John Sinclair’s first trip with Anderson Coach & Travel was back in 1960, as a high school senior on a field trip with the company founder O.D. Anderson. Sixty-four years later, the veteran motorcoach operator celebrates 55 years of service with the company!
It’s a milestone no one at the company has ever hit before and Sinclair is now Anderson Coach & Travel’s longest ever employee. (If you don’t count President Doug Anderson, who began by cleaning buses as a little kid in his parents’ garage.)
Anderson complimented Sinclair’s dedication and efforts to share his vast knowledge over the years.
“John has consistently offered constructive ideas to improve the Anderson organization and the equipment we operate,” said Anderson. He noted that even on the day the company surprised John with a celebration for his anniversary, Sinclair gave Doug a list of things he thought would positively serve the company. “John is the most customer-service driven individual that I’ve seen in decades.”
Safety when traveling is the top priority at Anderson and Sinclair has definitely lived up to that. VP Evan Anderson said Sinclair has logged more than 2 million accident-free miles behind the wheel of a motorcoach.
While Sinclair chalks his flawless safety record up to luck and being careful, his achievement truly takes extraordinary talent as well as care and pride to accomplish. John has also been involved in Anderson’s motor coach training class, where he leveraged his teaching background to share his replicable strategies for safety, professionalism, and customer service. While John no longer instructs, Anderson is scheduled to host its next CDL training class in January 2025. Apply here to apply to work for Anderson.
What has made Sinclair so successful in his second career?
“The major thing was, I had a knack for it,” Sinclair said of the second job he took up while working as an middle school science teacher. Which was really the perfect fit, he said.
John said that when he was a teacher, O.D. drove his 6th grade class on a field trip in 1967 to the Pittsburgh Historical Museum. As they chatted, the company’s founding father suggested Sinclair would make a good driver, too.
“He talked me into it,” Sinclair said of O.D.
At first, John drove bingo runs but eventually began driving cross country regularly. He said he’s taken touring groups to all 50 states at least twice, noting they flew to Hawaii, obviously. While he’s never actually driven a bus on one of the islands, he said he did sit in the cab of one once. 😊
Sinclair taught school about 25 years and was principal for 5 in Trumbull County, Ohio when he helped start the first public school in Northeast Ohio for children who are hearing impaired. (six new classrooms!)
“In the tour business, you’re actually a teacher because you’re presenting all the sightseeing to customers.”
John also had a mechanical background, having grown up on a farm. He tore apart a 54 Ford and rebuilt the engine as a kid and “could back up a 3-axle vehicle by age 12.”
Of course, these skills are handy for any driver, but Sinclair said he has rarely ever had to get under the hood of a motorcoach while on the road besides changing a tire, a belt or cleaning air filters because of Anderson Coach & Travel’s emphasizes safety and maintenance. Dedicated mechanics in the company garage regularly inspect all aspects of the vehicles, plus Anderson drivers perform a pre and post-trip inspection to make sure all parts of the machine are running smoothly or noting anything malfunctioning – an inevitability when the coach contains so many electronic parts.
Technological changes like the proliferation of computers in the cockpit make the driver’s area seem more like a jet plane than the first coaches Sinclair drove for the company in the late 1970s. He said he started on a 4-speed coach and thought the 7-speed was the best one he drove before they moved to automatic transmissions. The new Prevost H3-45 vehicles, like the ones in Anderson’s fleet, light up with screens and lights and buttons more like a computer than the cars and farm equipment Sinclair grew up tinkering with.
“Buses back then, you could work on them. Now, there’s so much electronic it’s almost impossible,” he said.
Technological progression has also influenced the passengers. It used to be folks listened to the narration by the driver, talked amongst themselves, or played games. They were also more interested in history and the country itself. Now Anderson’s coaches have Wi-Fi, so most of the passengers are watching videos on their personal devices.
“The clientele has changed terrifically,” he said. As time passed, travelers wanted more entertainment and John said he always had cassette tapes, VHS movies, then DVDs so guests could watch movies. These days, Sinclair said most people keep to themselves and are focused on their tablets and phones. For this reason, Anderson coaches are all equipped with wifi as well as outlets to keep devices charged. Sinclair said he’s seeing a shift from more academic-type travel to a more social activities and basic transportation, especially college athletic events.
During his tenure at Anderson, he also ran his own touring company, taking guests all over the country. He enjoyed it so much, that in the 1970s he gave up teaching for more than a year and drove for Anderson full time. He eventually went back to the classroom but continued driving for Anderson, and volunteering his time to help area church groups. Sinclair's biggest customer was Akron Goodyear where he provided over 160 trips for them over a 20-year peiord. About 10 years ago, Sinclair shuttered the private touring company he ran for 26 years.
Impressively, Sinclair has driven a motorcoach to Alaska four times for a total of 36,000 miles. Three of these trips were with his own touring company and once was for Anderson on what is known as their signature tour. The Alaska By Land tour began in the 1960s with OD himself as driver. This was even before some roads in The Last Frontier were paved. Anderson will again offer this tour in 2025.
“Every place you stopped along the Alaska Highway, people asked ‘How’s O.D. doin’?”, Sinclair said of the Anderson patriarch who passed away in 1990. “O.D. knew everybody,” even 3,00 miles away.
Sinclair has nothing but nice things to say about the Anderson family. He’s now worked with three generations, as O.D. and Dot Anderson’s son Doug and grandson Evan are at the helm.
“The family has always been very gracious and very helpful,” John said, adding that he modeled his own style of narrating tours after O.D.’s example. And while O.D. was the “people person,” Sinclair noted Dot Anderson had a sharp business acumen over the years in the office, where she worked until 2013. “She was amazing. She would know where every bus was at any time.”
“They’ve all been very constructive. Mostly they’ve been very, very encouraging,” John said of Anderson leadership. “It’s a very sharp family.”
Family is important to Sinclair, who has been married 56 years to his wife Ann. They live in Howland, OH, and have a daughter and four granddaughters.
“On the 38 times I crossed the Rocky Mountains, my wife guided at least 20 of the tours while our daughter played with paper dolls in the back of the bus. “By age 12, she had been to all 50 states,” he said of his daughter.
It wasn’t always church and family on board John’s bus. He carried corporate clients, school students, collegiate and professional sports teams, Broadway performers, senior traveling groups, and countless other groups.
Sinclair said his favorite thing about the job of motorcoach operator and tour leader is sharing the information he has about the sights they see. His favorite places to go are the Rocky Mountains and Alaska, he said. But the place he’s been to the most over the years is definitely Lancaster, PA. Home to Amish country and a popular Christian theater and more, Lancaster trips are also a hit for Anderson Tours.
Knowing about our country is a huge asset as a driver and John said his advice to new drivers would be to “know something” about the areas you’re traveling through so you can share it with passengers and enrich their experience. This is one of the ways Anderson drivers stand out among Cleveland and Pittsburgh charter bus companies.
John Sinclair’s extraordinary 55-year journey with Anderson Coach & Travel is a testament to his unmatched dedication, vast knowledge, and passion for both the job and the people he serves. His long and successful career not only highlights his exceptional skill as a driver, but also his commitment to safety, customer service, and sharing his love of travel with others. Through decades of change in the industry, from technology advancements to evolving passenger preferences, Sinclair has remained a constant, embodying the values that have made Anderson Coach & Travel a trusted name in the business. As John continues to drive and volunteer, his legacy will undoubtedly inspire future generations of motorcoach operators, just as O.D. Anderson inspired him all those years ago. With a perfect blend of professionalism and personal dedication, John Sinclair's story is one of longevity, hard work, and the deep satisfaction that comes from a life well-traveled.
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