MTR Western is an American
motorcoach
A coach (or coach bus/motorcoach) is a type of bus built for longer-distance service, in contrast to transit buses that are typically used within a single metropolitan region. Often used for touring, intercity, and international bus service ...
operator active in the western
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...
and
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
.
Services
MTR Western provides group charters, sightseeing tours, driver-narrated tour programs,
and on-call emergency transportation.
Charter clients include corporate customers such as
Microsoft
Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational technology corporation producing computer software, consumer electronics, personal computers, and related services headquartered at the Microsoft Redmond campus located in Redmond, Washin ...
,
Nike
Nike often refers to:
* Nike (mythology), a Greek goddess who personifies victory
* Nike, Inc., a major American producer of athletic shoes, apparel, and sports equipment
Nike may also refer to:
People
* Nike (name), a surname and feminine give ...
,
Intel
Intel Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company headquartered in Santa Clara, California. It is the world's largest semiconductor chip manufacturer by revenue, and is one of the developers of the x86 seri ...
,
Google
Google LLC () is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company focusing on Search Engine, search engine technology, online advertising, cloud computing, software, computer software, quantum computing, e-commerce, ar ...
, and
Yahoo
Yahoo! (, styled yahoo''!'' in its logo) is an American web services provider. It is headquartered in Sunnyvale, California and operated by the namesake company Yahoo Inc., which is 90% owned by investment funds managed by Apollo Global Manage ...
, in addition to touring entertainers, campaigning political candidates,
and college and professional sports teams. They carry essentially all of the
NFL and
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
teams that visit Seattle.
Tour clients include
Tauck
Tauck () is an operator of guided tours and cruises. The company is owned and operated by the Tauck family and is based in Wilton, Connecticut. Tauck offers more than 150 guided land journeys, small-ship ocean cruises, European river cruises, s ...
World Discovery,
American West Steamboat Company,
Caravan Tours,
Contiki Tours
Contiki is a New Zealand tour company that caters to 18- to 35-year-olds. It operates tours in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, North America, South America, Africa, Middle East and Asia. It is a subsidiary of The Travel Corporation. Its tours h ...
, and Trafalgar Tours.
MTR Western operates two lines of the
POINT Intercity Bus Service
The POINT Intercity Bus Service is a four-route, intercity bus service of the Oregon Department of Transportation (ODOT). The service is administered by ODOT's Public Transportation Division as part of its intercity grant program. The POINT servic ...
in Oregon.
History
MTR Western was founded in Seattle, Washington in 2003 by
Darren Berg with four
Prevost
Prevost, Prévost or Prévôt may refer to:
Places
* Prévost (electoral district), Quebec, a provincial electoral district
* Prévost, Quebec, a community in the Laurentians region of Quebec, Canada
** Prévost station
* Prevost, a community ...
H3-45 motorcoaches. By 2007, they were one of the largest premium motorcoach companies in North America, with facilities in Seattle,
Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
* Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States
* Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
,
Spokane
Spokane ( ) is the largest city and county seat of Spokane County, Washington, United States. It is in eastern Washington, along the Spokane River, adjacent to the Selkirk Mountains, and west of the Rocky Mountain foothills, south of the Ca ...
,
Eugene,
The Dalles
The Dalles is the largest city of Wasco County, Oregon, United States. The population was 16,010 at the 2020 census, and it is the largest city on the Oregon side of the Columbia River between the Portland Metropolitan Area, and Hermiston ...
, San Francisco, Salt Lake City, Vancouver, and
Calgary, and winner of the BUSRide 2006 Motorcoach Industry Achievement Award.
MTR Western's three-year growth of 1,214.9% earned it national recognition in
Inc. Magazine's "Inc. 500", a list of America's fastest growing private companies in 2007. The list ranks MTR Western as number 166 in the U.S., number 9 in Washington State, and number 3 in the Transportation category.
In 2008 they debuted in
Metro Magazine's "Motorcoach Top 50" at number 17. MTR Western is known for their award-winning "compelling and creative"
bus wrap designs.
Darren Berg funneled millions of dollars from a
Ponzi scheme into MTR Western. After Berg's arrest in 2010, he filed for
Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and a bankruptcy trustee sold Berg's assets.
On January 14, 2011, MTR announced the sale of MTR Western and OC&W Coachways to GTO LLC. The lead investor in GTO is Howard S. Wright III, co-owner of the
Space Needle
The Space Needle is an observation tower in Seattle, Washington, United States. Considered to be an icon of the city, it has been designated a Seattle landmark. Located in the Lower Queen Anne neighborhood, it was built in the Seattle Center ...
.
Gregoire license plate controversy
On April 10, 2008, MTR Western became involved in a controversy between the
Washington State Republican Party
The Washington State Republican Party is the state affiliate of the national United States Republican Party, headquartered in Bellevue.
History
Campaigns and elections
Washington voters tend to support Democratic Party candidates, with ''The ...
and Democratic Governor
Christine Gregoire
Christine Gregoire (; née O'Grady; born March 24, 1947) is an American politician who served as the 22nd governor of Washington from 2005 to 2013. A member of the Democratic Party, she defeated Republican candidate Dino Rossi in 2004, and ag ...
. In a press release, State Republican Party Chairman
Luke Esser
Luke Esser (born August 26, 1961) is an American attorney, journalist, and politician who served as the chairman of the Washington State Republican Party from 2007 to 2011. He was elected on January 27, 2007, when he defeated incumbent chairwoman ...
said, "Gov. Gregoire has been making it harder and harder for businesses to survive here in our state for three years, so it's no surprise that her campaign hired a bus with
Oregon license plates to save money. The symbolism of Gov. Gregoire's bus tour couldn't be plainer."
Washington-based MTR Western responded the next day with a press release
citing Federal law: "Our Oregon license plates are issued pursuant to the
International Registration Plan (IRP), which was created by wise federal legislation put into place to simplify the registration of commercial vehicles that travel in interstate commerce," said MTR Western CEO and founder Darren Berg. "It's disheartening to be associated with misleading statements that support an opinion that business opportunities are grim in the state of Washington."
One columnist from traditionally Republican
Eastern Washington
Eastern Washington is the region of the U.S. state of Washington located east of the Cascade Range. It contains the city of Spokane (the second largest city in the state), the Tri-Cities, the Columbia River and the Grand Coulee Dam, the Hanf ...
wrote of the controversy, "On Thursday the state Republican Party issued a press release titled "Gregoire Driving An Oregon Bus on Re-Election Tour" that screamed of scandal... Long story short, there’s no story here, much less a full blown scandal."
Associated Companies
OC&W Coachways
MTR Western purchased Eugene, Oregon-based
Oregon Coachways in 2006 from owners Donald Moorehead and John Mikulvich. The company, now named
OC&W Coachways, provides no-frills charter bus service in Oregon, California, and Washington.
GeoGenius
''GeoGenius'' was a company based in Seattle, Washington that produced travel-related audio and video content for
GPS
The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of the global navigation satellite sy ...
-enabled devices.
GeoGenius was founded by CEO Darren Berg in 2007. The company's first client was the parent company, which contracted them to develop GPS-triggered audio and video content for use by their motorcoach tour customers.
The GeoGenius proof of concept, a multiple channel, multiple interest, GPS-triggered 7-day tour from San Francisco to Seattle, commenced operation in May, 2007.
Another video tour was scheduled to be installed on MTR Western's "hop on, hop off" city sightseeing tour of Vancouver, B.C. in April 2008. Historical and travel-related content is featured on other tours of Vancouver operated by MTR Western subsidiary Sightline Tours.
The company was developing content for personal download to multiple platforms, allowing tourists to construct their own tours.
GeoGenius development is overseen by Lorayne Deceour.
References
External links
MTR Western U.S. websiteOC&W Coachways websiteSightline Tours websiteGeoGenius website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mtr Western
Companies based in Seattle
Bus transportation in Washington (state)
Bus transportation in Oregon
Bus transportation in California
Bus transportation in Utah
Bus transport in Alberta
Bus transport in British Columbia
Economy of the Western United States
Bus companies of the United States
Transport companies established in 2003
Transportation companies based in Washington (state)