Illinois School Bus Company Buys Murphy Bus Service
By David P. Willis, Asbury Park Press, N.J.
Aug. 29–MIDDLETOWN — An Illinois school bus company has acquired Murphy Bus Service from its founder for an undisclosed sum.
Owner John Murphy said he sold the school-transportation business, which he began with a single bus in 1966 and grew into the largest independent contractor in New Jersey, to Downers Grove, Ill.-based Durham School Services, the third-largest student transportation provider in the U.S.
Murphy, 72, estimates that Murphy Bus has about 550 school buses, serves about 100 districts, and has about 600 to 700 drivers and employees.
Murphy Bus has six offices in New Jersey, including Lakewood, Tinton Falls, Middletown and Little Egg Harbor. Durham School Services already has an office in Freehold Township.
“We are expecting the acquisition and the transition and everything to be very seamless. It should be seamless for our customers and also everybody that is at Murphy,” said Durham School Services spokeswoman Tiffini Bloniarz. “This acquisition is something that broadens our regional base of operations for that area.”
The company will keep the Murphy name on the buses “for a while,” Murphy said.
“Their promise to me is that they are not going to change anything other than … some forms,” Murphy said. “As far as it affects all the employees and drivers, there’s going to be no change.”
Murphy said Durham also will continue Murphy Bus Service’s reputation.
Murphy said he will still own Murphy Enterprises, his taxi and limousine service. Murphy lives in Middletown and has a winter home in Palm Beach, Fla.
“I want to relax,” Murphy said. “When you own a school bus business, every year in August and September is like starting up a brand new business.”
In New Jersey, school bus contracts must be renewed each year, he said. “You never know year to year how secure you might be, depending on whether you are able to renew your contracts or they get put out to bid,” Murphy said.
Another challenge is finding enough drivers to cover the contracts, he said.
Murphy said he is not sad to sell the business. “I sort of do miss the challenge, and yet as I look at it further back, I am better off without the challenge each year,” he said.
He also wants to spend time with his philanthropic causes, such as the Barn for the Poorest of the Poor, which provides meals for the needy, Ave Maria University in Florida and the Sisters of Charity.
“I have a heritage that’s been passed on down to me by my mother and father, and I want to continue it,” Murphy said.
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