On April 25, 2022, James River Transportation received the Green Transportation Service of the Year Award. The Travel Star Award is given by the Virginia Green Travel Alliance and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality.

James River utilizes a variety of methods to conserve energy and dispose of waste responsibly.

• James River utilizes high-capacity passenger vehicles, removing millions of passenger miles from the roadways each year. Carpooling at the highest level.
• James River recycles all of it maintenance fluids like engine oil, transmission fluid and antifreeze.
• James River’s HQ utilizes Geothermal HVAV for its office’s climate control system.
• The building also utilizes skylights for natural lighting and high efficiency lighting fixtures for energy conservation.
• James River utilizes Clean Burning Diesel engines that dramatically reduces emissions.
• James River implemented a fully electric van shuttle to learn best practices for this new technology.

James River saves more energy than it produces. Each year the operation provides over 10,000 tons of Carbon Credit because of the above strategies.

The conservation plan began in 1998 when the existing head quarters was constructed. The adoption of conservation best practices was not incorporated for “Green PR”, it was done because it made sense and was the right thing to do. It only became trendy years later.

James River Transportation is a full-service passenger transportation organization providing a large variety of service utilizing many types of vehicles. The company will celebrate its 95th Anniversary next year.

James River Transportation has completed 1,000 trips since April 1^st when unfortunately, much of the passenger transportation industry has been shut down. All passenger transportation companies experienced a dramatic wave of cancellations as fields trips, sporting events and corporate transportation were all affected when the economy shut down.

Fortunately, James River has continued to serve essential workers like hospital staff, Amtrak passengers, flight crews and the military.  The occasional wedding, wine tour or fun event added to the total.

“Our goal was to provide these critical services while keeping both our Passengers Safe and our Team Safe,” said Stephen Story, President.

Covid-19 was new to everyone.  However, James River’s decades of experience enabled us to quickly become experts, train our staff and implement a plan overnight to ensure everyone’s safety. Various types of technology were adopted to address safety, including UV lighting for office and vehicle interiors as well as innovative electrostatic disinfecting foggers that sanitize every crack and crevice. Every week, we learn more about the virus and there is new guidance from medical and government organizations.  As a result, James River’s plans are updated frequently.

James River’s award-winning expertise in safety is legendary. The skills that have protected passengers, employees and the general public for over 90 years on the highways were used to develop a James River Clean Care Program for COVID-19.

For more details, visit the website https://jamesrivertrans.com/covid-19-clean-care/ .

James River Transportation was named METRO Magazine’s Operator of the Year for 2020 at the United Motorcoach Association’s annual EXPO.  The meeting was held January 19th – 23rd in Nashville, Tennessee.

James River Transportation was chosen because of its:

• Innovative approach to doing business.
• Commitment to high levels of Customer Service
• Exceptional Safety and Reliability

President Stephen Story accepted the award on behalf of all James River Transportation employees, saying in part “Success reflects a great team effort, and there is no question that we have a fantastic team here.”

During 2019, James River received a number of prestigious awards, including:

• International Motorcoach Group Operator of the Year
• Virginia Governor’s Transportation Safety Award
• Virginia Governor’s Honor Award for Public-Private Partnerships

James River Transportation is a full-service transportation provider and event planning organization with facilities located in Richmond and Norfolk. The company also has on-site operations at Richmond International Airport and Norfolk International Airport. Services include motorcoach and minicoach transportation, airport transfers, transportation management, contract services, and convention shuttles.

The company has been in business for over 90 years and is a Certified Member of the International Motorcoach Group (IMG).  The IMG is an invitation only partnership of the top transportation companies in North America.  IMG members are committed to high levels of safety, service and reliability. 

James River Transportation recently completed the installation of Artificial Intelligence based technology to improve safety for passengers, drivers and the public.

A new product from Samsara was chosen because of its innovative design and unmatched ability to keep everyone safe. James River has had video event recorders for over 10 years, but the Samsara product uses Artificial Intelligence to monitor the video feed. Much like driverless vehicle systems, the cameras constantly monitor the vehicle performance, driver actions, pedestrians and highway conditions. If a potentially unsafe action is detected, the driver and our safety supervisor are immediately alerted. The event is on captured on video and available for review and training at a later date.

Here is a video of the system

The system also monitors the performance of drivers and vehicles through an interconnected system of telematics that tracks speed, G-forces, GPS location, engine controls and environmental conditions. The data is compiled to automatically create a report card for drivers and vehicles. The data allows the company to identify even minor trends and make improvements quickly.

Samsara supports James River Transportation’s Hours of Service (driver logs) compliance as well as its vehicle inspection system. Smart phones are utilized to record the vehicle inspection check list procedure, including photos when needed. The report is immediately transmitted to the maintenance department for improved safety and efficiency.

The company began utilizing smart phones in 2017 as its primary communications portal for training, operational procedures, operating manuals, company newsletters and a library safety and training materials.

James River Transportation has always been a leader in utilizing innovative technology to improve safety. JRT was one of the first to utilize GPS tracking, speed alerts, video event recording and an interactive driving simulator.

James River Transportation is a full-service transportation provider and event planning organization with facilities located in Richmond and Norfolk. The company also has on-site operations at Richmond International Airport and Norfolk International Airport. Services include motorcoach and minicoach transportation, airport transfers, transportation management, contract services, and convention shuttles. 

The company has been in business for over 90 years and is a Certified Member of the International Motorcoach Group (IMG).  The IMG is an invitation only partnership of the top transportation companies in North America.  IMG members are committed to high levels of safety, service and reliability.  James River Transportation was named IMG Operator of the Year in 2019.

James River Transportation was named Operator of the Year by the International Motorcoach Group (IMG) at its annual meeting.  The meeting was held August 6^th – 9^th in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

James River Transportation was chosen because of its:

• Exceptional safety and maintenance.
• Innovative approach to doing business.
• Commitment to the local community.
• Unparalleled support for the Travel and Tourism industry.

A desk top award was presented to Stephen Story, President of James River, but unique to IMG, a James River motorcoach was secretly transported to Nova Scotia where it was “wrapped” with a custom designed Operator of the Year theme.  Diane Story Hall, and Dr. L Woodrow Story, officers and partners, also secretly travelled to the event for the presentation along other family members and JRT team members. While accepting the award, Stephen commented, “with our tracking system, I generally know where all of our vehicles are. I had to reset my phone recently and the tracking system app was never reinstalled. For months, my entire staff kept this secret from me. I was totally surprised and shocked. I also discovered that my app credentials were disabled just in case”.

The IMG is an invitation only partnership of the top transportation companies in North America.  IMG members are committed to high levels of safety, service and reliability.

Being named Operator of the Year by IMG is perhaps the highest honor that can be bestowed on a transportation company.

The IMG was established in 1996 by a small group of motorcoach companies in order to act like a small local company, but have access to resources that only the largest organizations have. James River was a founding member of the group which has now grown to 57 companies.

The combined power of the 57 IMG companies:

• provides tremendous buying power for vehicles, supplies and services.
• exceptional access to the best vendors and travel partners.
• allows the development of world class training systems.
• facilitates the sharing of best practices.

James River has received numerous Safety Awards, multiple Innovative Operator Awards and exceptional customer service recognition. The IMG Operator of the Year award is the company’s greatest achievement yet. James River Transportation is a family owned full-service transportation provider and event planning organization with facilities located in Richmond and Norfolk. The company also has on-site operations at Richmond International Airport and Norfolk International Airport. Services include motorcoach and minicoach transportation, airport transfers, transportation management, contract services, and convention shuttles. The company has been in business for over 90 years.