FAIRFAX, Va. Trailways has launched its 75th anniversary year with two new members -- West Valley Trailways of California and Precious Cargo Trailways of Ohio. Precious Cargo becomes the 90th member of Trailways.

West Valley Trailways, formerly West Valley Charter Lines of Campbell, Calif., which is about 45 minutes south of San Francisco, is a 47-year-old family owned and operated company specializing in school and military transportation, convention services, and tourism charters.

"We are delighted to have West Valley come on board with us in this very important year," said Trailways President/CEO Gale Ellsworth. "They bring a lot of expertise and knowledge to our network about the motorcoach industry, not only in California, but for the rest of the West as well."

John Habr founded West Valley in 1964, as a commuter shuttle for airline employees who worked at the San Francisco International Airport. Later, the company added charter and ski trips to Reno, Nev., and the mountains. By 1974, the company had become a full-service charter operation.

Scott Habr is general manager of the company which his grandfather founded with one motorcoach. The younger Habr oversees a fleet of 23 coaches and 48 staff members.

Dean Golden, West Valleys operations manager, said that affiliation with Trailways was part of the company strategic business plan, which mandates future growth.

"We have wanted to rebrand ourselves; when we looked at our options to accomplish this, we kept going back to Trailways," he said.

"We worked with the Trailways team at the 2010 Winter Olympics and learned more about their culture and team spirit. We are particularly interested in their desire to get more national and international projects for its network of bus companies, which fits right in with our own plan. Also, we polled our customers about their perception of the Trailways brand; it was all positive. Trailways is highly respected. We look forward to moving forward with the team."

Precious Cargo Trailways, formerly Precious Cargo Transportation, is based in the suburbs of greater Cleveland. It, too, is a family owned and operated company that provides variety charter motorcoach transportation services.

"Precious Cargo embodies the business operations and ethical values for which our team has become renowned in the past seven-plus decades," said Ellsworth.

The owners of Precious Cargo say that its company name stems from its commitment to safety first for its core business of transporting school children. The company began i18 years ago with school buses. Today it has 25 vehicles, including 9 full-size coaches and 13 school buses.

"We do a lot of school field trips for elementary schools and colleges," said Richard Wervey, owner and president of Precious Cargo Trailways. "And we carry many charter customers on long-haul trips to destinations like Florida, New York, Boston and Chicago anywhere in North America, really."

Werveys two sons work with him in the business John is general manager and Richard is manager of services.

"We really believe this partnership will take us to the next business level," said Wervey.

Trailways is marking its 75th anniversary year (founded February 1936), as North Americas oldest independent group of privately owned motorcoach companies.