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Chamber Awards Gala 2011: Chamber lauds Ransomville Bus Lines

by jmaloni
Sat, Apr 16th 2011 07:00 am

Prepared by the Niagara River Region Chamber of Commerce

The Niagara River Region Chamber of Commerce will honor nine businesses and individuals at its annual Chamber Awards Gala, beginning at 5:30 p.m. Saturday, June 4, at the Niagara Falls Country Club in Lewiston.

The evening is one of the chamber's highlights of the year. It's held to celebrate the business community and those citizens who help contribute to the success of the region.

In today's Sentinel, we continue our profiles of this year's recipients with the Ransomville Business of the Year honoree: Ransomville Bus Lines Inc.

The business has been chosen as the 2011 Ransomville Business of the Year by the Ransomville Business & Professional Association. Located at 3700 Ransomville Road, the business has been an important part of Ransomville for more than 75 years. Paul Schultz owns and operates the business with his sons, Kenny and Steve, and employs a staff of approximately 89 people.

Paul's father Les Schultz started the bus company in 1934 with just a few buses. In 1954, Paul was fresh out of the service and was ready to work at the Carborundum Company when Les offered him a job at the bus garage for $60 a week. It's now a family affair; Kenny joined the company in 1976 and Steve in 1978.

Buses start preparing for the day at 5 a.m. and oftentimes are out on runs until 5 p.m. While Ransomville Bus Lines transport students in the local community, their services also expand out to transporting students all over Western New York, including daily schedules running to Medina, Pendleton, North Tonawanda and Buffalo.

Ransomville Bus Lines originally started transporting students for the Wilson Central School District and grew to expand the business, contracting with the Lewiston-Porter Central Schools when that district was formed in 1953. The district was looking for a reliable and safety-conscious bus company to transport students, and Ransomville Bus Lines was highly recommended because of its safety record. At that time there were six buses, and in order to fulfill the contract with the Lewiston-Porter District, the company purchased 13 buses that were stockpiled by the U.S. Army. In order to find drivers for those buses, it is said that Les went door-to-door to the various farmers in the area offering jobs, figuring if they could drive a farm tractor, they could drive a bus.

The company has grown to a present-day fleet of 90 buses in operation and works with the school districts to meet the students' needs. During the summer months, buses are also busy, used to provide transportation for a number of the local recreation programs.

Ransomville and the surrounding communities have much to be grateful for with a business that takes pride in transporting precious cargo every day.

Ransomville Bus Lines Inc. is located at 3700 Ransomville Road, P.O. Box 156, Ransomville, NY 14131; phone: 791-3621, fax: 791-4367.

The Ransomville Business Association and the Chamber of Commerce proudly congratulate Ransomville Bus Lines Inc. as the Ransomville Business of the Year.

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