List of school bus manufacturers

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.

Although school buses are typically body-on-frame, Type D school buses are typically of monocoque/semi-monocoque design.

School bus configurations

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 36-90

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 small school bus with the body placed on a cutaway van chassis with a left-side driver's door
  • Single or dual rear wheels on drive axles.
  • A small school bus with the body mounted to a stripped chassis (except for the IC Bus BE Series, which is built on a cowled chassis)
  • The entrance door is mounted behind the front wheels
  • In most versions (except the IC BE), 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 school bus with the 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 monocoque or semi-monocoque school bus (not chassis-based).
  • The entrance door is 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.
  • Although they are typically of monocoque design, a few Type D school buses used a separate chassis.

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 B (formerly)
  • 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.
  • Blue Bird produces school buses fueled by diesel, gasoline, propane, and CNG, along with fully electric school buses.
IC Bus
  • Type A (formerly)
  • Type B (formerly)
  • Type C
  • Type D (formerly)
 2002
LION
  • Type A (formerly)
  • Type C
  • Type D
 2011 Saint-Jérôme, Quebec, Canada
  • Formerly known as Lion Electric Company, LION renamed itself in 2025.
  • LION produces Type C (conventional) buses on Spartan Motors chassis.
  • LION bus bodies are produced with composite materials in place of steel to minimize corrosion.
RIDE[3] (Real Innovation Delivered with Excellence)
  • Type A
  • Type C
  • Type D
 2023
  • RIDE is the US spinoff of BYD, focusing on battery electric school bus and transit solutions in the US and Canada.[4]
Thomas Built Buses, Inc.
  • Type A
  • Type B (formerly)
  • Type C
  • Type D
 1916 High Point, North Carolina
Type A-only manufacturers
Collins Bus Corporation Type A 1967 Hutchinson, Kansas
  • Collins Bus Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of the REV Group (formerly Allied Specialty Vehicles).
  • Collins acquired Corbeil and Mid Bus in the late 2000s, marketing brand-engineered Collins buses in specific regions.
  • In 2016, the Corbeil and Mid Bus brands were replaced entirely by Collins-brand vehicles.
  • Collins offers electric busses on a MOTIV electrification on a Ford E-450 chassis.
  • Buses sold at former Starcraft Bus dealerships are rebranded as Magellan as of 2021.
Endera Motors Type A 2019 Ottawa, Ohio
  • Endera Motors purchased Titan Bus, LLC in April 2021.
Micro Bird (Girardin) Type A 1935 Drummondville, Quebec, Canada
  • Micro Bird produces Type A school buses in a joint venture of Girardin Minibus and 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.
Trans Tech Type A 2007 Warwick, New York
  • Trans Tech is a division of Transportation Collaborative, Inc.
  • Trans Tech is the first school bus manufacturer to produce a fully electric school bus (eTrans, based on the Smith Electric Newton).
Van-Con, Inc. Type A

Type B

1973 Middlesex, New Jersey
  • Van-Con, Inc. is New Jersey's only school bus manufacturer.
  • Van-Con, Inc produces 16, 25, 30 passenger and wheelchair accessible school buses.
  • All vehicles produced on Chevrolet cutaway van chassis.
Type A&D-only manufacturers
GreenPower Motor Company Type A

Type D

2017
  • GreenPower Synapse 72 - introduced in early 2017 - is a zero-emission Type D school bus.
  • GreenPower exclusively builds all-electric vehicles.
Recently defunct manufacturers (2002–present)
Company name Founded Ceased production Location Notes
Full-line manufacturers
AmTran
(American Transportation Corporation) 		1980 2002
  • Produced Type A, C, and D buses.
  • Marketed school buses under the Ward name from 1980 to 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.
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.
Lion Electric Company (La Compagnie Électrique Lion) 2011 2025 Saint-Jérôme, Quebec, Canada
  • Produced Type A, C, and D buses.
  • Along with diesel-fuel buses (Lion 360), the company produces the first full-size electric school bus (eLion).
  • The company stated in December 2024 that it was entering creditor protection in Canada and Chapter 15 bankruptcy in the US, as it defaulted on its debt; Lion laid off 920 employees during the year, including a temporary layoff of 400 employees at the Illinois plant.[5]
Type A-only manufacturers
Liberty Bus 2005 Lima, Ohio
  • Produced a small number of Type A school buses in early 2000s.
Mid Bus Corporation 1981 2007
  • Created by employees of Superior Coach Company to continue production of Type A school buses.
  • Acquired by Collins Bus Corporation in 1998.
  • From 2007 to 2013, Mid Bus products are re-badged Collins models.
Starcraft Bus 1997 2020 Goshen, Indiana
  • Produced Type A buses from the late 2000s to 2020.
  • Starcraft announced in November 2009 a joint venture with Hino Motors (a division of Toyota) to develop an all-new Type C design.[6] A prototype was unveiled in Fall 2010, but did not enter series production.
  • In 2016, Starcraft developed a Type B "Quest XL" bus on a Ford stripped chassis to utilize alternative-fuel sources, which was no longer in production.
Titan Bus, LLC 2017 2021 Ottawa, Ohio
  • Titan Bus was purchased by Endera Motors in April 2021.
U.S. Bus Corporation 1995 2007
Suffern, New York
  • Producer of Type A buses in the 1990s and the early 2000s.
Historical manufacturers (1980–2002)
Company name Founded Ceased production Location Notes
Full-line manufacturers
Carpenter Industries, Inc. 1919 2001
  • Produced Type A, B, C, and D buses.
  • Crown by Carpenter was a 1995–96 re-branding of Carpenter, using the rights from the purchase of the Crown Coach name; It was used from the 1996 to 1999 model years.
  • Carpenter was shut down in May 2001 by parent company Spartan Motors.
Superior Coach Company 1925 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
  • 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
  • Produced Type A, B, C, and D buses.
  • Wayne underwent several changes of ownership before ending up as Richmond Transportation Corporation from 1985 to 1992.
  • 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 1999 Penn Yan, New York[7]
  • A manufacturer of van conversions to Type A school buses from the early 1970s to the mid 1990s[8]
Shirley Van 1984? 1996
  • A manufacturer of van conversions to Type A school buses from the 1980s to 1996.
Type C/D-only manufacturers
Crown Coach Corporation 1904 1991
  • Produced Type D buses.
  • Subsidiary of GE Railcar from 1987 to 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.[9][10] 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[11] 1991 1991
  • 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.
  • Ceased all production in 1994.
Historical manufacturers (before 1980)
Company name Founded Ceased production Location Notes
Hackney Brothers Body Company[12] 1928 c. 1966 Wilson, North Carolina
  • Produced Type C buses on Ford chassis.
Hicks Body Company 1923 1953 Lebanon, Indiana
  • Produced Type C buses.
Kenworth-Pacific 1957 Renton, Washington
  • Produced Type D buses.
  • Kenworth subsequently sold their bus tooling and equipment to Gillig.
Northern Coach[13] 1977? 1979? Wisconsin
  • Produced a small number of "Northern-Air" Type C buses in the late 1970s.
Oneida Products Corporation[14] c. 1935 1960
  • From 1952 to 1960, Oneida was owned by professional car manufacturer Henney Motor Company.
  • Oneida was purchased in 1960 by Marmon-Herrington.
Perley A. Thomas Car Works 1916 1972 High Point, North Carolina
  • Produced Type C and D buses; best known for its streetcar production.
  • Perley A. Thomas Car Works was re-organized into Thomas Built Buses in 1972.
Union City Body Company[15] 1957 Union City, Indiana
  • Produced Type C buses.
  • Union City is now a supplier of bodies for UPS.

See also

References

  1. ^ "School Bus types". School Transportation News. Archived from the original on 1 January 2010. Retrieved 3 January 2010.
  2. ^ THE FOURTEENTH NATIONAL CONGRESS ON SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION. "NATIONAL SCHOOL TRANSPORTATION SPECIFICATIONS and PROCEDURES (2005 Revised Edition)" (PDF). p. 7. Archived from the original (PDF) on 6 January 2014. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  3. ^ "RIDE". RIDE. Retrieved 12 February 2025.
  4. ^ "Our Story". RIDE. Retrieved 12 February 2025.
  5. ^ "Lion Electric lay offs additional 150 employees". Clean Trucking. 6 January 2025. Retrieved 12 February 2025.
  6. ^ Ryan Gray (6 November 2009). "Starcraft, Hino Trucks to Partner on Type C School Bus". School Transportation News. STN Media Group. Archived from the original on 10 November 2009. Retrieved 9 November 2009.
  7. ^ "This literature has Coach and Equipment's business address at the time". Archived from the original on 16 July 2011.
  8. ^ "This is a website that shows both manufacturers' literature and photographs of their different bus models". Retrieved 15 October 2018.
  9. ^ "NTL Repository Search". ntlsearch.bts.gov. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
  10. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2009.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  11. ^ "School Bus Central | 1991 TAM Bus-USA RE". 12 December 2004. Archived from the original on 12 December 2004. Retrieved 3 February 2019.
  12. ^ "1966 Hackney Ford". Archived from the original on 13 June 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2009. This includes city information, and more specific product information
  13. ^ "Northern". Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 27 November 2009.
  14. ^ "Oneida Products". Coachbuilt.com. Retrieved 15 October 2018.
  15. ^ http://www.coachbuilt.com/bui/u/union_city/union_city.htm brief company history with location information
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