ADAMS TWP — A.J. Myers & Sons, the transportation company that serves Mars and Butler area school districts, as well as others throughout the region, announced it is being bought by another Pennsylvania-based company.

At Mars’ school board meeting Tuesday, Sept. 1, board members approved the district’s contracts to be taken over by Krise Transportation, Inc., a bus provider that serves schools across the state.

Leaders from both companies spoke at the meeting.

Kurt Lorenz, the chief operating officer of A.J. Myers & Sons, and Jordan Myers, its vice president, said the company’s ownership had decided to sell after decades of serving local districts.

“We wanted to thank the board, thank the district, the community, for allowing us to serve the district and transport its students for the last 40-plus years,” Lorenz said. “The owners are near retirement. They are ready to retire and one of their options was to sell the company. We wanted to partner with someone who was committed to our views, our vision and would give the same care and attention to everything we did and that’s why we decided to partner with Krise after doing our research.”

There are three years left on the district’s current contract with A.J Myers & Sons, which is based in Kittanning. The board’s approval Tuesday evening hands control of its transportation contracts over to Krise.

Board members and school officials said they expect very little change in operations between the two companies.

“There’s going to be no changes with the transportation, the drivers, the routes, the management,” Mark LaPaglia, a regional operations manager with Krise, said.

According to its website, Krise serves Penn Hills and McKeesport school districts in Allegheny County, as well as Grove City, Franklin and Wilmington area school districts. It also serves districts across Eastern and Central Pennsylvania.

The announcement comes less than two weeks after another lawsuit related to a March 2025 bus crash in Adams Township was filed against A.J. Myers & Sons — the fourth of such filed by parents of children injured in the crash — alleging negligence by employing a driver with a history of on-duty crashes.

The crash occurred around 8:30 a.m. on March 6, when the bus veered off Three Degree Road and drove into a tree. Seven students were transported to local hospitals at the time. The driver of the bus died following the crash.