MCI names seasoned pro as Service Center Manager at San Francisco Bay Area Sales and Service Center

March 4, 2019
Motor Coach Industries is building a management team to support its busy flagship San Francisco Bay Area MCI Sales and Service Center.

Motor Coach Industries is building a management team to support its busy flagship San Francisco Bay Area MCI Sales and Service Center. The Hayward, CA location is handling a growing service market of private and public transit systems including Silicon Valley employee shuttles.  

Brian Jablonski joins MCI’s Bay Area Service Center as service center manager  

MCI has named Brian Jablonski as the new service center manager for its Bay Area Service Center. Jablonski brings a 23-year career in charter, automotive and aviation fleet maintenance and management to the position. He will be responsible for keeping the year-old Hayward center at full capacity, establishing strong relationships with operators and overseeing a team of factory trained MCI technicians.  He reports to Ron Miller, Director of MCI Service Centers.  

Hayward: The MCI prototype for value and service expertise  

MCI, which initially invested nearly $3 million in the two-story, 34,000-square-foot Hayward complex at 4120 Point Eden Way in 2017, is enhancing its services for area operators. 

We’re engaged with major employers in Silicon Valley that operate private transportation systems,” said Miller. “These coaches need to be maintained on a daily basis, and that requires our operational model to be in tandem with our operators.”   

To that end, the Bay Area Service Center will offer flexible service hours, complete coach maintenance agreements and access to on-call MCI mobile maintenance assistance.  

Mike Apple, MCI Vice President of Preowned Coaches and Service Centers, said, “We are the local OEM, and service hundreds of coaches daily; we have the expertise operators can trust.”   

Apple added that every MCI Service Center will now have two pre-owned loaner coaches ready to go so operators can keep their fleets on schedule. 

The Bay Area service center is MCI’s largest OEM Service facility and its second in California. MCI also operates a Sales and Service in Los Alamitos near Los Angeles. Both facilities feature satellite NFI Parts warehouses and offer service and training expertise to the growing number of public and private operators up and down the Pacific Coast.   

Services at the Bay Area location include scheduled maintenance and repair, including heavy-duty repairs of all makes and models of intercity coaches and transit buses. It also offers inspections and oil sample analysis as required by the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) and CHP (California Highway Patrol) with a state-of-the-art bus wash system underway. The facility also features the newest diagnostic equipment and offers warranty service, engine repair, brake and air systems service and HVAC services, audio/visual installation, upgrades, and electrical and multiplexing troubleshooting.  

The center includes a driver lounge and space for training and industry meetings, such as the California Bus Association’s Spring Maintenance Seminar, Feb. 12-13, which drew over 70 attendees. Deliveries of MCI’s all-accessible new D45 CRT LE to a Silicon Valley employee shuttle service program will also begin in 2019. 

New at Hayward: MCI Mobile Maintenance Service  

In addition to MCI’s own 24/7 roadside assistance and technical call center at 800-241-2947, the Bay Area facility will have an on-call MCI Mobile Maintenance technician equipped with tools and parts for the inspection, maintenance and repair of all motor coach makes and models.  

Coming soon 

Looking to 2020, when MCI is targeting production of its CHARGE series of long-range 100% battery electric J4500e and D45 CRTe LE models, Patrick Scully, MCI Executive Vice President of Sales, Marketing and Customer Service, said: “California is at the epicenter of the electric coach market and our service centers here are well positioned as we work closely with customers, providing electric coaches and charging solutions tailored to our customers’ needs. The Hayward location will offer charging capability, delivery support, training and maintenance for our electric coaches in the Bay Area and beyond.”  

Alameda-Contra Costa Transit District (AC Transit), Baltimore City Department of Transportation (BCDOT), Capital District Transportation Authority (CDTA) and the Detroit Department of Transportation (DDOT)
AC Transit Board of Directors has appointed Kathleen Kelly as its new transit district's interim general manager, Veronica P. McBeth has been named its new director of BCDOT, CDTA Vice President of Finance and Administration Michael Collins will be taking on the position of interim CEO and Detroit People Mover General Manager (GM) Robert Cramer has been named Detroit, Mich,’sthe new executive director of transit for Detroit.