Office: (864) 242-1673
Toll-free: (800) 833-7518
Our Mission: To be your first choice for safe and reliable motorcoach transportation.
Office: (864) 242-1673
Toll-free: (800) 833-7518
Our Mission: To be your first choice for safe and reliable motorcoach transportation.
About Jean’s Bus Service Inc.
Corporate Partners
Associations
Awards
• The Legacy Award
• President's Award
• Operator of the Year 2004
• Robert Cauley's Rodeo Awards
• MASC 2004 OPERATOR OF THE YEAR
Presented by MCASC Associate Members to an outstanding Operator Member to recognize professionalism and efforts to welcome associates, network, and obtain and use the information provided by associate members. August 17, 2004
Myrtle Beach, SC
• MOTORCOACH ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH CAROLINA AWARDED
Robert A. Cauley
First Place Achievement Award
In recognition of mechanics skills demonstrated
At the Fourth, Fifth, & Sixth Coach Rodeos
Customers
Testimonials
Professional Organizations
• United Motorcoach Association
www.uma.org
• South Carolina Motorcoach Association
www.scmotorcoach.org
• Founding member Owner, John Cauley Sr. won the Legacy Award presented by the Motor Coach Association of SC
History
Jean's Bus service is a family-owned and -operated business established in 1980. Jean and John started the company in their basement and now out of a remodeled Lay's potato chip warehouse. For more info on the company's history, please check out the article in The Greenville News article from 2010.
"Jean's Bus Service is All in the Family"
In the spring of 1980, as John Cauley registered his two recently purchased used buses at the highway department, he struggled for an answer when a clerk asked for the name of his new company.
"I hadn't thought about that," Cauley said, shaking his head as he recalled his lack of preparation for starting a new business.
Cauley's answer wasn't particularly creative. he chose Jean's Bus Service, naming it for the lady who had been his friend since the sixth grade at Paris Elementary and his wife since 1956.
What it lacked in long-term planning, Jean's Bus Service has more than compensated for in efficient management. The Cauleys, who "accidentally got into the bus business" when they bought two used buses in 1979 with plans of reselling them, today own and operates a fleet of 16 motor coaches and one Executive Enternainer coach, employing 28 professional drivers and a crew of mechanics.
They lead a family managed business that weekly sends drivers around the country, taking various groups on chartered tour packages.
At 75, John Cauley stays close to the phones at the corporate office on Furman Hall Road. But in 1980 he was often on the highway as Jean ran the administrative end from the basement of their home.
"The only reason I bought those buses was to do a little work on them and resell them," Said Cauley, who at the time had spent eight years as a mechanical engineer at J.E. Sirrine Co.
"Then I had a disagreement with the man who I thought was going to buys them, and I was stuck with two buses," he said.
As they sat at the breakfast table on a cold morning in February 1980, Jean wondered aloud "if we could get some folks to ride on our buses?"
"Maybe so, " John Cauley replied.
There was one way to find out. The Cauleys, who took money from their savings account to buy the buses, had to make a quick decision.
"We paid $1500 for those buses, it took tout whole savings," John Cauley said, "We had to figure out some way to figure out some way to get that money back."
The Cauleys knew the potential was there. When their children were members of the band at Wade Hampton High School, a few years earlier, Jean Cauley learned that it was difficult finding buses for out-of-town trips. In 1979, when she worked for a summer in a local bus company, she was often reminded that the company lacked enough buses to meet the requests.
In March 1980, John Cauley, who had owned a commercial drivers license since he began driving buses at Paris High, began driving bands and athletic teams on charter trips. He said, "It just developed from there."
It wasn't very long before Cauley, who had started a residential home building business after working 18 years for the J.E. Sirrine, was doing more bus driving than home building.
A big help came from the 1980 World's Fair, which attracted more than 100 local groups to Knoxville, Tenn. Typically, Cauley drove the bus to Knoxville, slept in a motel as the group enjoyed the fair, and brought the group back home that night. "I'd get home, clean the buses, and go again the next day." He said.
In the early days, there were frequent mechanical problems, many of them caused by recapped tires that cam uncapped a few hundred miles from home.
"There was always something happening to used buses. After a while, we learned it was better to buy new stuff." he said.
As the company grew, so did the assignments. Trips to Los Angeles and Nova Scotia re among the most memorable, and a trip to Amish farms in Pennsylvania is notable for its timing.
On September 11th, 2001, the day of the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington D.C., Cauley was about 50 miles from the site of the plane crash in Pennsylvania. Plane passengers were trying to regain control of the aircraft, which was believed to be headed to Washington, D.C., as part of the attack.
Today, John and Jean, who survived a battle with breast cancer in 2004, are surrounded in the office by daughter Jo Lynn and sons Johnny and Robbie. The latter calls his parents "the two workingest retired people you've ever seen."
the company moved to it's current location in 1994, where today it serves as a family reunion each day. Jean handles group tour planning and day-to-day operations; John is secretary of operations and safety manager; Jo Lynn serves as office manager; Johnny specializes in air-conditioning and electronic repair; youngest son Robbie, only 13 when the company started, is a certified mechanic who leads that department.
In 2007, 2008, and 2009, Robbie Cauley finished first in the mechanics rodeo of the Motor Coaches Association of South Carolina.
Over the years, Jean, John, and Jo Lynn have all served on the MCASC board of directors.
The Cauleys, who will celebrate their 56th wedding anniversary this fall, easily explain their attachment to the business.
"We enjoy what we do," says Jean Cauley