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Keller Transportation Takes Charter Luxury to a Whole New Level with a New, Customized MCI® J4500

SCHAUMBURG, IL — December 12, 2011 — Keller Transportation General Manager David Richardson finds that today's charter coach customer is someone who might have been a frequent flyer or long-distance driver only a few years ago. "Flying has gotten a lot more inconvenient and driving alone has gotten too expensive and time-consuming," he observes.

Of course, it helps to have an affordable transportation alternative that busy people can't refuse.

Waldorf, Maryland-based Keller has just added a customized MCI J4500 to the part of its fleet dedicated to the high-end business traveler who needs to work comfortably and productively on the road. Keller's roomy 50-seat coach is powered by a Cummins ISX clean-diesel engine and an Allison B500 transmission and features all the amenities necessary to create a rolling office, conference and meeting space — Wi-Fi, wood grain-look floors and Bosch AV equipment for in-coach programming.

The maiden voyage of the new coach — part of the company's 65-coach, all-MCI fleet — is carrying a group of U.S. Congressional staffers to a regional meeting. "People are becoming more open-minded about coach travel once they realize that it's not the bus they had to ride in college," says Richardson. "Today, organizations can transport whole departments to meetings and conferences on a single coach and they can easily bring their work on board and get ready with their colleagues," said Richardson. As the company has refocused from public commuter transport to charter operations, he notes, "In the last two years alone, our charter business is up 65 percent."

Keller's new J4500 includes ten 110-volt back-of-seat outlets for laptops and safety features including an Amerex fire suppression system and a SmartWave® tire pressure monitoring system that come standard.

Keller Transportation's history began in 1927 when Ernest Keller began providing school bus transportation for the Charles County Public School System. The company still operates school transportation, but it began its life as a coach operator in 1968 and made its first new coach purchase an MCI MC-8 in 1978.

Keller Transportation has been all-MCI since then. "MCI is the workhorse of the motor coach industry," says Richardson. "We've watched MCI go through a lot of changes through the years, and MCI's always been loyal to us, so we've stayed loyal to MCI."

Keller's website is www.kellerbus.com.

The MCI J4500 is North America's best-selling intercity coach, a distinction it has enjoyed for nearly seven years running. The coach also features clean-diesel technology that limits particulate matter as well as wide-ride suspension and electronic stability control.

Motor Coach Industries, headquartered in Schaumburg, Illinois, is the leading builder of intercity, over-the-road coaches for the tour, charter, line-haul, scheduled service, commuter transit and conversion markets in the U.S. and Canada. The company also operates six sales centers and seven service centers in the U.S. and Canada. MCI offers a network of aftermarket services including parts supply for most makes and models.

Press contact: Patricia Plodzeen Public Relations, 847-283-0883; or Motor Coach Industries Marketing Department, 847-285-2035.

 

Motor Coach Industries: Corporate Address 1700 East Golf Road, Suite 300, Schaumburg, Illinois 60173 | Phone: 866-MCICOACH

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