Capitol Trailways 1983 to Closing Photos courtesy of Walter Earl unless indicated
Over the years, Dick Maguire was able to put together a group of historical buses that came to be called the “Parade of Progress.” They were shown at bus events and participated in parades as publicity for Capitol Trailways. Eventually, they became the nucleus for the new bus museum in Hershey. Here, the “Parade of Progress” was photographed in front of the Harrisburg Amtrak/Bus station in March of 1986. ROBERT REDDEN.
T
he Maguire family first became involved in the transportation business in 1910 when John Maguire (the grandfather of Dick Maguire) began a livery service that later expanded into a jitney service. Capitol Bus Company operated their first revenue service on July 4, 1936, a charter to a nearby amusement park.
Joseph Maguire (father of Dick Maguire) and John Maguire (uncle of Dick Maguire) had purchased an 11-passenger Fitzjohn Chevrolet stretchout and used it to transport 20 • National Bus Trader / December, 2021
passengers from Pottsville to Harrisburg on weekdays. It was used for charters when not in line run service.
Over the years Capitol continued to expand and also purchased several other small local bus companies. As a result, the company expanded its fleet. The October 1982 issue of NATIONAL BUS TRADER carried a well documented history of the expansion from 1936 to 1982 with many beautiful historical pictures of the fleet.
This article provides Capitol’s history from 1983 to 2009, as well as the years from 2009 to 2013 when Bieber Tourways operated Capitol as a separate division.
The Atlantic City casinos were in their heydays in the 1980s and 1990s and Capitol Trailways was a big player. Capitol operated many trips daily to several casinos (Playboy, Tropicana, Caesars, Trump Plaza, Park Place and Golden Nugget), from Harrisburg, York, Lancaster, Lebanon and Reading and many other smaller towns and cities. Capitol had
