartan Motors.
Crown By Carpenter	1996	1999	Richmond, Indiana	Produced Type A, B, C, and D buses. Crown by Carpenter was a 1996-99 re-branding of Carpenter using the rights from the purchase of the Crown Coach name. The Crown name was dropped from Carpenter for the 2000 model year by Spartan Motors.
Les Enterprises Michel Corbeil (Corbeil)	1985	2007	St-Lin-Laurentides, Quebec, Canada	Produced Type A, C, and D buses. Type C and D full-size buses sold in Canada only. Assets acquired by Collins Industries in 2007 Exists today in the United States as Collins subsidiary Corbeil Bus Corporation.
Superior Coach Company	1925	1982 1985	Lima, Ohio	Produced Type A, B, C, and D buses. Superior employees created Mid Bus in 1981. Full-size bus production ended after 1985 (design later used by New Bus, Inc.).
Ward Body Works	1933	1980	Conway, Arkansas Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania	Produced Type A, B, C, and D buses. Filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1980; re-organized as American Transportation Corporation (AmTran) in 1981. Successor AmTran continued use of Ward brand name (on school buses) until 1992.
Wayne Corporation	1837	1992	Richmond, Indiana Windsor, Ontario, Canada	Produced Type A, B, C, and D buses. Wayne underwent several changes of ownership before ending up as Richmond Transportation Corporation from 1985-92. Wayne Wheeled Vehicles (the successor to Wayne Corporation) was a subsidiary of Harsco Corporation and ceased operations in 1995.
Wayne Wheeled Vehicles	1992	1995	Marysville, Ohio	Produced Type A, C, and D buses. Wayne Wheeled Vehicles (the successor to Wayne Corporation) was a subsidiary of Harsco Corporation. Continued production of Wayne Corporation products.
Type A-only Manufacturers
Coach and Equipment Manufacturing			Penn Yan, New York[4]	A manufacturer of van conversions to Type A school buses from the early 1970s to the mid-1990s[5]
Liberty Bus			Lima, Ohio	Produced a small number of Type A school buses in early 2000s.
Mid Bus Corporation	1981	2008	Lima, Ohio Bluffton, Ohio	Created by employees of Superior Coach Company to continue production of Type A school buses. Acquired by Collins Bus Corporation in 1998. Since 2008, Mid Bus products are re-badged Collins models.
U.S. Bus Corporation			Suffern, New York	Producer of Type A buses in 1990s and early 2000s.
Type C/D-only Manufacturers
Crown Coach Corporation	1904	1991	Los Angeles, California Chino, California	Produced Type D buses Subsidiary of GE Railcar from 1987-1991. Rights to the Crown name were purchased in May 1991 by Carpenter Body Works.
Gillig Corporation	1890	1993	Hayward, California	Produced Type C and D buses. Ended school bus production in 1993; still produces mass-transit buses.
New Bus, Inc.[6][7][8]	1988	1990	Chickasha, Oklahoma	Produced a small number of Type C and Type D buses in the late 1980s. Type C buses were continuation of Superior production.
TAM-USA[9]	1991	1991	Maribor, Slovenia (initial body assembly) Van Nuys, California (final assembly)	TAM-USA was an importer of Yugoslavian-built TAM buses A small number of school bus bodies (Type D) were manufactured in Yugoslavia and fitted with American drivetrain components in California.

Historical Manufacturers (before 1980)
Company Name	Ceased Production	Location	Notes
Hackney Brothers Body Company[10]	c. 1966	Wilson, North Carolina	Produced Type C buses on Ford chassis.
Kenworth-Pacific	1957	Renton, Washington	Produced Type D buses. Kenworth subsequently sold their bus tooling and equipment to Gillig.
Northern Coach[11]		Wisconsin	Produced a small number of "Northern-Air" Type C buses in the late 1970s.
Oneida Products Corporation[12]	1960	Canastota, New York Indianapolis, Indiana	From 1952-1960, Oneida was owned by professional car manufacturer Henney Motor Company. Oneida was purchased in 1960 by Marmon-Herrington.
Perley A. Thomas Car Works	1972	High Point, North Carolina	Produced Type C and D buses; best known for streetcar production. Perley A. Thomas Car Works was re-organized into Thomas Built Buses in 1972.
Union City Body Company[13]	1957	Union City, Indiana	Produced Type C buses. Union City is now a supplier of bodies for UPS.

See also

• List of buses

References

1. "School Bus types". School Transportation News. Retrieved January 3, 2010.
2. THE FOURTEENTH NATIONAL CONGRESS ON SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION. "NATIONAL SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION SPECIFICATIONS and PROCEDURES (2005 Revised Edition)" (PDF). p. 7. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
3. Ryan Gray (6 November 2009). "Starcraft, Hino Trucks to Partner on Type C School Bus". School Transportation News. STN Media Group. Retrieved 9 November 2009.
4. This literature has Coach and Equipment's business address at the time.
5. This is a website that shows both manufacturers' literature and photographs of their different bus models
6. Tris Online: The New Bus Company Enters The Market
7. http://www.schoolbuscentral.com/gallery/archived/feb04/images/11.bmp
8. http://www.schoolbuscentral.com/gallery/archived/jan04/images/14.jpg
9. http://www.schoolbuscentral.com/gallery/archived/jan04/tam_1_re_91_lit.htm Webpage showing product literature and information
10. http://busexplorer.com/SchoolBus/Archives/Other/xHackneyFord66.html This includes city information, and more specific product information
11. http://www.schoolbuscentral.com/gallery/manufacturers/northern/images/0903_24.jpg
12. http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/o/oneida/oneida.htm
13. http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/u/union_city/union_city.htm brief company history with location information