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Our History

The Bus Center Family of Companies

The Bus Center Family of Companies started as a single location in Murfreesboro, Tennessee in 1972! Today, our organization includes: Mid-South Bus Center, located outside of Nashville, and still in Murfreesboro; Transportation South, located just south of Birmingham, in Pelham: and The Bus Center – Atlanta, located in Acworth.

These are exciting times for our companies and their growth, but I’m most proud of our humble beginnings as I believe they set the tone and tenor for not only where we are today but the outlook for our future. My father, George Law, opened Mid-South Bus Center in 1972 with 2 employees. It began as Blue Bird of Tennessee, Tennessee’s first Blue Bird school bus dealer. In 2003, we changed our name to coincide with our change of representation to Thomas Built Buses and our increased demand for commercial and shuttle buses. Our very first facility was an old service station, equipped with only 1 bay.

 

In January of 1989, we opened Transportation South, Inc, in the Birmingham area. We started with 12 employees and a facility with 6, full service, technician bays. The opening of the company marked the beginnings of our entry into the commercial shuttle bus business as we began catering to a number of different markets, including Churches, Tour & Charter, Assisted Living, Hotels, Airports, Limousine Companies, and even Correctional Facilities, throughout the country.

 

In 2015, we accomplished another great company milestone in opening up our third office, The Bus Center – Atlanta, which has gotten off to a great start, delivering over 300 buses to the state of Georgia and their local transit agencies. This newest location has been a huge benefit in not only being able to not only broaden our sales markets, but more importantly, we can effectively service our customer’s vehicles throughout the entire southeast United States!


In 2024, Hoekstra Transportation, Grand Rapids, Michigan, and The Bus Center Family of Companies announced their merger. Following Hoekstra’s purchase of an equity interest in The Bus Center Family, the four companies now represent one of the largest and most comprehensive providers of bus and van transportation in the country. The companies offer sales and service for the leading manufacturers in the industry, including Thomas Built Bus and Forest River, and a physical footprint that spans from the Southeast into the upper Midwest!

These beginnings and our resulting successes are based on a singular belief – “To provide quality equipment at an exceptional price, and to support our customers better than anyone else in our industry”. That’s how we’ve built so many lifelong relationships!

We are proud of our beginning but even more excited about where we are today and going forward:

  • Our companies’ employ over 100 individuals all committed to the effort mentioned above.
  • We represent the best manufacturers in the world, including: Thomas Built School Buses, a Mercedes Benz company; Starcraft, Startrans, and Turtle Top – all Forest River companies (America’s largest bus builder and a division of Berkshire Hathaway); Champion, Federal Coach, and Collins – all REV Group companies; McSweeney Designs for custom built Mercedes Sprinters and Ford Transits; Braun Mobility; and Driverge Vehicle Innovations.
  • Our facilities are the best in the business – we can handle everything from minor repairs to major body jobs – in fact, our paint and body facility is second to none.
  • Our parts departments, which are located at all 3 of our locations, stock over $2,000,000 in inventory, and our Parts Distribution Centers (PDCs) support us with same day shipping and inventories approaching 1 billion dollars.

 

As large and robust as these assets allow us to be, we are most proud, that there has never been a job too small – to this day, we place as much care and diligence into a single bus order as we would for an order of 100 buses.
I’d like to close by asking a favor of you, and I’ll give you a promise in return. My favor to ask is that if you have not had the opportunity to do business with The Bus Center family of Companies, that you give us a chance, and see for yourself why we’ve created so many lasting relationships over the years. In return, I promise that our products will always be competitive and reliable, but most importantly, our service and support will be second to none.

 

To ALL of our current customers, thank you again for supporting our companies for the last 50 years, and to our future customers, thank you in advance for what will be a lifelong relationship that you won’t regret!

 

All the best,

Bucky Law

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