By Lynn Binnie
Whitewater Banner volunteer staff
whitewaterbanner@gmail.com
According to an article on Bloomberg.com on June 11, Coach USA, which owns Van Galder Bus Company and Megabus, filed for bankruptcy, indicating that it was unable to recover from a decline in ridership as a result of the pandemic. Van Galder, based in Janesville, operates a popular route that stops in Janesville for shuttle service to O’Hare airport and downtown Chicago. Per Van Galder’s website, the company, [originally family owned], has operated the shuttle service for over 70 years.
“Per its Chapter 11 petition that was filed on June 11 in Wilmington, DE, the company owes creditors between $100 -500 million. Chapter 11 in the bankruptcy code allows companies to keep operating while they shed debt and reorganize.
Private equity firm Variant Equity Advisors purchased Coach USA from British bus company Stagecoach Group in April 2019, less than a year before Coach USA’s business was decimated by the pandemic. Commuter ridership declined 90% in 2020, according to court papers, and the company turned to Covid relief funding to help stay afloat. Ridership has partially recovered, but last year was only about 45% of prepandemic levels. Meanwhile, the company was contending with higher expenses due to rising fuel, insurance and labor costs. Its management began to explore a possible sale late last year.
Across the US, the transportation industry has had to contend with low ridership levels on trains and buses as many Americans now work from home or only commute into the office a few times a week. In 2019, there were about 3,000 bus companies, according to Peter Pantuso, the chief executive officer of the American Bus Association. Since then, about half have closed, many of those remaining are operating at about 70% capacity, he said.”
According to WREX-Channel 13, The Renco Group, which owns Bus Company Holdings, is reportedly purchasing Van Galder as well as other Coach USA operations.
“Coach offers bus services in 27 locations in the US and Canada and carries more than 38 million passengers every year, according to its website. Its Megabus service has carried more than 50 million people through more than 280 cities since it was started in 2006. The company employs about 2,700 people,” Bloomberg stated.
