Welcome to Martz Group

The Martz Group includes six major companies spanning the East Coast from New York City to Tampa, Florida. Service includes Regular Routes, Charters, Tours and Sightseeing throughout the United States and Canada. Individual companies' web sites can be found at the bottom of the page.

FRANK MARTZ COACH COMPANY DBA (Martz Trailways)

THE 1908 MARTZ/WHITE BUS SHOWN IS STILL OWNED AND OPERATING AND IS CURRENTLY ON DISPLAY AT THE BUS MUSEUM IN HERSHEY PENNA.

Martz Lines was started in 1908 by Frank Martz, Sr. in the town of Plymouth, Pa. He bought and supervised the construction of a White 1912 bus which we still proudly display at parades and special occasions in Pennsylvania and at times nationally. It is the oldest existing antique bus in the country and has won every available award possible at antique shows.

Frank Martz, Sr. started operations between small mining towns in Pennsylvania in 1908 under the name White Transit Co. and in 1912 started local routes throughout the region until being sold to the Luzerne County Transportation Authority in 1974.

In 1922 Mr. Martz formed the Frank Martz Coach Co. for inter-city service and by 1927 was operating between Wilkes-Barre and New York City-Philadelphia-Albany, NY-Syracuse, NY-Buffalo-Cleveland, OH-Detroit and Chicago, IL.

In 1926 Martz also operated airline service between New York-Elmira-Buffalo; however service was discontinued in 1933 as economic times worsened in the United States. Seeing a need for national transportation system, Frank Martz, Sr. was one of the founders of the National Trailways Bus System. This system through alliances with other independent carriers set schedules and fares for connecting service coast to coast and became part of a two-system national network along with Greyhound lines.

Upon the death of Frank Martz, Sr. in 1936, the controls of the company were taken over by his son, Frank Martz, Jr., who continued to grow the company with a total commitment to the traveling public.

In 1964, Frank Martz, Jr. died in a helicopter accident and Mr. Frank M. Henry, grandson of the founder of Martz Lines, took control of the company. He continued the controlled growth of the business plan that led into the 2000's as a family operation from its infancy, Scott Henry currently represents the fourth generation to work for the company which continues to provide service to Northeastern Pennsylvania today.

Through acquisitions and new start ups, the corporation now owns and operates coach companies, a travel agency, bus sales and repair operations in these states and the Nation's Capital.

Pennsylvania

Martz Trailways operations in, Wilkes-Barre/Scranton and the Pocono Mts area .

Washington, D.C.

Operates Martz Gold Line/Gray Line charter and sightseeing in the Nations Capital.

Virginia

Operates Martz National Coach and National Coach Works in Fredricksburg, Gainesville, Ashland Va

Florida

Operates Martz Gulf Coast Gray Line and Martz First Class Coach Co. in Tampa, St. Petersburg.

All of the companies combined operate service from Wilkes-Barre, PA-Scranton, PA-Philadelphia, PA-New York City, NY-Atlantic City, N.J. Washington, D.C.-Fredricksburg, VA-Tampa, FL-St. Petersburg, FL- to points in the United States and Canada.

In addition to bus operations of regular route service, tours and charters, Martz also operates a travel agency in Wilkes-Barre for air and cruise service. New tour operations for both individuals and tours are growing at a steady pace for future-anticipated growth in the air and cruise market.

With slow and steady growth, the Martz organization now employs over 400 people, operates 250 coaches and is nationally known and respected in the industry.

Four Martz Generations Help to Put Trailways in Motion, and Keep It Moving

(The following is reprinted from the Trailways 70th Anniversary booklet.)

Motorcoach pioneer Frank Martz, Sr., co-founded the National Trailways Bus System in 1936, but did not live through the year. Four generations of his family have kept his dream alive.

Frank Martz Henry, chairman of The Martz Group, which includes Martz Trailways, describes his grandfather with reverence as "an innovator and a chance taker who had a great knowledge of people. He started with a very sound philosophy, which was to give safe, reliable and courteous service at a reasonable price. We've followed that ever since then."

Today, The Martz Group of companies spans the East Coast from New York City to Tampa/St. Petersburg, Florida. It consistently ranks in the top tier of Metro magazine's "Top 50" private bus company fleets in the U. S. and Canada.

Scott E. Henry, president of Martz Trailways and great-grandson of the founder, reports, "The Martz Group as a whole ran 11.5 million miles in 2004. Martz Trailways alone ran 5.75 million miles, and we carried 1.6 million passengers."

Each generation has contributed different talents toward that success.

THE INNOVATOR ~ Frank Martz, Sr.

It all started in 1908, when clean-burning, anthracite coal still ran through the veins of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. While working at his father's general store in nearby Avondale, 23-year-old Frank Martz, Sr., watched miners from Plymouth, West Nanticoke and neighboring towns as they walked to work and their wives walked into town to shop. With a single touring car, he founded the White Transit Company in Plymouth to give them a ride.

He personally supervised the construction of his first motorcoach. Custom-designed, it had a wooden body fashioned by cabinetmaker Theodore Kuntz Co. and was mounted on a White Motor Co. chassis (unrelated to White Transit).

In 1912, he started local routes with a 5-cent fare throughout the region. One of the White Motor coaches he added to his fleet that year has been beautifully maintained and is on display in The Museum of Bus Transportation in Hershey, Pennsylvania. This award-winning coach still runs in parades and civic festivals.

Under the name Frank Martz Coach Co., intercity line service began in 1922.

In 1926, the year before Charles Lindbergh flew solo nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean, Frank Martz, Sr., became an intermodal operator. He launched Martz Airlines with three planes, each equipped with four to six seats and a hostess. The planes carried passengers and mail on two flights daily (one on Sundays) between New York, Newark, Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, Elmira and Buffalo. These speedy aeronautical wonders could travel about 140 miles per hour.

By 1927, the Frank Martz Coach Co. fleet was operating between Wilkes-Barre and New York City-Philadelphia-Albany-Syracuse-Buffalo-Cleveland-Detroit and Chicago. Early on, the company offered express service, skipping local stops for longer distance travelers. The Martz coaches also had air-conditioning, of sorts. A block of ice lodged on the roof, above the fan, kept passengers reasonably comfortable on hot summer days.

"By airway or highway," Frank Martz, Sr., advertised in a 1930 timetable. That same year, he had the interiors of two coaches converted to resemble parlors, complete with writing desks, sofas, table lamps, a radio and a porter. He dubbed the exclusive service "Club Coach" and charged 50 cents extra per 100 miles for riders. The concept was so popular that, within months, he ordered 18 more well-appointed Club Coaches.

By 1933, the country was deep in the grips of a lingering Depression; and Frank Martz, Sr.'s, airline was a financial casualty. His fleet had grown to 150 motorcoaches, but his company was falling into debt. Meanwhile, Greyhound already was consolidating the industry, buying out smaller operators.

Frank Martz, Sr., gazed down the road and realized that to compete with Greyhound, independent motorcoach companies would have to band together. Other large-fleet, independent operators had the same vision about the same time.

Frank Henry explains, "They wanted to tie together so they could exchange passengers. They wanted to purchase supplies, tires, fuel, whatever, on a group basis, and to advertise as a group, plus they relied on each other for advice and interconnections."

During the next two years, Frank Martz, Sr., met with his peers to lay plans for North America's first network organization supporting independent motorcoach owners and operators. On February 5, 1936, the National Trailways Bus System was formed, with Frank Martz, Sr., on its first Board of Directors.

On November 28, he took four loads of football fans to the Army-Navy game, played in the rain at Municipal Stadium in Philadelphia. He caught pneumonia and died at age 51. His motorcoach company slipped into bankruptcy.

THE RESCUER ~ Frank Martz, Jr.

The road back from near ruin in 1936 started when Frank Martz, Jr., son of the founder, cut short his education at Duke University to assume control of the family business.
He reorganized the company, discontinuing all but the strongest scheduled routes. Still remaining were the lines from Wilkes-Barre to Philadelphia and New York. He sold the remnants of Martz Airlines to American Airlines. Membership in Trailways lapsed.
Through his determination and diligence, the company emerged from receivership, its debts paid in full.

"Not one creditor received anything less than 100 percent on the dollar. We're very proud of that," says Frank Henry. He remembers that his wavy-haired uncle, Frank Martz, Jr., vowed "never to go into debt again. He was never married and literally spent his time working on this business."

Both Frank Martz, Sr., and Frank Martz, Jr., he says, "were very strong people with a great work ethic. They had charisma. They were able to gather people around them and lead them where they wanted to go. And they had great moral values."

Military travel and gas rationing that prompted commuters to ride by bus during World War II further boosted the bottom line. In 1942, Frank Martz, Jr., re-introduced express service; and in 1944, he added package express service.

Continuing his father's legacy of innovation during the 1950s, he made the Frank Martz Coach Co. one of the first two companies in the U.S. to install two-way radios in its motorcoaches. As soon as air-suspension buses went into production, he bought them.

"He had a very, very modern fleet for his time," recalls Frank Henry.

In New York City, the company had been using the underground terminal in the Dixie Hotel. Then Marvin Walsh of Trailways coaxed Frank Martz, Jr., to rejoin the association that Martz's father had helped to form. Trailways membership would mean coveted berths in the Port Authority Bus Terminal, plus Trailways ticket agents to sell the company's bus tickets there. In 1961, the Martz company again became Martz Trailways.

Frank Martz, Jr., enjoyed flying and bought a helicopter. On February 3, 1964, flying in his helicopter to purchase batteries from a supplier, he crashed and died. He was 49.

THE BUILDER ~ Frank Martz Henry

Frank Henry started to work for his uncle's motorcoach company during the summers while he was still in high school. After graduating from Yale University with a B.A. in Economics, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, serving in the Strategic Air Command.
In 1959, he was appointed an assistant to Frank Martz, Jr. Upon his uncle's death in 1964, he became president and general manager of Martz Trailways and the White Transit Company.

Under Frank Henry's leadership, the company has followed a business plan of controlled growth. "We tend to stick to the basics. We've never been a very flashy company; but we've tried to be innovative and to do it in a way that's not overextended," he says.

An Excursion and Tour Department, established in 1965, reached out to capture an expanding market segment.

Then on June 23, 1972, tropical storm Agnes caused the Susquehanna River to overflow the protective levees along its banks, flooding the Martz Trailways terminal, offices and garage in Wilkes-Barre in 18-foot-deep water. The company reopened for business the next day, using a shopping center parking lot as a temporary terminal for the next six weeks.

That same year, Frank Henry sold the White Transit Company to the Luzerne County Transportation Authority. He was looking ahead to a new corporate vision.

In 1974, with the purchase of Atwoods Gold Line in Washington, D.C., he began a series of acquisitions that continued in measured succession over the next two decades: 1977 � Gray Line in Washington, D.C.; 1980 � Gulf Coast Gray Line in St. Petersburg, Florida; 1983 � National Coach Works, which was a bus repair company, and National Coach Bus Co. for tours and commuter service in Washington, D.C., later relocated to Fredericksburg and renamed Martz Virginia; 1986 � First Class Coach Company, Inc., in Tampa Bay/St. Petersburg; 1988 � Tourtime America in Richmond, also merged into Martz Virginia.

Meanwhile, Frank Henry resumed his family's prominence in the National Trailways Bus System. He was elected to the Board of Directors, serving as chair in 1981-82 and again in 1987-88.

The Martz Travel Agency opened in Wilkes-Barre in 1984, offering motorcoach, air, cruise and intermodal travel options in Europe and the United States. Martz Pocono Mountains started commuter service between Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania, and New York City.

Martz-owned terminals sprang up in Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, Mt. Pocono, Stroudsburg and Delaware Water Gap, along with a maintenance garage in Delaware Water Gap.

Frank Henry was building the vision in his mind's eye into a corporate reality. In 1990, he established The Martz Group as the parent corporation of the growing family of travel-and-transportation-related companies and became its chairman.

In 1994, the Wilkes-Barre based Martz Group purchased Franklin Motor Bus in Bristow (Manassas) and merged it into Martz Virginia. First Class Coach Company expanded into Orlando in 1996; then in 2001, it merged with Gulf Coast Gray Line to become Martz First Class Coach. Martz park-and-ride locations followed in Stroudsburg and Delaware Water Gap.

Interlining with Capitol Trailways of Pennsylvania, Adirondack Trailways, Peter Pan Trailways, Fullington Trailways and other Trailways member-companies has helped Martz to serve passengers. "It allows us to sell tickets from our locations here in Pennsylvania to anywhere in the United States," Frank Henry says.

Growing into The Martz Group has presented challenges as well as triumphs. "We've made mistakes in the process, but I think we have more positives than negatives," he adds. "When people deal with us, they've always gotten exactly what we said they were going to get. That respect from our peers is as important or more important to us than making money. The average length of stay of employees in our company has been higher than average. We surround ourselves with good people."

THE COMMUNICATOR ~ Scott E. Henry

One of the people who started working for Martz Trailways in 1973 was Scott E. Henry, Frank's son. "I started at age 15 as a bus cleaner in the summer and progressed through other summer jobs here as pit inspector, porter, ticket agent, then going on the road with the traffic manager, visiting the outside agencies," he explains. "My first full-time job was as an administrative assistant, then tour-and-charter manager and various other assignments."

Since 1996, Scott Henry has served as president of The Martz Group's flagship company, Martz Trailways. He recently was given responsibility for strategic planning for the parent corporation as well.

"Keep many lines of communication open" has been his mantra since he became a Martz executive.

In 2000, he introduced a newsletter, dubbed the "Commuticator," for commuting passengers. It's available both in print and on-line in the Martz Trailways section of The Martz Group's Web site at www.martzgroup.com.

"We have our Customer First program where we went out and surveyed our customers and found out what they felt was important. We had focus groups with customers, and made some changes," Scott Henry says. "We meet with a group of commuters on a regular basis and then get back with them through the 'Commuticator' about what we're doing."

Martz Trailways launched an e-mail system in 2001, for notifying passengers in New York City of emergency schedule and route changes. When a bomb threat shut down the Port Authority a block from Times Square in the Spring of 2005, the system helped to notify about 2,000 commuters where their alternate pick-up location would be that day.

"We're finding that our commuters into New York are used to high-tech innovations, and that's how they'd like to be communicated to," says Scott Henry. "If a bus is going to be more than 10 minutes delayed, we post the delay on our schedule boards so people can know what's going on. We're looking at how we can add technology such as Internet access on our coaches."

In a comprehensive safety overhaul conducted with the help of transportation specialist Carmen W. Daecher of the Daecher Consulting Group in Harrisburg, The Martz Group has instituted a new driver training program that includes a 165-hour course combining classroom, off-road and on-the-road instruction.

The program, which earned a "Safety Leader of the Year Award" from the United Motorcoach Association in 2005, includes guidance for dealing with potential threats on board a motorcoach. "We have phone numbers posted on our buses so that if someone were to see something suspicious, they could call a number to alert someone 24 hours a day," says Scott Henry. "They could alert someone by cellphone without actually talking to the driver."

He adds, "Our buses are equipped with Nextel Communications so that we're in constant contact with them."

In 2004, Scott Henry opened an office in the Delaware Water Gap Terminal. "I want to be there so that I can see firsthand how things are working, get to know customers personally and become more involved in the community," he says.

Listening to customers in focus groups prompted Martz Trailways to begin offering on-line ticketing for commuters in October 2005. "That enables our commuters to spend less time at the terminals purchasing tickets," Scott Henry explains.

Like his father, he is deeply involved in the Wilkes-Barre community, serving on the Board of the local YMCA and American Cancer Society. He chairs the Board of the Pennsylvania Bus Association and serves on the Board of the Greater New Jersey Motorcoach Association.

In 2005, Scott Henry was elected to the Trailways Transportation System Board of Directors. The latest generation of one of the most respected families in the motorcoach industry will be helping to shape the future of Trailways.

Success Tips From Martz Trailways

Reinvest profits back into the company "so that when things do get tough, you're able to stand the heat."
Treat employees like family, and treat passengers as though they were your mother.
Make safety a paramount priority. Discuss it daily to reinforce training.
Be diligent about preventive maintenance.
Never cut corners. You can lose money and gain it back again; but once you've lost your reputation, it's gone.
Invite customers to offer suggestions for improving your service.
Remember that a smile goes a long way toward customer satisfaction.
Give back to your community.
Network with fellow Trailways members to learn new ideas and industry trends, not just what's happening now, but also what's coming.
Take advantage of member discounts on equipment, services and supplies available through the purchasing clout of Trailways.

For The Martz Group's Henry Family, 44 Years of Community Service � and Counting

The Salvation Army has presented former Trailways chair Frank Martz Henry and his wife, Dorothea ("Dottie"), with the "Others Award," the highest honor that the national charity can give to civilians for their service to others.

Frank Henry, chairman of The Martz Group that includes Martz Trailways, has served on the Board of Directors of the Salvation Army's Wilkes-Barre Citadel in northeastern Pennsylvania for the past 44 years.

Besides the national honor, Frank and Dottie Henry received the "Community Service Award" of the Wilkes-Barre Citadel in September 2005. The annual award is presented "to an outstanding citizen who�has made a valuable contribution to the fabric of our community life�For the Frank M. and Dorothea W. Henry Cancer Center, Geisinger Wyoming Valley, for the Martz Pavilion in Kirby Park, for your continuous leadership, dedication and support throughout our area�thank you!"

The Martz Pavilion in Wilkes-Barre, built with funds donated by the Martz and Henry families, is an amphitheater along the Susquehanna River. Each July 4th, Martz Trailways sponsors a concert along with the Northeastern Penna. Philharmonic Orchestra, followed by a spectacular fireworks display.

The Cancer Center is part of the Geisinger Health System, one of the largest rural hospital systems in the United States. Frank Henry serves as Chairman of the Board of the Geisinger Health System Foundation.

"We feel it's important to be part of the community," says Frank Henry. "We do other things besides just operate a bus company."

His industry leadership hasn't gone unnoticed though. During the Trailways 69th Annual Conference and Meeting in March 2005, Chair of the Board Bill Steele presented Frank Henry with the Vanguard Award "in recognition of his positive influences, integrity and accomplishments in the motorcoach industry � universally � not just in Trailways."