Niche and Notable
Innovative motorcoach operators are finding success in specialized markets … here’s how you can, too
From waterfowl-themed sightseeing vehicles to storage units and tech startups, motorcoach operators are proving they’re more than just transportation gurus—they’re entrepreneurs. The four companies featured in this article have each carved out a unique business niche or developed a savvy side hustle. Operators looking to diversify, grow revenue, or just try something new will find inspiration in the stories and advice of DATTCO in New Britain, Conn.; Bailey Coach in Spring Grove, Pa.; Starr Bus Charter and Tours in Trenton, N.J.; and Boston Duck Tours in Boston, Mass.
Take in the breathtaking views of the Boston and Cambridge skylines when your Boston Duck Tour ConDUCKtor drives right into the Charles River.
Headquartered in New Britain, Conn., DATTCO is a third generation, family-owned company whose strategic vision has expanded into a variety of businesses. Visit dattco.com to learn more.
Headquartered in New Britain, Conn., DATTCO is a third generation, family-owned company whose strategic vision has expanded into a variety of businesses. Visit dattco.com to learn more.
The team at Bailey Coach includes (from left to right) John Bailey, Josh Bailey, Courtney Bailey Piccolo, Kristy Fasano, and Jane Bailey.
Founded in 1998, Bailey Coach continues its legacy of excellence, innovation, and community under the leadership of Courtney Bailey Piccolo, president & CEO, and Kristy Fasano, vice president & COO.
Bailey Family of Companies broke ground on its state-of-the-art Bailey Self Storage facility in Spring Grove, Pa., in 2024.
To learn more about Starr Bus Charter and Tours’ College Break Bus and the schools it services, visit collegebreakbus.com.
To learn more about Starr Bus Charter and Tours’ College Break Bus and the schools it services, visit collegebreakbus.com.
Boston Duck Tours takes groups on historic tours of Boston, cruising by the Boston Common, down Newberry Street, into the Charles River, and more. For group rates and advance reservations, visit bostonducktours.com.
Catie Copley duck boat in front of Park Street Church.
Beacon Hilda duck boat splashing onto the Charles River.
From the Bus Yard to the Backend: How DATTCO’s operational needs led to an industry solution
When Kyle DeVivo rejoined his family’s business, DATTCO, full-time in 2015, he saw a problem—and an opportunity. “Everything else I booked—airlines, trains, even restaurant reservations—was seamless online,” he says. “But with motorcoaches, you had to call, email, wait. It was a huge friction point.”
That friction sparked an idea. DeVivo envisioned a platform where customers could get live pricing, request quotes, and even complete bookings directly from an operator’s website. In 2020, he launched The Bus Network, now commonly known as TBN.
DeVivo Collision Centers is a commercial collision repair division of DATTCO that serves buses and fleet vehicles. Discover the ins and outs of running a body shop and the solutions and strategies it provides.
From Idea to Industry Standard
Initially built with the input of the teams at DATTCO and a dozen other operators as early adopters, TBN started as a quoting and booking tool. “But once COVID hit, the industry slowed, and I had time to focus on it,” says DeVivo. That downtime became a turning point. “We started asking, what other problems can we solve?”
TBN quickly evolved. Today, it supports everything from lead generation to driver payroll. “Operators are literally managing their entire business through TBN,” DeVivo says.
Industry Roots, Shared Vision
DeVivo credits TBN’s growth to peer collaboration and his decision to build flexibly from day one. “We didn’t just build it DATTCO’s way,” he says. “We listened to other operators and made sure it could adapt to different workflows.”
DeVivo initially brought on co-founder Bill Mulligan, a digital marketing expert who had overseen the development of similar products and helped translate that initial vision into technical specs. Mulligan then recruited fellow co-founder Ben Humphreys to build the product’s initial architecture and interface. Chris Riddell, a bus industry veteran and technology implementor, joined the company as its CEO in December 2021.
“Not having a technical background, I needed a team to help build the solution to the problems I knew the industry was facing,” DeVivo says.
More Than a Platform
Though he now focuses on his COO role at DATTCO, DeVivo remains proud of TBN’s impact. “When operators tell me how much it has improved their workflow or helped them book more trips, that’s what success looks like.”
Lesson from the Pivot Pro: Build for Yourself—and the Industry
DeVivo built TBN not just to solve a problem at his own company, but to raise the standard across the entire industry. “From day one, we wanted to share this with the industry,” he says. He involved other operators in early development and made the platform flexible enough to accommodate different workflows. That mindset helped TBN grow from a side project into a solution that now powers close to 150 motorcoach companies.
From Buses to Boxes: How Bailey Coach expanded into storage
Courtney Bailey Piccolo, president and CEO of her family’s company Bailey Coach, knows a thing or two about pivoting. When the pandemic hit in March 2020, they had to lay off 51 of their 57 employees overnight. But thanks to a quick-thinking idea from her father, John Bailey, the team launched a disinfection business using foggers from their bus washbay. The move not only brought staff back on payroll, but it racked up $2 million in sales the first year. The company disinfected 2.5 million square feet of space each week.
“The experience showed us the importance of always having something in your back pocket,” she says. That led to the founding of Bailey Self Storage, which opened its doors in late 2024.
A New Venture Built on Research
The original plan was to build storage units for campers and other large vehicles that owners weren’t allowed to park in their driveways. Piccolo and her team started by visiting storage unit owners outside their competitive area to learn what works—and what doesn’t.
One tough piece of advice changed everything. “After six months of work, we were about to go for our final approval when someone successful in the storage unit space told me I needed to start over,” Piccolo says. “That was probably the toughest decision … but it’s what we needed to do.” While there is some RV parking at the business, Piccolo’s initial RV-heavy vision shifted to 75 percent of their unit mix being designed to store people’s contents rather than vehicles.
Tech-Driven and Customer-Centered
Bailey Self Storage caters to what Piccolo calls the “pajama shopper”—someone who decides at home in their pj’s that they need a unit and wants to rent one instantly from their phone. Everything is automated, from facility access codes to payments. Regular pricing updates and competitor monitoring keep the company sharp.
But the company helps the community through more than self-storage. When the staff noticed a family with pets hanging around their unit all day, they discovered the family was homeless. Piccolo and others worked to connect them with resources. “As much as I would love them to continue to rent from us, I’d rather see them find a stable home environment,” Piccolo says.
Lean Staffing, High Impact
One key advantage to running a storage unit: “It’s very minimal employee overhead,” Piccolo says. Existing Bailey Coach staff help run the business. Her brother checks units, and her existing marketing team and automation handle the rest of the work.
With a Phase 2 expansion already in the works, the project proves how well-researched diversification can drive new growth for traditional operators.
Lesson from the Pivot Pro: Use Your Tools to the Max
Piccolo stresses the need to make the most of your tech. Her team leans heavily on automation and maximizes every feature in their software. “A lot of companies don’t turn the whole thing on,” she notes. “We try to use 100 percent of what we have so we’re running as efficiently as we possibly can.”
From Tours & Charters to College Break Transportation: How Starr found its niche
Starr Bus Charter and Tours’ core business has always been strong—but in 2018, the company boosted profits, expanded their customer base, and built new ties to the community by starting a niche sideline called College Break Bus.
“Our son had many friends from his high school who were attending large universities within a three- to five-hour radius from home,” says third-generation owner Sandy Borowsky. “The parents were joking that we should run a bus to pick up their kids for Thanksgiving break. We thought it was an interesting idea, so we started with a route from Penn State to Yardley, Pa., where we live. When the bus filled quickly, I realized there really was a need for this type of transportation.” Today, College Break Bus serves over 20 universities and takes students between home and school across 11 states throughout the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Southeast.
A Solution Parents Love
Students love the service because College Break Bus uses full-size motorcoaches with Wi-Fi, restrooms, and professional drivers. Parents love it because the buses are students-only and they receive real-time GPS tracking and frequent updates. “We over-communicate because we know we’re transporting precious cargo,” says Borowsky. “We want to make it as easy as possible for parents—saving them from having to drive long distances, take time off work, or pay for a hotel room just to pick up or drop off their college student.”
Growth by Partnership
Parents who ask College Break Bus to add a new route often end up becoming advocates who help get the route started and spread the word to other parents whose kids attend that school. With every full bus, up to 50 cars stay off the road, reducing traffic, lowering emissions, and making travel safer for everyone.
As demand grew, Starr Bus Charter and Tours later partnered with other reputable motorcoach companies to handle more college routes creating opportunity for others. Before each trip, Borowsky personally calls each driver and provides training videos and documents to ensure the trip goes smoothly.
Built on comfort, communication, and smart partnerships—and fueled by a supportive parent network—College Break Bus not only generates off-season income but also makes a real difference for families, partner companies, and the environment.
Lesson from the Pivot Pro: Recruit Your Community
For Borowsky, everything changed when she identified a genuine need in her community. What began as a simple suggestion from friends and neighbors quickly evolved into a successful niche business fueled by strong grassroots support—particularly from parents at the schools Starr serves. “Once people recognized the value of the service, it took off on its own,” Borowsky explains. “But behind the growth was a lot of hard work and dedication.”
Just Ducky: How Boston Duck Tours thrives in a challenging niche
Boston Duck Tours, founded in 1994, became an iconic part of the city’s tourism landscape by blending history, entertainment, and local pride aboard amphibious WWII-era DUKWs. The vehicles tour the city and then splash right into the Charles River for an awe-inspiring boat ride.
Follow along as a friendly Boston Duck Tours ConDUCKtor takes you on a tour of historic Boston—by land and by sea!
A Seasonal Operation With a Showbiz Twist
Running a seasonal operation in Boston’s climate is no small feat. “We only run from late March to the end of November,” says CEO Cindy Brown. “That means we’ve got a team of 200 people that we ramp up and then ramp down every year.”
A key ingredient to the company’s success is the guides—known as ConDUCKtors—who develop colorful characters to entertain and inform. “You have to have that special something,” Brown says. “Some of our best ConDUCKtors have backgrounds in acting or comedy, but the most important thing is that they can connect with people.”
ConDUCKtors often let a passenger “drive” the vehicle once it’s on open water. “Passengers can’t see it, but the conductor’s hand is on the throttle the whole time,” says Brown. “We let kids drive, we let blind people drive … people who never in their wildest dreams thought they could drive a vehicle. That’s been really cool.”
Community involvement is also important. Boston Duck Tours appears in local parades, offers special tours for nonprofits, and famously ferries Boston’s championship teams through the streets. “We’re really proud to represent Boston,” Brown says.
Ask the tough questions first. It’s what you don’t see that will break you.
— Cindy Brown, Boston Duck Tours
Serious Ops Behind the Laughs
While the tours are fun and theatrical, they’re also backed by serious operational rigor. “We’re completely certified as a bus with all the regulations and inspections and insurance, and then the same thing happens as a boat,” says Brown. “So we’re doubly insured, doubly certificated, and doubly inspected. We have about 25 detailers and mechanics at our garage who service vehicles every night.”
The company continues to thrive with humor, heart, deep civic pride—and incredible amounts of paperwork and vehicle upkeep. This formula has helped Boston Duck Tours stand the test of time.
Lesson from the Pivot Pro: Seek Out Harsh Truths
Brown urges would-be niche operators to do their homework. “People see $50 tickets and full tours and think it’s a cash cow,” she says. “But they don’t realize how hard it is to run.” She hears from people wanting to start duck tours without understanding vehicle sourcing, insurance, or Coast Guard regulations. “Ask the tough questions first,” she advises. “It’s what you don’t see that will break you.”
Find Your Niche, Fuel Your Future
Whether it’s a tech platform, a niche service, or a community-centric side hustle, these operators prove that innovation can come from anywhere—especially from within your own business. With vision, flexibility, and the right collaborators, even legacy companies can break new ground.
Linda Formichelli has been a freelance writer since 1997. She lives in Raleigh, N.C.
Photo Credits: Kyle Klein; Courtesy of DATTCO; Bailey Family of companies.
