Mid-Bus - 1990s-present - Bluffton, Ohio


   

Mid Bus, based in Bluffton, Ohio, offers a complete line of quality Type-A school buses. The Mid Bus product line includes 10-48 passenger school, church, activity and child care buses, a variety of ADA compliant lift models and a full line of single-rear and dual-rear wheel models. Mid Bus units are designed to meet the needs of child care operators, Head Start agencies, YMCAs/YWCAs, non-conforming van replacement, church transportation, school activities and contractor services.

Mid Bus provides, through their national distribution network, a safe and economical alternative to van transportation for church, child cares, school activity vans, and private school transportation.

Mid Bus is a wholly owned subsidiary of Collins Industries.

Collins Industries, Inc. was founded in 1971 as a manufacturer of small school buses and ambulances built from modified cargo vans. The company's initial product was the first "Type A" school bus, designed to carry 16 to 20 passengers. Today the Company manufactures specialty vehicles and accessories for various basic service niches of the transportation industry. The Company's products include ambulances, small school buses, shuttle and mid-size commercial buses, terminal trucks, commercial bus chassis, road construction equipment and industrial rental sweepers. From its inception, Collins' stated goal has been to become the largest manufacturer of specialty vehicles in the U.S. The Company has grown primarily through the internal development of new products and the acquisition of complementary product lines.

In the U.S., Collins in the largest manufacturer of ambulances, the second largest manufacturer of terminal trucks and a leading manufacturer of small school buses, and sweepers used in the road construction industry. The Company sells its products under several well-known trade names, including Wheeled Coach (ambulances), Collins Bus and Mid Bus (small school buses), World Trans (commercial buses), Capacity (terminal trucks) and Waldon/Lay-Mor (road construction and industrial rental sweeper equipment).

Most Collins products are built to customer specifications from a wide range of options offered by the Company. Collins sells to niche markets which demand manufacturing processes too sophisticated for small job shop assemblers, but is not the highly automated assembly line operations of mass production vehicle manufacturers. The Company emphasizes specialty engineering and product innovation, and it has introduced new products and product improvements, which include the Moduvan ambulance, the first ambulance of its size with advanced life-support system capability, the Dura-Ride suspension system, the first frame-isolating suspension system for terminal trucks, and the innovation of a larger seating capacity, Type A Super Bantam school bus capable of carrying up to 24 passengers, the largest Type A in the industry.
 

   

For more information please read:

Mid-Bus

Ed Strauss & Karen Strauss - The Bus World Encyclopedia of Buses

G.N. Georgano & G. Marshall Naul - The Complete Encyclopedia of Commercial Vehicles

Albert Mroz - Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Trucks & Commercial Vehicles

Donald F. Wood - American Buses

Denis Miller - The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Trucks and Buses

Susan Meikle Mandell - A Historical Survey of Transit Buses in the United States

David Jacobs - American Buses, Greyhound, Trailways and Urban Transportation

William A. Luke & Linda L. Metler - Highway Buses of the 20th Century: A Photo Gallery 

William A. Luke & Brian Grams - Buses of Motorcoach Industries 1932-2000 Photo Archive

William A. Luke - Greyhound Buses 1914-2000 Photo Archive

William A. Luke - Prevost Buses 1924-2002 Photo Archive

William A. Luke - Flxible Intercity Buses 1924-1970 Photo Archive

William A. Luke - Buses of ACF Photo Archive (including ACF-Brill & CCF-Brill)

William A. Luke - Trailways Buses 1936-2001 Photo Archive

William A. Luke - Fageol & Twin Coach Buses 1922-1956 Photo Archive

William A. Luke - Yellow Coach Buses 1923 Through 1943: Photo Archive

William A. Luke - Trolley Buses: 1913 Through 2001 Photo Archive

Harvey Eckart - Mack Buses: 1900 Through 1960 Photo Archive

Brian Grams & Andrew Gold - GM Intercity Coaches 1944-1980 Photo Archive

Robert R. Ebert  - Flxible: A History of the Bus and the Company

John McKane - Flxible Transit Buses: 1953 Through 1995 Photo Archive

Bill Vossler - Cars, Trucks and Buses Made by Tractor Companies

Lyndon W Rowe - Municipal buses of the 1960s

Edward S. Kaminsky - American Car & Foundry Company 1899-1999

Dylan Frautschi - Greyhound in Postcards: Buses, Depots and Post Houses

 


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