School Bus Transportation News at STN Media

Blue Bird Announces New
Northern Illinois Distributor

FORT VALLEY, Ga. (June 12, 2006) - Blue Bird Corporation is pleased to announce that distribution responsibilities for the Northern Illinois region have been awarded to Central States Bus Sales, Inc. headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. The agreement extends Central State 's area of responsibility to include the entire state of Illinois.

Central States Bus Sales is a full-service distributor focused on providing school districts and contractors with a superior level of sales, service and after-market support for Blue Bird school bus products. The company recently acquired the assets of Heartland Bus Sales, Blue Bird's former distributor in the Northern Illinois region. With three full-service locations throughout their area of responsibility, Central States maintains a large inventory of OEM and after-market parts & accessories and provides complete warranty repairs and service by trained ASE-certified service technicians.

"We've partnered with Blue Bird for over 30 years," said Gary Deeken, President and CEO of Central States Bus Sales. "Our growth has been phenomenal throughout our business relationship with Blue Bird, and we look forward to expanding our services in Northern Illinois ." In addition to Illinois , Central States' areas of responsibility are Missouri , Tennessee , Kentucky , and Arkansas.

Kim Cassell, Vice-President Sales, School/Activity for Blue Bird added, "Blue Bird is extremely pleased to expand its partnership with Central States Bus Sales to include the Northern Illinois market. Central States has consistently provided its customers with the highest level of sales, service and parts support and we are confident that school bus operators in their new region will benefit greatly from this experience."

Blue Bird offers a complete line of Type A, C, and D school buses in a variety of options and configurations. For nearly 80 years, Blue Bird Corporation has continued to set industry quality standards with its innovative design, manufacturing capabilities and customer service. Blue Bird has an extensive network of distributors and service-parts facilities throughout North America.

For more information, please visit www.blue-bird.com or www.centralstatesbus.com.