El Camino Trailways, looking to step up its charter and shuttle business in northern Nevada, scored a win as it won a contract to provide visitor shuttles to Thunderbird Lodge on Lake Tahoe.
The company is running 29-passenger coaches from the Incline Visitors Center to Thunderbird Lodge. During the 20-minute trip, passengers hear a recorded narrative of the history of the lodge created by eccentric real estate magnate George Whittell.
El Camino is transporting more than 500 visitors a week on the shuttle under contract with the nonprofit Thunderbird Lodge Preservation Society.
"It's a prestigious contract. It's very visible," said Steve Kilmer, general manager for El Camino Trailways' operation in Reno.
The contract comes as El Camino Trailways looks to boost its marketing efforts in the Reno-Tahoe market. The company headquartered at San Francisco employs three at its Reno office. Bus drivers and other personnel are dispatched from San Francisco.
El Camino Trailways also operates fixed-route and dial-a-ride bus service in Truckee.
The company, which has been operating in California since 1962, made its entry into the northern Nevada market in early 2008 when it acquired Aztec Transportation of Carson City. Aztec had based many of its facilities at Mound House.
El Camino Trailways recently moved its northern Nevada offices to Reno from Mound House.
