The following is reprinted from the January-March 1998 issue of Motor Coach Age.

Who Are We?

As the magazine mastheads say... a non-profit organization with volunteer officers. It is nice to be able to say that we don't have the space to list all the people that make this organization run, particularly the administrative crew headed up by Paul Semendinger that care for our present members and continue to grow new ones. These are the same folks who remind us to pay our dues so that the MBS can pay its bills. They make sure that we are in good shape and keep the organization whole.

Where Do We Go From Here?

It all depends on us. We have come a long way in the last few years. The untimely death of John Hoschek and later events opened the eyes of many of us who previously depended on several dedicated volunteers to continue operation of the Motor Bus Society Library and publish our prize-winning publication, Motor Coach Age.

Not only has the Library become a stronger, more organized institution, we now publish Motor Coach Today as well as MCA. It is our membership dues, participation in convention trips, and purchases of back issues and sales items which pay the Library rent, light and heat as well as the cost of publishing and distributing MCA and MCT. At present we have no additional sources of revenue other than personal contributions.

What we do have is a dedicated, reasonably well organized group of member volunteers to continue the everyday operations of the Society. Both magazines have strong editorial staffs and we have a backlog of material waiting to be published. We continue to hear from you about stories and topics that you are interested in developing and researching. The only way to satisfy this appetite is to publish more pages and we would love to do it. But right now we are at the limit of our resources.

How Do We Get There?

So far, so good. Our modest dues increase of last year has enabled us to stay even with the increased cost of paper and distribution (mainly the post office) and we continue to evaluate alternatives to our production and distribution methods. The real-time answer is to sign up more members.

Our industry mailing campaign, web site and ads in other transport publications have resulted in a modest membership increase and continue to yield good results, but the greatest return will be from new members that we personally recruit.

Every one of us knows someone who should belong to MBS but instead borrows magazines and then has an excuse for not joining. As we get these folks signed up, we will get the reward of more pages and more subjects covered. Let us know how you feel about this and give us your ideas. We'll get back to you!

Membership dues in the Motor Bus Society are $35 per year, with a surcharge of $5 for Canadian members and $10 for overseas members. Membership includes subscriptions to the Society's two publications, Motor Coach Age and Motor Coach Today.

Membership dues are to be mailed to Motor Bus Society, P.O. Box 251, Paramus, NJ 07653.