Johannes Bus Service opens branch office in Spring Valley

SPRING VALLEY — A bus service owned by the same family for three generations has opened a branch office in Spring Valley.

Johannes Bus Service, based in Rock Island, opened its second branch office this summer in Spring Valley. It also has a branch office located in Aledo.

“We have been in business for 50 years,” said Jason Johannes, the president of the bus service. “We expanded to some niche markets in this area and are excited to be in Spring Valley.”

Johannes’ grandfather, Harry “Red” Johannes, incorporated the bus service in 1964 and then his son, Steven, took over. Jason Johannes and five other siblings have been involved in the business over the years.

“We are proud to still be in business for three generations,” he added. “In our industry, many smaller family-run bus services have been bought out by larger companies.”

Johannes reported the company first came to the Illinois Valley area when it started providing bus service to the Waltham Elementary District. It has now expanded to offering bus service to Putnam County, Ladd and DePue school districts.

“We have 25 buses here and 30 full- and part-time employees,” he said. “We provide daily service to seven school districts and to others for extracurricular trips.”

Johannes said he was searching for a local contractor to provide communication radios and surveillance cameras when he contacted Troy Resetich of TROY Simplified Technologies Inc.

As a result of dealing with Resetich, Johannes was able to discover that space was available in the Richwoods Building located at the Wolfer Industrial Park in Spring Valley.

“It has worked out great here,” added Johannes. “We park and fix buses at this location. We have yellow school buses and charter service with mid-sized commercial buses.”

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