Meet Brian, The Bus Guy
I’ve loved buses and transportation in general since I was four years old. My parents supported my passion and told me to follow my dreams by taking me on buses going to visit our family in New Jersey and whenever we went on vacation. While other kids were playing video games I collected bus schedules from every place we visited.
My level of curiosity gradually increased as I grew older. It was no longer enough to collect schedules, write letters to bus companies and public transit organizations (most wrote back by the way), or take trips using multiple modes of transport to different places. I needed to learn and understand why and how things worked the way they did. In high school I started to develop my own ideas on how to run my own operation. From then on, I realized that I created my own life’s goal – to own and operate a bus transportation company.
I attended Drexel University in Philadelphia, majoring in business administration. I chose this path because I believed such experience and training could help me launch my business in the future. As an undergrad at Drexel I worked for three years at BoltBus, a division of Greyhound Lines, Inc. in various operational capacities. While there, I was fortunate to have worked across the country on different projects involving field operations, marketing, strategic planning and business development. In the process, I gained invaluable industry experience working both the front line and the back end planning stages of an active bus operation.
My time there prepared me for future work within the industry, including consulting for small bus companies and research with Drexel and with DePaul University’s Chaddick Institute. I’m proud to have co-authored DePaul University’s annual report on the state of US Intercity Bus Service for over five years, telling the story of our industry through data and insights. My knowledge and insight on the industry has been referenced in various media including the New York Times, Boston Globe, Philadelphia Inquirer and local affiliates of NPR radio.
Before graduating in 2013 I realized that I wanted to pursue my dream even further. I did this by solving a very important question for families: how do you visit colleges? The current process is very expensive, time consuming and downright stressful. I wanted to make this process better for the families visiting and the colleges hosting them. With this in mind, I combined my passion and experience in transportation with admissions programming at various colleges to create a college bus tour program (our College Tour services). Shortly thereafter, we began expanding our scope of service to build programs for educational and corporate groups that focused on personal and professional development. These programs provided the platform for us to apply the various uses of transportation to existing program and event formats, enriching these venues with the wonder and excitement that comes with travel.
Today, CoTo Travel brings together my passion for bus transportation with the tours, programs and events that have become a cornerstone to our success throughout the Northeastern United States.
With the support of my family (Irene Antolin, Ronald Stukonis, Emmanuel Francisco), friends (Michael DeBalko, Alexandra Miller, and Andrew Lawson), the LeBow College of Business Entrepreneurship student groups, and countless others, I am living my childhood dream each and every day.
-Brian
Brian Antolin
Founder & President
CoTo Travel LLC