“My brother, Dan Smith, and I grew up in the business,” says Royal Coach Tours Sandy Allen. “I remember helping out when I was 5 years old, and by the time he was 10, my brother was working on engines.”
Based in San Jose, CA, the company was founded as Smith Charter Bus Service by Sandy and Dan's parents, Lee and Joanne Smith, in 1960 with a single 37 passenger used coach. They offered commuter service, carrying aerospace workers from Fremont CA to Lockheed in Sunnyvale. In 1977 Joanne Smith, by then running the growing company, changed the name to Royal Coach Tours, to more accurately reflect the service they were providing. Now in the second generation of family management, the company has grown to 67 vehicles and 125 employees. Sandy Allen is President, with responsibility for finance, while Dan Smith is Vice President, handling maintenance of the growing fleet.
“Our success can be attributed to having great employees. We have loyal people some of whom have been with us for more than 30 years,” according to Allen. “We work hard to keep good people, and that's paid off for our customers and for Royal.”
As it's grown, Royal has evolved as a company - 40% of their business is still commuter work in the Bay Area, but they offer charters, airport transfers, convention shuttles and sightseeing tours, as well as serving corporate and school groups and athletic teams. A proud member of International Motorcoach Group, they were awarded IMG's prestigious 2015 Safety Award. Sandy pointed out, “As a luxury transportation provider it's important that we operate and maintain superior equipment, and Dan makes sure our drivers can be proud to drive the coaches in our fleet.”
Royal recently took delivery of two 38 passenger Van Hool CX35 coaches, “Short buses are ideal for some of tight locations we serve. We were looking for lavatory equipped coach that offered the same level of comfort as our big motorcoaches. After visiting the factory, and seeing how these were built, they seemed like a fit.” said Allen. The new coaches are powered by Cummins ISL 9 liter engines driving through Allison B500 transmissions, and have chrome mirrors, wood grained floors, Grand Luxe black leather seating with cup holders and magazine nets, power outlets with USB ports, as well as a tour guide HDMI port station. ABC Companies is Van Hool's exclusive US Distributor and their senior account manager, Don Jensen, said “All of us at ABC are delighted to partner with such an outstanding, family-run company"
