It was Kevin Patrick’s lucky day.
Recently, while waiting at a Madison park-and-ride planning to hop a Van Galder Bus to O’Hare Airport for a business trip, a Midwestern Bus Lines bus pulled up to the landing. The door opened. A young man stepped out, “Who’s heading to O’Hare?” he asked, and Patrick raised his hand. “We can take you for $25 cash, and we’re not stopping in Janesville,” he said.
Since Patrick had planned to pay $27 cash for the Van Galder trip, he was free to change his plans. He hopped on board.
This wasn’t your typical bus, he quickly noticed. “It was full of happy, chatty travelers heading to Chicago’s Navy Pier for the day, and there were stewardesses on board.” Yes, four stewardesses. In uniform.
“My first thought was that this must be a flight crew’s bus on their way to the airport. But then they started serving real Mimosa’s!” Patrick said incredulously. Breakfast followed – corn flakes, a bagel with cream cheese, and orange juice. Next the in-ride movie. “The windows had shades that were lowered so we could watch the movie,” Patrick noted.
Two quick hours later, the bus delivered Patrick directly to his O’Hare terminal before continuing on to its Chicago lakefront destination. “I was the only person getting off the bus at O’Hare,” Patrick said, “and I arrived before any of the Van Galder buses.”
A business that doesn’t believe in competition
As sometimes happens, Van Galder’s bus was full that day, so the company contacted Midwestern to ask if it could fit another rider on its trip south. Hence Patrick’s good luck. (While he hoped it was a regular route he might ride again, it isn’t.) “We do some overflow work for United Airlines, American Eagle and American Airlines out of Chicago as well,” said Midwestern Bus Lines co-owner Nathaniel Younan, age 24. “Wherever we can help out.” Younan, as it turned out, was the young gentleman who offered Patrick the ride.
Midwestern Bus Lines is not your usual Greyhound or Badger Bus. In fact, it really can’t compare. Nor, says Younan, does it choose to. “We don’t compete directly with companies because we don’t believe in competition,” he said. “We really just want to cover our costs.”
What was that? A for-profit company happy to just cover costs?
The owners share more than a vision. They all have (or had) cancer.
Midwestern (www.mymidwesternbus.com) was formed by a group of ex-flight attendants who had to leave their jobs or were forced to leave after cancer or other illnesses kept them away from work. Younan himself has lived with cancer and lupus since he was sixteen, though he didn’t come out about his disease to others until recently. He and the company’s three co-owners either have, or have had cancer.
Younan was a flight attendant for TWA airlines and was forced to move from London to Chicago when TWA was sold to American Airlines. He quickly discovered Madison and moved here, commuting to O’Hare on the Van Galder Bus in between flights, before he and others were furloughed. Younan had befriended other flight attendants diagnosed with various cancers and diseases who also subsequently had to leave their airline jobs. Uninsurable, the former attendants banded together to create a way to raise money for their treatments. When the idea of a bus trip was mentioned, the group contacted various bus companies and the response was very positive. In fact, their first trip was a huge success, and raised money towards one attendant’s chemotherapy.
Cancer takes a back seat
Midwestern Bus Lines now operates out of Madison and now has 24 cabin attendants and six office personnel. Here, cancer is a common thread, but not an obstacle. While 98% of the company’s employees either have cancer or another disease, these jobs allow them to channel their energies away from their personal situations by providing for the care and comfort for others. And despite the fact that four staffers have lost their lives since the company started in 2003, the mood always remains positive.
The company’s 12-bus fleet is provided through arrangements with a cooperative of bus companies who maintain the vehicles and also hire the drivers. The stewardesses, or, cabin attendants, ranging in ages 18-76, work part-time and earn between $10 and $22 an hour, depending upon their longevity with the company. They also must undergo a two-week training course prior to hire.
As the attendants move food and beverage cars up and down the aisle, they distribute treats and share overall goodwill with their passengers. Chocolate chip cookies are baked on board, complimentary dinners, snacks, beverages and even cocktails are also provided. Costs for such amenities vary and are arranged prior and covered by the cost of a ticket.
That particular day’s bus trip to Navy Pier cost $45 per passenger, and included breakfast, cocktails, drinks, snacks and even a wine tasting on the return trip. But on average, the company only nets about $800 per trip.
Here, cancer takes the back stage. In fact, other than mentioning the organizations it supports, visitors to the company’s website would have no inkling of the staff’s connections with cancer. The focus is clearly on providing hospitality and making trips enjoyable, in hopes passengers will return, and its causal mission is perpetuated. The company even has a loyalty program, where after 11 trips, the 12th is free.
Giving back to the “community” – the definition changes from trip to trip
What is important to the Midwestern staff is not only the ability to give, but even more, to give back, which it does in a big way.
“100 percent of our trips to-date have been cause-related,” Younan said. Sometimes the company tacks on an additional $5.00 per ticket to be donated directly to a Madison charity. Sometimes, passengers donate additional money while on board. For instance, when four families who had lost their homes to a fire rode the bus recently, the 38 passengers on-board raised $250 per family to help them get their lives back on track.
“Our passengers know what we’re about,” Younan said. When one attendant who had just started chemotherapy lost her hair while on an overnight charter trip, “She just wrapped her head the next morning, and got back on the bus,” Younan said. “Everyone was so understanding.”
And while he said the company tries to invest as much money as possible in their buses, money raised through ticket sales often goes toward a staff member’s next chemotherapy session, or surgery.
The Midwestern Bus Lines staff is very committed to the Madison community. At a recent American Cancer Society run/walk, they handed out Fu-Fu Berry water and cheered on the runners. The company has also raised (and even matched) funds toward AIDS research, and supports other charitable causes. It works with churches, and has been known to donate tickets to silent auctions. During Breast Cancer Awareness month each October, stewardesses offer pink martinis for donations towards the Susan G. Komen Foundation.
Midwestern Bus Lines typically schedules two bus trips every month, and anybody is welcome. Charters are also available, and groups can decide which treats they’d like provided. “We’re set up to serve steak and lobster, if that’s what the group wants,” said Younan.
