Coach America - History

History

The properties that became Coach America were previously owned by Scottish-based Stagecoach Group as Coach USA's Western, South Central, and Southeastern divisions. Coach America was formed when, after Stagecoach Group evaluated its Coach USA business, decided to retain mostly its scheduled and local transit services in the Northeast and North Central region and put the rest of the company up for sale. The South Central and West divisions of Coach USA were sold to Kohlberg, with these companies continuing to use the Coach USA name for a time, but eventually changing to Coach America. The Southeast division was sold to a separate buyer, Lincolnshire Management.

In 2006, Coach America purchased American Coach Lines from Lincolnshire Management. In November of that same year, Kohlberg sold Coach America to another private equity firm, Fenway Partners.

In early 2012, following a Chapter 11 bankruptcy, the assets of Coach America were sold in units. Stagecoach repurchased eight of the Coach America properties that it had sold in the 2003 divestiture, plus Lakefront Lines/Hopkins Transportation in Ohio. Tornado Bus Company bought the El Expreso operation, Professional Transportation, Inc. purchased Coach America's rail crew division, and Transportation Management Services purchased the remainder of Coach America's operations, except for the Los Angeles DOT contract, which was sold to MV Transportation. The Dallas office will close in July, at which time Coach America will cease operations.