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Thomas Built Buses history
Thomas Built Buses company history timeline
In 1972 James Norman Thomas temporarily assumed the firm's presidency following the unexpected death (heart attack) of his brother, John Willard Thomas Sr.
On a bookcase in a corner of the office is a small, mounted model of a Thomas Highway Coach, with the inscription that this was presented to Thomas at the company's sales meeting in 1972.
217 (Bus Emergency Exits and Window Retention and Release) had already taken effect (on September 1, 1973).
Robert Marks’ Personality Profile of the Thaoms Built's new president, John W. Thomas, Jr., appeared in the December 9, 1973 edition of the High Point Enterprise:
R-Ill, noted during a 1973 congressional hearing that school administrators usually purchase buses from the lowest bidder. ‘So long as there are not adequate standards, then the bids come in for a school bus but not necessarily for a safe school bus.’ Percy said.
Thomas' chief engineer, James Tidings, contributed to an Associated Press article detailing the costs involved in producing buses that met the new regulations, the October 3, 1974 edition of the High Point Enterprise reporting:
A School Bus Safety Amendment was passed in 1974, and since that time the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has issued 36 Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) which apply to school buses.
The January 25, 1975 edition of the High Point Enterprise mentioned that Thomas Built was embroiled in yet another price-fixing lawsuit, this time in the state of Alabama:
Orion was a reorganization of Ontario Bus Industries, a Mississauga, Ontario, Canada firm founded in 1975 to manufacture transit buses for the government of Ontario.
In an article detailing the proposed purchase of a fleet of eighteen $62,500 GM Transit Coaches for the city of High Point, the March 11, 1976 edition of the High Point Enterprise mentioned that:
The new standards which were slated to take effect on April 1, 1977 included; FMVSS No.
In 1977, Thomas introduced its first bus chassis and began producing the popular Saf-T-Liner® transit-style bus.
In 1978, Thomas' High Point factory constructed 6,000 school buses in a 400,00o sq. ft. facility situtated on 125 acres of land, several of which were paved over to store buses waiting for delivery.
In 1980 Thomas introduced a cutaway van-based school bus called the Minotour, which could accommodate up to 30 passengers.
In 1989, Thomas introduced a second conventional-style bus to its model line, launching the Thomas Vista school bus.
131 - School Bus Pedestrian Safety Devices – wasn’t implemented until May 5, 1991.
The Thomas Vista continued production, shifting chassis in 1991 from General Motors to a variant of Navistar chassis shared with the Saf-T-Liner Conventional.
In 1992, the fourth generation of the Thomas family took over daily operations of the company (becoming the first family-owned school bus company to do so).
In 1993 a CNG-powered Thomas Built bus made a 35-day, 3,500-mile journey from North Carolina to California to demonstrate that the infrastructure was already in place to make Compressed Natural Gas/propane a viable alternative to diesel/gasoline technology.
In 1994 the company was awarded the largest single contract in its history, a $104 million bid to manufacture 2,000 buses for the South Carolina school system.
In 1995 they produced more than 8,000 buses in High Point and another 2,500 in their plant in Woodstock, Ontario, Canada.
Derived from the Freightliner FL60/FL70 medium-duty trucks introduced in 1995, the FS-65 chassis was paired with the Saf-T-Liner Conventional body, after several modifications (distinguished by the addition of a 4-piece windshield).
In 1996 Thomas established an assembly plant in Monterrey, Mexico that produced 4 buses per day, the firm's High Point plant averaging 36 per day, and Woodstock, 18 per day.
In 1996 the firm's offical biographer, Clint Johnson, detailed the steps required to assemble a new Thomas Built bus:
By 1996, Thomas had become the largest school bus manufacturer in the United States (by market share). To keep up with added demand, the company opened a third factory in Monterrey, Mexico.
In 1997, it acquired the heavy truck division of Ford Motor Co., which was re-launched as Sterling.
For the 1997 model year, Freightliner introduced the Freightliner FS-65 school bus chassis.
In late 1999, Thomas Built opened a new plant in High Point to build its popular Minotour bus.
To better compete with the Blue Bird TC/2000 and Ward Senator (which became the AmTran Genesis), Thomas replaced the Saf-T-Liner EF with the All Star, using an Oshkosh-produced chassis.
The March 7, 2001 edition of the Gastonia Gaston Gazette (NC) announced Thomas was eliminating 125 jobs at the High Point plant:
Following the 2001 replacement of the FL-series Business Class with the Business Class M2, development was underway on a new-generation Thomas Saf-T-Liner conventional school bus.
They were joined by the City of High Point who offered $4.5 million, North Carolina kicked in $8.5 million and Randolph County and the neighboring city of Archdale pledged another $750,000, the June 22, 2002 edition of the Shelby Star (N.C.) reporting:
The redesignedSaf-T-Liner HDX, replaced the older Saf-T-Liner ER and HD in 2002.
For 2003, Freightliner became the sole chassis supplier for the Saf-T-Liner Conventional, with all Conventionals becoming Saf-T-Liner FS-65s.
In 2004, Thomas renamed the HD the Saf-T-Liner HDX.
In 2005, company founder Perley Thomas became one of the first inductees (posthumously) of the North Carolina Transportation Hall of Fame in Raleigh, North Carolina.
Leveraging the success of the C2 and responding to customer demand for green technology, Thomas Built Buses introduced the hybrid Saf-T-Liner C2e in 2007.
For 2009, Thomas launched a second model line of small buses.
In 2010, John O'Leary was succeeded as company president by Kelley Platt; the first female leader of a major school bus manufacturer, Platt served as manager of treasury services during the Freightliner acquisition of Thomas Built Buses.
In 2011, the High Point facilities of Thomas Built Buses achieved Zero-Waste-to-Landfill status in its vehicle production.
In 2016, Thomas Built Buses marked 100 years since the founding of Perley Thomas Car Works, becoming the first current bus body manufacturer to reach 100 years of production in North America.
In late 2017, in line with each major school bus manufacturer, Thomas unveiled a fully electric school bus prototype.
In late 2019, Thomas entered into a joint venture with Trans Tech to jointly develop a small school bus.
The Saf-T-Liner C2 Jouley (deriving its name from the unit of energy) is scheduled to enter full production during 2020.
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Thomas Built Buses competitors
| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mack Trucks | 1900 | $1.5B | 2,000 | - |
| General Motors | 1908 | $187.4B | 155,000 | 2,417 |
| PACCAR | 1905 | $31.6B | 27,000 | 140 |
| Blue Bird | 1927 | $1.3B | 2,160 | 100 |
| Cummins | 1919 | $34.1B | 57,825 | 604 |
| Nova Bus | 1979 | $160.0M | 3,000 | - |
| Motor Coach Industries | 1933 | $1.6B | 2,300 | 16 |
| Caterpillar | 1925 | $64.8B | 97,300 | 987 |
| Continental Teves Inc | 1998 | $232.6M | 1,877 | - |
| STIHL Incorporated | 1974 | $530.0M | 14,920 | - |
Thomas Built Buses history FAQs
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Thomas Built Buses may also be known as or be related to Perley A. Thomas Car Works, Thomas Built Buses, Thomas Built Buses Inc and Thomas Built Buses, Inc.