Bieber Transportation Group was an American

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

company based in

Kutztown, Pennsylvania Kutztown (Pennsylvania German: ''Kutzeschteddel'') is a borough in Berks County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is located southwest of Allentown and northeast of Reading. As of the 2010 census, the borough had a population of 5,012. Kutztown ...

, operating intercity commuter buses,

charter bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

es, and

tours Tours ( , ) is one of the largest cities in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the prefecture of the department of Indre-et-Loire. The commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabitants as of 2018 while the population of the whole metro ...

. The company provided bus service from the

Reading Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of letters, symbols, etc., especially by sight or touch. For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process involving such areas as word recognition, orthography (spelling ...

and

Lehigh Valley The Lehigh Valley (), known colloquially as The Valley, is a geographic region formed by the Lehigh River in Lehigh County and Northampton County in eastern Pennsylvania. It is a component valley of the Great Appalachian Valley bound to the no ...

regions of eastern

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...

and

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

. The company was founded by Carl R. Bieber in 1946. Bieber ended operations on February 8, 2019.

Service

Bieber bus 553 at 10th and Filbert streets in Philadelphia

Prior to ending operations in 2019, Bieber Transportation Group provided intercity commuter bus service from points in eastern

to the Philadelphia Greyhound Terminal in

and the intersection of 8th Avenue and 39th Street in the Midtown Manhattan section of

. Service was provided daily along a route running from

and the

to Philadelphia and a route running from Reading and the Lehigh Valley to New York City. Bieber offered one-way and round-trip tickets along with commuter books offering multiple tickets for commuters to use in a 30-day period. Bieber also offered

tour bus service A tour bus service is an escorted tour (sometimes a package holiday) or bus service that takes visitors sightseeing, with routes around tourist attractions. Information Double-decker buses and open top buses are commonly used, for pro ...

to domestic and international destinations, including casino excursions to Atlantic City. The company offered

charters A charter is the grant of authority or rights, stating that the granter formally recognizes the prerogative of the recipient to exercise the rights specified. It is implicit that the granter retains superiority (or sovereignty), and that the rec ...

for groups for single-day or multi-day trips along with weddings, airport transfers, casino excursions, and cruise ports.

Stop locations

Fleet

Bieber Transportation Group had a fleet of 54 buses, which included several luxury coaches. The fleet consisted of tour buses manufactured by

Motor Coach Industries Motor Coach Industries (MCI) is a North American multinational bus manufacturer, specializing in production of motorcoaches. Best known for coaches produced for intercity transit and commuter buses, MCI produces coaches for a variety of appli ...

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 ...

, and

Van Hool Van Hool NV () is a Belgium, Belgian family-owned coachbuilder and manufacturer of buses, Coach (bus), coaches, trolleybuses, and Semi-trailer, trailers. Most of the buses and coaches are built entirely by Van Hool, with engines and axle ...

that can seat between 33 and 56 passengers. Amenities on the buses included heating and air conditioning, restrooms, PA system, DVD players, and AM/FM CD stereo.

Partnerships

Bieber Transportation Group served as the exclusive motorcoach carrier for sports teams such as the

Lehigh Valley Phantoms The Lehigh Valley Phantoms are a professional ice hockey team based in Allentown, Pennsylvania. The team competes in the American Hockey League (AHL) and serves as the primary development team for the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey L ...

Lehigh Valley IronPigs The Lehigh Valley IronPigs are a Minor League Baseball team of the International League (IL) and the Triple-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies. They are located in Allentown, Pennsylvania, and are named in reference to pig iron, used in the ...

, and the

Reading Royals The Reading Royals are a professional ice hockey team that currently plays in the ECHL. The team participates in the North Division of the ECHL's Eastern Conference. The Royals play their home games at the Santander Arena located in downtown R ...

. The company also provided transportation to the sports teams of

Muhlenberg College Muhlenberg College is a private liberal arts college in Allentown, Pennsylvania. Founded in 1848, Muhlenberg College is affiliated with the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and is named for Henry Muhlenberg, the German patriarch of Luthe ...

and

DeSales University DeSales University (DSU) is a private Catholic university in Center Valley, Pennsylvania. The university offers traditional, online, and hybrid courses and programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Named for St. Francis de Sales, the u ...

. Bieber formerly maintained a transportation relationship with

Kutztown University Kutztown University of Pennsylvania (Kutztown University or KU) is a public university in Kutztown, Pennsylvania. It is part of the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education (PASSHE) and is accredited by the Middle States Commission on High ...

athletics.

History

Carl R. Bieber Sr. opened a trucking company in Kutztown in 1928. He gradually added buses to his fleet; in 1946 the company began charter bus service from the Lehigh Valley. In 1976, Bieber's son Carl R. Bieber Jr. took over the company. Company founder Carl R. Bieber died in 1991. In 2001, Bieber Jr. sold the company to Steven G. Haddad, who kept the Bieber name. Bieber Jr. died on June 10, 2005 at the age of 62. Bieber acquired competitor Capitol Trailways in 2008. In October 2016, Bieber suspended service on a route from Schuylkill Haven and

Pottsville, PA Pottsville is the county seat of Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 13,346 at the 2020 census, and is the principal city of the Pottsville, PA Micropolitan Statistical Area. The city lies along the west bank of th ...

to Reading and Philadelphia. In March 2018, Bieber ended bus service along a route connecting

York York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...

, Lancaster, Pottstown,

Limerick Limerick ( ; ga, Luimneach ) is a western city in Ireland situated within County Limerick. It is in the province of Munster and is located in the Mid-West which comprises part of the Southern Region. With a population of 94,192 at the 2016 ...

, and

Norristown Norristown may mean: * Norristown, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Norristown, Georgia, an unincorporated community * Norristown, Indiana, an unincorporated community * Norristown, Pennsylvania Norristown is a municipality with home ...

to New York City. In 2017, Bieber paid a $20,000 settlement to the

U.S. Department of Justice The United States Department of Justice (DOJ), also known as the Justice Department, is a federal executive department of the United States government tasked with the enforcement of federal law and administration of justice in the United State ...

for failing to comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act. In 2018, the Internal Revenue Service filed a $915,736 lien against Bieber while the state of

filed a $187,143 lien against the company. In May 2018, a

Berks County Berks County (Pennsylvania German: ''Barricks Kaundi'') is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 428,849. The county seat is Reading. The Schuylkill River, a tributary of the Delaware River, ...

judge ordered Bieber to pay First National Bank of Pennsylvania $450,968 as part of a lawsuit. Bieber put their bus terminal in Reading up for sale in 2018. On July 28, 2018, the Bieber bus stop in

moved from the

Port Authority Bus Terminal The Port Authority Bus Terminal (colloquially known as the Port Authority and by its acronym PABT) is a bus terminal located in Manhattan in New York City. It is the busiest bus terminal in the world by volume of traffic, serving about 8,000 buse ...

to 383 Madison Avenue at East 47th Street due to an unpaid $214,000 bill to the

Port Authority of New York and New Jersey The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, PANYNJ; stylized, in logo since 2020, as Port Authority NY NJ, is a joint venture between the U.S. states of New York and New Jersey, established in 1921 through an interstate compact authorize ...

for use of the terminal. Bieber had previously missed payments to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and was threatened with termination notices in 2008, 2010, and 2012; with the termination in 2018 being permanent. Trans-Bridge Lines took over Bieber's gate at Port Authority Bus Terminal and implemented service from Wescosville and Hellertown to New York City. On August 20, 2018, the stop in New York City moved to West 31st Street between 7th Avenue and 8th Avenue. Starting August 27, 2018, Bieber buses heading toward New York City ran to the Weehawken Port Imperial ferry terminal in

Weehawken, New Jersey Weehawken is a township in the northern part of Hudson County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located largely on the Hudson Palisades overlooking the Hudson River. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 17,197.

, where a

New York Waterway NY Waterway (or New York Waterway) is a private transportation company running ferry and bus service in the Port of New York and New Jersey and in the Hudson Valley. The company utilizes public-private partnership with agencies such as the Port ...

ferry provided a connection across the

Hudson River The Hudson River is a river that flows from north to south primarily through eastern New York. It originates in the Adirondack Mountains of Upstate New York and flows southward through the Hudson Valley to the New York Harbor between N ...

to New York City; the ferry ride was included in the price of the bus ticket. On November 6, 2018, Bieber buses resumed direct service into New York City with a stop at the intersection of 8th Avenue and 39th Street, with service to Weehawken Port Imperial discontinued. On February 8, 2019, Bieber abruptly cancelled all bus service and later announced that the company was going out of business after 72 years due to decreasing ridership and increasing expenses. During the closing, employees of the company were having trouble getting their paychecks and were seen packing up their belongings at the company headquarters in Kutztown.

References

External links

* (defunct
archived page from January 2019
{{NYC surface transit Intercity bus companies of the United States Bus transportation in Pennsylvania Bus transportation in New York (state) Transport companies established in 1946 Transport companies disestablished in 2019 Companies based in Berks County, Pennsylvania 1946 establishments in Pennsylvania 2019 disestablishments in Pennsylvania Transportation companies based in Pennsylvania