MILESTONE 5000: MCI delivers important J4500 to Riteway

Riteway Bus Service in Richfield, Wisconsin, has always liked to do things, well, right. In 2007, the company celebrated its 50th anniversary. And last month, the company took delivery of a new J4500 — which happened to be the 5,000th unit off the E4500 and J4500 assembly line at MCI's Winnipeg plant.

Founded by Rollie and Pearl Bast in 1957 with four school buses, the Riteway fleet today measures 32 motor coaches, 18 of them MCI J4500s, as well as 500 school buses plus 30 limos and cars. Ronald Bast, president and son of Rollie and Pearl, runs the company today with his sister Rochelle, who serves as vice president. Together, and with the continuing input of their parents, they oversee a staff of about 700 and manage eight Wisconsin locations.

Riteway's most prominent customer is undoubtedly the Milwaukee Bucks, and it is a preferred charter provider for hundreds of groups and companies in greater Milwaukee and the Midwest. The company also offers tours throughout the U.S. and operates routes for Washington County Commuter Express. Riteway estimates that its motor coaches travel more than 1.9 million miles annually.

Ron Bast is especially enthusiastic about his new coach's super-green credentials — it is the first clean-diesel coach in the Riteway fleet. "As much as offering cleaner transport is a marketing differentiation for us, it's also good for Milwaukee and the surrounding area," says Bast, who has been talking up the green attributes of motor coach travel for about a year now on the company blog.

"Riteway's new clean-diesel coach demonstrates their leadership in moving toward a greener future," said Patricia Ziska, MCI vice president, chief customer officer. "Their new J4500 not only reaches new environmental standards, it fulfills operators' demands for performance, and passengers' expectations of riding comfort."

MCI began building the J4500 in 2001 as a simplified version of the sophisticated E4500 (formerly called the Renaissance). BMW Designworks USA helped create the models, both of which feature a patented spiral entryway for easy boarding and have won awards for their styling.

By 2004, the J4500 reached the top position of the National Bus Trader hit parade of motor coach models and remains the leader. To date, MCI has built nearly 3,000 J4500s. According to National Bus Trader, which tracks sales data for the industry, the J4500 has been the number-one model since 2004 and again leads as the bestseller in the first and second quarters of 2008.

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