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Mid Bus was a corporation which specialized in manufacturing customized
school bus A school bus is any type of bus owned, leased, contracted to, or operated by a school or school district. It is regularly used to Student transport, transport students to and from school or school-related activities, but not including a charter ...
es. Formed in 1981 by former employees of Superior Coach Company in
Lima, Ohio Lima ( ) is a city in Allen County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 35,579. It is located in northwest Ohio along Interstate 75 in Ohio, Interstate 75, appr ...
, it grew from a dozen employees working in a small facility in Lima to become one of the country's largest manufacturers of smaller school buses, moving to a much larger facility a few miles north of Lima in 1995. The company was acquired by Collins Bus Corporation in 1998. On September 19, 2007, Collins announced plans to close the Mid Bus plant in Ohio and consolidate all manufacturing at the Collins facility in Kansas.


History

In 1980, in the US, there were six major
school bus A school bus is any type of bus owned, leased, contracted to, or operated by a school or school district. It is regularly used to Student transport, transport students to and from school or school-related activities, but not including a charter ...
body companies building large school buses, mostly making bodies for chassis from four truck manufacturers, joined by two coach-type school bus builders on the West Coast. Most also made some smaller buses of various types. With the baby boom years which swelled the ranks of school children in the past, the manufacturing industry faced serious over-capacity as companies vied and competed for lower volumes of purchases. In 1981, when Sheller-Globe Corporation, a diversified industrial conglomerate closed down its large Superior Coach Company bus factory in
Lima, Ohio Lima ( ) is a city in Allen County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the city had a population of 35,579. It is located in northwest Ohio along Interstate 75 in Ohio, Interstate 75, appr ...
, two former Superior managers, Lynn Metzger and Gary Geren along with a former Superior and Carpenter manager, Fred Barrington created Mid Bus, manufacturing Superior's smallest Type A bus under the new "Superior by Mid Bus" brand name. Initially, they had a seven other former employees of the large factory, and worked in a small shop on Wayne Street in Lima, OH. As other small bus products were added, Superior by Mid Bus was shortened to Mid Bus. In the mid-1980s, the company acquired the Minuteman product line from
AmTran American Transportation Corporation (better known as AmTran) was an American manufacturer of school bus bodies. Tracing its roots to Ward Body Works (established in 1933), AmTran was formed in 1980 following the 1979 bankruptcy of Ward to cont ...
(formerly Ward Body Company) and in the early 1990s, the tooling and product rights to Busette from Wayne Corporation. They also developed products of their own design to expand the product offering. After a succession of larger facilities in Lima, around 1995, the company moved to a much larger facility in Bluffton, Ohio. Mid Bus became a subsidiary of
Collins Industries Collins Industries is an American Bus manufacturing, bus manufacturer headquartered in South Hutchinson, Kansas. Best known for production of School bus, yellow school buses, the company produces buses for multiple applications; all bodies design ...
, a publicly traded stock company, in 1998. On September 19, 2007, Collins announced plans to close the Mid Bus plant in Ohio and consolidate all manufacturing at the Collins facility in Kansas. The Mid Bus production facility in Bluffton, Ohio was closed on November 9, 2007, and the production was moved to Collins' facility in South Hutchinson, Kansas.


Products

* Guide SRW - Ford E350 or GMC 3500/Chevy 3500 chassis * Guide DRW - Ford E350 or GMC 3500/Chevy 3500 chassis * Guide XL - GMC 4500/5500 chassis * MFSAB - Ford E350 or GMC 3500/Chevy 3500 chassis * Guide AL - international 3400 chassis


External links


Mid Bus homepage


References

{{North American School Bus Manufacturers Defunct bus manufacturers of the United States School bus manufacturers Defunct companies based in Ohio Manufacturing companies based in Ohio Lima, Ohio Vehicle manufacturing companies established in 1981 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 2008 1981 establishments in Ohio 2008 disestablishments in Ohio