DALLAS Coach America is negotiating to purchase Lakefront Lines/Lakefront Trailways, the largest motorcoach operator in Ohio and 20th largest in North America, plus its sister company, Hopkins Airport Limousine Service.

Although Coach America has filed an application with the Surface Transportation Board of the USDOT, seeking approval of the acquisition, the president of Lakefront Lines/Lakefront Trailways says a deal has not been completed or a definitive agreement signed.

"We're still negotiating," said Thomas Goebel. "It's premature to say anything. Call me in a week or two."

The proposed purchase of Lakefront is the second Coach America deal to be revealed in the past month. In early February the company announced it had signed a letter of intent to purchase Renzenberger Inc. of Kansas City, one of the nation's largest providers of transportation for railway employees. (See March 1 issue of Bus & Motorcoach News and related article below.)

In purchasing Lakefront, however, Coach America would get one of the industry's best-known, family-owned diversified motorcoach operations. Lakefront specializes in prearranged tours, charters and line-run service.

It has a limited line-run operation that serves cities in New York, West Virginia, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Indiana and Illinois. The company considers it a niche business that helps keep its coaches on the road and producin0g revenue.

It also offers casino runs, shuttle services and a wide range of tours.

All of the stock in Lakefront is owned by Thomas Goebel, Jack Goebel and Mike Goebel, with a small number of preferred non-voting shares owned by other family members. Hopkins Limousine Service also is owned by the Goebel family.

Lakefront and Hopkins had combined revenues of roughly $34 million last year.

In January, Lakefront Lines/Lakefront Trailways was awarded the United Motorcoach Association Vision Award at UMA Motorcoach Expo in San Francisco. The award recognizes business prowess and community involvement.

One of Lakefront's business hallmarks is a profit-sharing program for its employees. Since 1988, each full-time employee has received an annual bonus, ranging from $7,000, to more than $11,000. Each employee gets the same amount regardless of their position.

The limousine service got the Goebel family into the transportation business in early 1960s. The family purchased Lakefront Lines in 1980, when it had six buses. Today, the company operates nearly 120 coaches, plus assorted other vehicles from its base in Brookpark, Ohio.

Should the deal be completed it would mark a significant geographic shift for Coach America, which is the nation's largest tour and charter motorcoach operator and controls 29 bus and passenger transportation operations.

Virtually all of Coach America's motorcoach operations are concentrated along the East and West Coasts and across the southern U.S., from Florida to California.