Tag: News

Village Travel Acquires Mountain Home Charter Services

On January 15, we closed on the purchase of Mountain Home Charter Service. Based in Mountain Home, AR, this nine-coach company began operations in 1989, with the current owner purchasing it in 1997. At one point, this company offered retail tours in addition to its charter operation, but in recent years, it has only offered coach charters.

The company’s owner was ready to retire, so he contacted us to see if we’d be interested in the business. Since Village already has locations surrounding Mountain Home, exploring and eventually agreeing to the acquisition made sense. We will not continue to operate coaches in Mountain Home, AR, so the growth in coaches will be disbursed primarily to Little Rock and Springdale, with Little Rock adding five coaches to their fleet based on where most of the current Mountain Home customers are located. Three of the nine coaches will come to Wichita to be sold, and the rest of the fleet will be absorbed into locations that run MCI coaches – Little Rock will continue to operate only Prevost in their fleet. Scott Lumbert, the previous owner of Mountain Home Charter, shared with us, “I feel good knowing that the level of service that our customers have come to know will continue with Village at the wheel.”

Village Travel Acquires Arrow Coach Lines

Little Rock, here we come! As of November 1, 2023, Arrow Coach Lines in Little Rock, Arkansas, was acquired by Village Travel. Arrow Coach Lines has served the Little Rock area since 1944. The Lienhart family owned and operated the company from the beginning, and the second generation of this family business is now ready to retire after a lifelong career in the motorcoach industry. Arrow has left a legacy of high-quality motorcoach service, which we are eager to continue!

Arrow’s fleet consisted of nine Prevost coaches and five Ford Transit vans at the time of the acquisition and they employed approximately 20 staff/drivers. We’re happy to share that almost all Arrow’s drivers and employees have applied and been offered positions as a part of the Village team! We’ll be hard at work over the next several months, getting to know the Arrow employees and customers, implementing our processes, and making necessary fleet adjustments. We’re excited about the potential in Little Rock and believe this location fits nicely into the Village “footprint.”

Thank you to the Lienhart Family for entrusting us to step in and continue in this next phase of service for Arkansas.

Read the article from Bus & Motorcoach News about the acquisition.

Village Travel Acquires Kincaid Coach

On April 4, Village Travel agreed to purchase the assets and business of Kincaid Coach Lines. Kincaid began in the charter bus business back in 1977 in the Kansas City area. They grew to have locations in Wichita, Oklahoma City, Tulsa, Amarillo, Siloam Springs, and Panama Beach, Florida. Kincaid went on a dramatic growth spree in 2015 and even acquired Red Carpet Charters (OKC, Tulsa, and Dallas locations) in 2018. Before the pandemic, they ran over 80 coaches and thousands of school buses as the country’s largest Thomas school bus dealer.

During the pandemic, Kincaid shifted from the charter coach business to focus on their school bus and other business ventures. They contracted their fleet and shuttered all locations except Oklahoma City and Tulsa. At the time of the acquisition, Kincaid operated 23 units out of these two locations. Several older coaches had been parked and out of service since 2020, and those units were all sold.
So what does this mean for Village? After consolidating their business with ours, Kincaid’s coaches were absorbed into our OKC and Tulsa fleets.

In preparation for future growth, 10 acres of land was purchased last year in Oklahoma City for a new facility. Due to this Kincaid purchase, we have accelerated plans to construct a new terminal located west of the intersection of I-35 and I-44, only about a mile from our current OKC location.
It’s an exciting time to grow! Fifteen years ago, we had seven coaches in Oklahoma City and none in Tulsa – now, we are the clear market leader in both locations, with more than 65 coaches in Oklahoma.

Village Travel Hosts 2023 Travel Expo in Wichita

On April 1st, 2023, we hosted our first-ever “Village Travel Expo” at our Wichita offices! The event was a resounding triumph, with over 2,000 enthusiastic attendees flocking through the doors.

The morning of the expo was filled with nervous excitement as we hoped to attract at least 500 visitors. To our delight, by 11 am, we had already surpassed that number, and the momentum only continued to build! Every 30 minutes, a new speaker took the stage in the departure room, captivating audiences of often more than 150 eager listeners. The expo featured 18 fantastic vendors set up in the departure bays and a “bus petting zoo” in the shop, allowing visitors to get up close and personal with some of our seated and entertainer fleets. The parking lot and the drive to the north of the building were jam-packed with cars throughout the day, a testament to the overwhelming turnout.

Feedback from the vendors was nothing short of glowing, with our Carnival Cruise Lines representative expressing astonishment at the event’s success. “I’ve been doing travel events for 33 years, and this is probably the most attended, well-organized event I’ve ever participated in,” said the representative. “I have never run out of brochures within the first two hours of a show!”

The success of the Village Travel Expo wouldn’t have been possible without the dedication of nearly 30 Village People who volunteered their time to make the event a reality. Their hard work and enthusiasm truly made all the difference.

Thanks to the resounding success of this inaugural expo, we are now exploring opportunities to expand it into the other markets where we currently operate tours as we continue to bring the world of travel to our valued customers!

Transportation for Medical Workers in Texas

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, Village Travel has been providing transportation for medical first responders in high-risk areas. First, in New York City for more than 3 months as they battled rising COVID numbers. Now, our business has moved to southern Texas. KAKE News, in Wichita, did a feature story on our work in Texas.

“This job has certainly helped the Village drivers and the company as well. It has come at a great time and at a time that we needed it,” said Rusty Handy, General Manager of the Village Travel OKC Office.

There are currently 52 coaches throughout Texas, providing transportation for medical first responders. Our fleet consists of more than 125 seated coaches. We have drivers from all of our locations (in Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Arkansas) who have volunteered to be part of this important mission.

“Village was fortunate enough to be able to answer the call to move large numbers of medical personnel,” said Handy.

Our country has typically relied on the charter bus industry to move large numbers of people. Normally, the crisis is a hurricane or flooding, but this time it is a pandemic.

Providing paying jobs for employees to support their families and helping in the fight against COVID makes all the difference.

“There’s no better feeling than knowing that every day your efforts are helping those that are in need, down in Texas,” said Handy.

KAKE News aired a video story on our Texas charter efforts.

We are so proud of all our drivers who have sacrificed time away from home and their families to help out with this important cause. Want to learn more about our heros on the frontlines transporting medical workers? Several of our drivers have been featured by local news outlets!

  • Read about our Arkansas Driver, Gregg O’Bryan here.
  • Read about our Wichita Driver, Renee Moraine here.
  • Read about our Salina Driver, Richard Holmgren here.