Michael’s Transportation Service is going places – literally. The Vallejo business is in the process of moving from their current modest quarters on Lemon Street to their new home at 140 Yolano Drive on nearly 5 acres of land off Sonoma Blvd., complete with a suite of offices, training facility and garages to house their many vehicles. All this for a company that started in 1982 with one employee and one school bus.

To sit down and talk with Michael Brown, who founded Michael’s Transportation Service (MTS) along with his wife, Paulette, it’s easy to see why his business is thriving. His energy, enthusiasm, and entrepreneurial spirit can’t help but to rub off on you. That one employeenow has grown into an organization that boasts a fleet of 24 buses and over 21 employees. MTS offers a full range of services including school bus contracting, fleet maintenance services to schools that operate their own bus transportation fleets, and driver in-service hours to private schools that operate their own school buses.

What secret to their success? Persistence, attention to detail, and service, service, SERVICE!! A shining example of the type of customer MTS provides can be cited by the 8^th grade students at Springstowne Jr. High School. These students had raised funds for a field trip and the school contracted with MTS to transport them back and forth. When the money they had raised was stolen, the school administrators called MTS to cancel the bus service. True to their company slogan – “We’re doing it for the kids” – MTS insisted that the trip must go on and donated their bus service to the school. It was a trip the students -- and the Vallejo City Unified School District – won’t forget.

So what advice does MTS have for other small businesses striving for growth? “Marketing is a key,” according to Michael Brown. “You must identify your target market, tell them about yourself, then tell them again, then tell them that you told them!”

Michael also cites the importance of utilizing current technological resources. Since launching their website a year ago, MTS has fielded inquiries from all over the world for the purchase or used school buses – a resource that is very scarce in many parts of the world.

Another key to success is using available resources to help you when you need it. MTS worked with a Vallejo Business Assistance Coordinating Committee consultant for assistance in obtaining the financing for the construction of their new facility. A future plan for MTS is the pursuit of certification as a U.S. Small Business Administration Section 8(a) Contractor – a program that helps small businesses grow through government contracting. For help with the lengthy and cumbersome certification process, MTS plans to enlist the free help of the Small Business Development Center.

So, do you think MTS is content to sit back and enjoy their success? Of course not! Michael Brown’s latest passion involves the Welfare to Work Initiative. MTS was one of the first businesses to partner with the Welfare to Work Program, and operates a private post-secondary vocational training facility. MTS has worked in partnership with the Employment Development Department and area Private Industry Council’s recently to train 8 welfare recipients in their school bus training program, and successfully completed 7 of these workers in decent-paying jobs.

Graduates of MTS’ training program are skilled and job-ready to work as drivers for private and public schools and school districts, city transit authorities, tour bus companies and par-transit providers – all of which have a high demand for drivers.