I was born into the bus business . In 1912 , my great grandfather , John T . Cyr and his oldest son , Joseph , were awarded a trucking license by the city of Old Town . With this license and two sturdy horses , the family operated a local freight and livery business , known as John T . Cyr & Sons , Inc . The father and son team transported everything from passengers to mail to lumber to the world-famous Old Town Canoes .
My father , Joe , took over the company in 1967 upon the death of his father and his father ’ s brother . At this point in time , my dad ’ s focus was on school buses . In 1978 he was awarded the school bus contract for the city of Bangor and this secured a foothold in the region . We still hold this school bus contract today .
In 1975 , my father purchased his first motorcoach . More motorcoaches were added over the next few years and my dad became known in the industry for his uniquely decorated fleet of buses . In 1990 , my mom ( Sue ) and my dad purchased an existing tour company and this became Cyr Northstar Tours . In addition to school buses , John T . Cyr & Sons , Inc . now had a fleet of luxury motorcoaches available for retail and personal charters .
Over the years the company continued to grow adding more and more vehicles each year . Today , we have a fleet of over 250 vehicles , including 20 motorcoaches and 200 school buses . We have 6 locations in the state of Maine and employee more than 200 people . Our company services 15 different school districts , half a dozen local colleges and universities as well as a variety of retail customers .
I may have been born into the bus business , but I never thought I would join the bus business . Frankly , living in Old Town and working for the family business was never on my radar . Thankfully , my family never pushed me to join the company and they encouraged me to forge my own path in life . And so I did . I went away to Colorado College , I traveled and then I moved to a small island off the coast of Maine where I worked as a sternman aboard a lobster boat , something I had always wanted to do . I loved island life , but in 2007 , I did move back to Old Town to figure out what was next .
Before long I was working at Cyr Bus Line answering the phones and helping out where needed . After a few months my father ’ s long term bookkeeper approached me about his pending retirement-- did I want his position ? After a few weeks of deliberation , I took the job and I have not looked back since ! Not long after starting the job , I met my future husband and before long we had a daughter ; and a few years later a son ! Working in the family business has given me the flexibility to be a mom and continue to work . I have always felt very fortunate to have the best of both worlds because I truly love both “ jobs ”.
These days my duties at Cyr Bus include A / P , A / R , payroll , H / R among various other tasks . Even though things have slowed due to the pandemic , we are fortunate that our local schools are still in session and our universities are slowly beginning to travel again . I love my job at Cyr Bus . I am very proud of this company started by my great grandfather , grown by my father and now led by my brother . We continue to employ an amazing staff of managers , drivers , monitors and mechanics many of whom have been with us for 30 years or more . I know my great grandfather John T . would be proud of the company he created over 100 years ago .
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