# List of school bus manufacturers

In most instances, school bus manufacturers are second stage manufacturers; however, a few school buses (typically those of Type D configuration) utilize a body and chassis produced by a single manufacturer.

## School bus configurations

The North American school bus industry produces buses in four different body configurations, listed below:
School bus configurations (images of contemporary school bus models) :
| Configuration | Type A | Type B | Type C | Type D |
| Passenger capacity (typical) | ≥10 typically 16-36 | ≥10 typically 30-36 | ≥10 typically 36-78 | ≥10 typically 36-90 |
| GVWR | Type A-I: ≤ 14,500 pounds (6,600 kg)Type A-II:14,500 pounds (6,600 kg) and up | Type B-I: ≤ 10,000 pounds (4,500 kg)Type B-II: between 10,000–21,499 pounds (4,536–9,752 kg) | over 21,500 pounds (9,800 kg)(typically between 23,000–29,500 pounds (10,400–13,400 kg)) | over 20,000 pounds (9,100 kg)(typically between 25,000–36,000 pounds (11,000–16,000 kg)) |
| Description | A bus body placed on a cutaway van chassis with a left-side driver's door Single or dual rear wheels on drive axles. | A bus body mounted to either a stripped chassis or a cowled chassis The entrance door is mounted behind the front wheels In most versions (stripped-chassis models), the engine compartment is located partially inside the passenger compartment next to the driver and the hood is significantly shorter than that of conventional buses (similar to step vans) | A bus body mounted to a cowled medium-duty truck chassis In the past, the chassis was often supplied from another manufacturer, but more recently, the chassis manufacturer and the bus body manufacturer are the same company. Although typically of cowled-chassis chassis design, a few Type C buses are of cutaway-cab design. The entrance door is mounted behind the front wheels. The engine is mounted forward of the windshield | A bus body mounted to a separate chassis. The entrance door mounted in front of the front wheels. Single rear axle or (very rarely) tandem rear axles The engine is mounted next to the driver inside the bus (front-engine/"FE"), in the rear of the bus behind the rearmost seats (rear-engine/"RE"), or in between the axles underneath the floor ("amidship" or "mid-engine") The last mid-engine Type D school buses were manufactured when Crown Coach ceased operations in 1991. |

## Lists of manufacturers

| Current manufacturers |
| Company name | Current bus production | Founded | Location | Notes |
| Full-line manufacturers |
| Blue Bird Corporation | Type A (Micro Bird, Inc. joint venture) Type B (formerly)Type CType D | 1932 | Fort Valley, Georgia | Blue Bird is a publicly held company with Cerberus Capital Management as majority stakeholder. In a joint venture, Blue Bird markets Girardin-produced Type A buses under the Blue Bird name. Blue Bird produces school buses fueled by diesel, gasoline, propane, and CNG, along with fully electric school buses. |
| IC Bus | Type A (formerly) Type B (formerly) Type C Type D (formerly) | 2002 | Lisle, Illinois (corporate)Tulsa, Oklahoma (assembly)Conway, Arkansas (parts fabrication) | IC is a wholly owned subsidiary of Navistar International Corporation. IC is a rebranding of AmTran, the successor of Ward Body Works. |
| Lion Electric Company (La Compagnie Électrique Lion) | Type A (formerly) Type C Type D | 2011 | Saint-Jérôme, Quebec, Canada | Previously known as Lion Bus/Autobus Lion, Lion Electric Company renamed itself in 2017 as part of its focus on electric vehicle production. Lion produces Type C (conventional) buses on Spartan Motors chassis. Along with diesel-fuel buses (Lion 360), the company produces the first full-size electric school bus (eLion). Lion bus bodies are produced with composite materials in place of steel to minimize corrosion. Type D school buses are in production since 2019. The company stated in December 2024 that it was entering creditor protection in Canada and Chapter 15 bankruptcy in the US, as it defaulted on its debt; Lion laid off 920 employees during the year, including a temporary layoff of 400 employees at the Illinois plant. |
| RIDE (Real Innovation Delivered with Excellence) | Type A Type C Type D | 2023 | Pasadena, California (Corporate) Lancaster, California (Manufacturing / Assembly) | RIDE is the US spinoff of BYD, focusing on battery electric school bus and transit solutions in the US and Canada. |
| Thomas Built Buses, Inc. | Type AType CType D | 1916 | High Point, North Carolina | Thomas is a subsidiary of Daimler Trucks North America, LLC (Freightliner). The oldest surviving bus manufacturer in the United States, Thomas was founded in 1916 as the Perley A. Thomas Car Works. |
| Type A-only manufacturers |
| Collins Bus Corporation | Type A | 1967 | Hutchinson, Kansas | Collins Bus Corporation is a wholly owned subsidiary of the REV Group (formerly Allied Specialty Vehicles). Collins acquired Corbeil and Mid Bus in the late 2000s, marketing brand-engineered Collins buses in specific regions. In 2016, the Corbeil and Mid Bus brands were replaced entirely by Collins-brand vehicles. Collins offers electric busses on a MOTIV electrification on a Ford E-450 chassis. Buses sold at former Starcraft Bus dealerships are rebranded as Magellan as of 2021. |
| Endera Motors | Type A | 2019 | Ottawa, Ohio | Endera Motors purchased Titan Bus, LLC in April 2021. |
| Micro Bird (Girardin) | Type A | 1935 | Drummondville, Quebec, Canada | Micro Bird produces Type A school buses in a joint venture of Girardin Minibus and Blue Bird known as Micro Bird, Inc. Along with small-bus production, Micro Bird is also the Canadian distributor of Blue Bird full-size buses. |
| Trans Tech | Type A | 2007 | Warwick, New York | Trans Tech is a division of Transportation Collaborative, Inc. Trans Tech is the first school bus manufacturer to produce a fully electric school bus (eTrans, based on the Smith Electric Newton). |
| Van-Con, Inc. | Type A Type B | 1973 | Middlesex, New Jersey | Van-Con, Inc. is New Jersey's only school bus manufacturer. Van-Con, Inc produces 16, 25, 30 passenger and wheelchair accessible school buses. All vehicles produced on Chevrolet cutaway van chassis. |
| Type A&D-only manufacturers |
| GreenPower Motor Company | Type A Type D | 2017 | Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada (Corporate) Porterville, California (Assembly) | GreenPower Synapse 72 - introduced in early 2017 - is a zero-emission Type D school bus. GreenPower exclusively builds all-electric vehicles. |
| Recently defunct manufacturers (1980–present) |
| Company name | Foundation | Ceased production | Location | Notes |
| Full-line manufacturers |
| AmTran (American Transportation Corporation) | 1980 | 2002 | Conway, ArkansasTulsa, Oklahoma | Produced Type A, C, and D buses. Marketed school buses under the Ward name from 1980 to 1992 (commercial buses adopted AmTran name in 1980). Re-branded as International, then IC in 2003 after being purchased outright by Navistar International in 1995. |
| Carpenter Industries, Inc. | 1919 | 2001 | Mitchell, Indiana (1919–1995)Richmond, Indiana (1996–2001) | Produced Type A, B, C, and D buses. Carpenter was shut down in May 2001 by parent company Spartan Motors. |
| Crown By Carpenter | 1996 | 1999 | Richmond, Indiana | Produced Type A, B, C, and D buses. Crown by Carpenter was a 1996-99 re-branding of Carpenter using the rights from the purchase of the Crown Coach name. The Crown name was dropped from Carpenter for the 2000 model year by Spartan Motors. |
| Les Enterprises Michel Corbeil (Corbeil) | 1985 | 2007 | St-Lin-Laurentides, Quebec, Canada | Produced Type A, C, and D buses. Type C and D full-size buses sold in Canada only. Assets acquired by Collins Industries in 2007. Exists today in the United States as Collins subsidiary Corbeil Bus Corporation. |
| Superior Coach Company | 1925 | 1985 | Lima, Ohio | Produced Type A, B, C, and D buses. Superior employees created Mid Bus in 1981. Full-size bus production ended after 1985 (design later used by New Bus, Inc.). |
| Ward Body Works | 1933 | 1980 | Conway, ArkansasBeaver Falls, Pennsylvania | Produced Type A, B, C, and D buses. Filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 1980; re-organized as American Transportation Corporation (AmTran) in 1981. Successor AmTran continued use of Ward brand name (on school buses) until 1992. |
| Wayne Corporation | 1837 | 1992 | Richmond, IndianaWindsor, Ontario, Canada | Produced Type A, B, C, and D buses. Wayne underwent several changes of ownership before ending up as Richmond Transportation Corporation from 1985 to 1992. Wayne Wheeled Vehicles (the successor to Wayne Corporation) was a subsidiary of Harsco Corporation and ceased operations in 1995. |
| Wayne Wheeled Vehicles | 1992 | 1995 | Marysville, Ohio | Produced Type A, C, and D buses. Wayne Wheeled Vehicles (the successor to Wayne Corporation) was a subsidiary of Harsco Corporation. Continued production of Wayne Corporation products. |
| Type A-only manufacturers |
| Coach and Equipment Manufacturing | | | Penn Yan, New York | A manufacturer of van conversions to Type A school buses from the early 1970s to the mid-1990s |
| Liberty Bus | | | Lima, Ohio | Produced a small number of Type A school buses in early 2000s. |
| Mid Bus Corporation | 1981 | 2008 | Lima, OhioBluffton, Ohio | Created by employees of Superior Coach Company to continue production of Type A school buses. Acquired by Collins Bus Corporation in 1998. Since 2008, Mid Bus products are re-badged Collins models. |
| Starcraft Bus | 1997 | 2020 | Goshen, Indiana | Starcraft Bus is a division of Forest River, Inc., a Berkshire Hathaway company. No longer producing school buses. |
| U.S. Bus Corporation | 1995 | 2007 | Suffern, New York | Producer of Type A buses in 1990s and early 2000s. |
| Type C/D-only manufacturers |
| Crown Coach Corporation | 1904 | 1991 | Los Angeles, CaliforniaChino, California | Produced Type D buses. Subsidiary of GE Railcar from 1987 to 1991. Rights to the Crown name were purchased in May 1991 by Carpenter Body Works. |
| Gillig Corporation | 1890 | 1993 | Hayward, California | Produced Type C and D buses. Ended school bus production in 1993; still produces mass-transit buses. |
| New Bus, Inc. | 1988 | 1990 | Chickasha, Oklahoma | Produced a small number of Type C and Type D buses in the late 1980s. Type C buses were continuation of Superior production. |
| TAM-USA | 1991 | 1991 | Maribor, Slovenia (initial body assembly)Van Nuys, California (final assembly) | TAM-USA was an importer of Yugoslavian-built TAM buses. A small number of school bus bodies (Type D) were manufactured in Yugoslavia and fitted with American drivetrain components in California. |
| Historical manufacturers (before 1980) |
| Company name | Ceased production | Location | Notes |
| Hackney Brothers Body Company | c. 1966 | Wilson, North Carolina | Produced Type C buses on Ford chassis. |
| Kenworth-Pacific | 1957 | Renton, Washington | Produced Type D buses. Kenworth subsequently sold their bus tooling and equipment to Gillig. |
| Northern Coach | | Wisconsin | Produced a small number of "Northern-Air" Type C buses in the late 1970s. |
| Oneida Products Corporation | 1960 | Canastota, New YorkIndianapolis, Indiana | From 1952 to 1960, Oneida was owned by professional car manufacturer Henney Motor Company. Oneida was purchased in 1960 by Marmon-Herrington. |
| Perley A. Thomas Car Works | 1972 | High Point, North Carolina | Produced Type C and D buses; best known for streetcar production. Perley A. Thomas Car Works was re-organized into Thomas Built Buses in 1972. |
| Union City Body Company | 1957 | Union City, Indiana | Produced Type C buses. Union City is now a supplier of bodies for UPS. |