You probably won’t see any school buses on the highways of New York that bear the Trans Group name. But that’s because the New York-based contractor company wants it that way, preferring instead that its vehicles represent operating subsidiaries, contributing to a smaller, family-like feel. But that doesn’t mean the company is not well-known throughout the region. In fact, the Trans Group prides itself on having a presence in the communities it serves.
“In the various communities we serve there is a locally known and recognized Trans Group company that has been part of that community for decades,” explained Executive Vice President Tim Flood, who is also the immediate past-president of NSTA.
Some of the companies the Trans Group owns include Educational Bus Transportation, JACO Transportation, Chestnut Ridge Transportation, Ethan Allen, and Student Xpress. Then there’s transit company EBT Inc., and Trans Group also holds an equity position in Type-A manufacturer Trans Tech.
“They’re companies that have been in those various communities for decades. And that’s the name that the communities know, not so much the Trans Group,” added Flood. “What we want is to have a local feel. It’s all local people working there and we’re not too far away from where any of us have lived or grown up.” He went on to describe the Trans Group as a “family company and a family of companies.”
In fact, family has been one thing that has remained constant throughout the company’s six-decade history.
In 1952, John Corr, Sr., and his family started operating vans out of Bayside, New York, to transport children to and from their summer camps. Five years later, the Westbury School District awarded the family its first school bus contract. The second and third followed shortly after.
Ten years later, the Corr family founded the first of the Trans Group companies, Educational Bus Transportation Inc. A few years later, the company bought Bornscheuer Bus Company, which provided transit service for Suffolk County, New York. The company’s transit branch expanded over the years, and Flood said that operation now serves more than 800,000 passengers every year.
More recently, the Trans Group also added motorcoach vehicles to its transportation services in order to better serve school districts’ needs for activity or long-distance trips.
“We kept getting asked through the years, so we said, ‘Okay, let’s get a few and see how it works out,’ and it’s made those customers very happy,” said Flood.
Now, the third generation of the Corr family has taken the wheel. Sean Corr, grandson of John Sr. and son of John Jr., also a former NSTA president, recently became president of Educational Bus Transportation after working on vehicles in the shops, similar to how his father started.
Flood said he believes the future of the company lies in the involvement of the third generation, adding that it will “help lead us into an even safer, more efficient and environmentally supportive era of school transportation.”
A Green Company
Along with a commitment to a sense of family within the community, the Trans Group is also dedicated to reducing its environmental impact. The company received the “Go Yellow, Go Green Award” from the National School Transportation Association (NSTA) in 2014. The award recognizes NSTA members who “demonstrate initiative and commitment in pursuing positive responses to growing environmental concerns.”
The company has implemented measures to reduce the environmental impact of not only its fleet but also its facilities. Examples include the use of idle-reduction technology on all buses, as well as retrofits of facility lighting and oil-heat and water-heat systems in order to reduce energy consumption. Smaller efforts include reducing the use of paper with digital filing and offering recycling bins at all facilities, among many others. The Trans Group is also currently researching options with solar power and wind turbines, according to Flood.
“Not just at Trans Group, but all of us here on Planet Earth basically, we have to take better care of what we have, reducing some of the emissions where we can, just conserving more or better more efficient ways of using the different powers that are available to us,” he said.
“We encourage alternative-fuel development for vehicle power along with other voluntary actions and environmentally friendly strategies, including the use of solar energy at two of our facilities,” said John Corr, Jr., who continues on as Trans Group’s president, when accepting the Go Yellow, Go Green Award last year.
‘Distinguished Service’
John Corr is the first person to win the NSTA’s Distinguished Service award more than once. The award recognizes members who have “significant, substantial, and special contributions” to school bus contracting. The recognition came in 1998 for his efforts while president of the New York School Bus Contractor’s Association (NYSBCA), through which he spearheaded efforts to pass legislation that gave school districts the option to either put out request for proposals (RFPs) or accept a low bid when exploring service options with school bus contractors.
“What that does is it helps the district have greater control,” said Flood.
The second of these association awards came in 2003, when the company was recognized for its relief efforts following the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center.
“We got calls coming in from the American Red Cross, who we’d done some work with. They needed buses, and we took doctors and nurses in from various areas into the city,” remembered Flood.
“Our greatest fear while watching the towers fall was for the spouses of our employees, many of whom are members of New York City’s police and firefighters,” added John Corr, Jr., “From the south shore of Long Island we could watch the smoke coming from the west as we got requests from the hospitals in the Hudson Valley for buses to bring doctors and nurses into the city.”
Industry Involvement
Both John Corr Jr. and Flood have remained extensively involved with state and national contractor’s associations, namely NYSBCA and NSTA, respectively. The two have not only been presidents of both associations but have continued their involvement following the end of their respective terms. Flood concluded his two-year term as NSTA president in July, handing the gavel to Todd Monteferrario.
“It’s two years and working with a great team of people, our membership, our staff and some of the outside consultants that we work with,” Flood said.
Looking back on his term, Flood added that one of his proudest achievements was helping in efforts to pass H.R. 3095, which requires the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to conduct a formal rulemaking proceeding before imposing any new requirement for screening, testing or treatment of obstructive sleep apnea and other sleep disorders on commercial motor vehicle drivers.
President Obama signed the bill in the fall of 2013.
“Having been involved at that level and having the bill passed and the president sign it, while the government was shut down, that was a tremendous accomplishment for the association,” he concluded.
