And good evening.

You've got More Than Money, you've got Gene Dickison, your host, your personal financial advisor.

For the next half an hour, I am at your service.

Happy to be back with you.

It is a very, very exciting time of the year, holiday season.

It's got to be exciting for all of you, as well.

Christmas is great.

Fantastic.

You all know the reason for the season, but Thanksgiving's kind of my favorite.

It's kind of my favorite.

Folks who have an attitude of gratitude seemingly just do better, not just more successful, but they seem to be happier.

They seem to be more in tune.

And so in a world that's admittedly a bit chaotic these days, and maybe in your heart of hearts, you're going, I don't even watch the news any more, it's just too upsetting, maybe we need to refocus that a little bit.

Maybe you need to think more about what's really good and what's really terrific and what you should be extremely grateful for.

If you are watching this before your Thanksgiving meal, then hopefully you're with friends and family and you're going to enjoy pies, lots of pie, lots of pies, hopefully, but hopefully as well you will carry that thankfulness into your day to day encounters with everybody that you meet, a lot of stress out there, trying to be as gentle with your fellow man as you possibly can be, as compassionate as you possibly can.

We'll all get through all of these challenges in much better shape if we do.

Meeting challenges, that might very well be the theme of our interview this evening with a new friend, a gentleman that.... You know his product.

You may not know him yet, but that's going to change here in a moment, because I'm going to introduce you to Tom JeBran, president and CEO of Trans-Bridge Lines.

Tom, welcome.

- Good evening, Gene.

Thank you for having me.

- Trans-Bridge, everybody sees the buses.

It's a fraction, really, of what you do.

Can you give everybody kind of a sense of Trans-Bridge and kind of the breadth of what's going on in your company these days?

- Well, we operate service to New York City through Bucks County, Hunterdown County, New Jersey, Orange County and, of course, the Lehigh Valley.

And we run many trips in and out of the city for commuters and shoppers and theatergoers and just travelers, families.

And then the other part of our business is charter business, where we send groups to various locations throughout the US and Canada.

So that's our business.

- And it has been for a long time.

Since 1941, yes, it's been in the family.

- Staggering.

80 years.

Most businesses today, even the big businesses, they come, they go.

80 years, there's got to be a secret sauce in there somewhere.

If somebody put you on the spot and said what's the Trans-Bridge secret sauce, what do you think it is?

- Well, I think our family sacrificed and worked hard all those years.

And of course, our employees are just phenomenal and they are dedicated to our company and we treat everyone like family.

- Family, indeed.

Help me, I think it's third or fourth generation - I'm the third generation, and I have two daughters in the business, so they would be the fourth generation.

- Fantastic.

And they've been in the business for a while?

Or are they relatively new?

- Ten years for one and eight years for the other.

- OK, so, no, this is the real deal.

So there's an opportunity maybe for fifth generation.

- We'll see.

- I have daughters, too.

I don't ask them about those kind of plans either, because that could get awkward rather quickly.

So, fantastic.

So four generations in.

The start to this whole thing actually goes back way over 100 years.

- Yes, it was started with a trolley company.

They called it a traction company back in 1902, I believe it was.

- Wow.

- And they started operating service in 1906 after they had to lay the track, because it was a tracked trolley.

- Wow.

- Electrified.

And it ran out of Washington, New Jersey, through Phillipsburg, Easton and then eventually up to Northampton.

And that was where the original company started, which was not part of our family.

- But that's where the seed of this whole now wonderful plant has started.

AJ Ferraro?

- My grandfather.

- OK. Got involved, again well over a hundred years ago in the industry.

- Yes.

- How did he get started?

- So, when he was a young man and World War I was going on, he was in Jersey City and decided to operate a bus back and forth to McGuire Air Force Base and Fort Dix.

And so therefore he put planks in the side of I think it was a kind of a Diamond Reo truck.

- Oh!

- I think that's what it was.

And he drove the soldiers to Fort Dix, and that's how he got his start in the bus industry.

- Fabulous!

Was he an immigrant?

How did the Ferraro family get here or get to North Jersey?

- He was born in New York City.

So, his parents were immigrants from Italy.

- Yes.

OK. - It was my grandmother, his wife.

She immigrated here when she was five years old, I believe.

- Wow.

A real American story.

- Sure.

- Oh, fantastic.

1941 comes, your grandfather's been in the business now 20 plus years, but somehow he becomes part of the ownership of Trans-Bridge.

How did that occur?

- So from what I understood, he and his son were running a company in Elizabeth, New Jersey, a transportation, bus transportation company, and his brother Frank and he were running another company.

And somehow he heard of this business in Washington, New Jersey, and they were running the local transit service.

He was a transit guy.

He liked corner to corner business, that's what he grew up with, that's what he knew.

And he came to Phillipsburg, and he and his partners purchased the company because it was going down, down a little bit, and he purchased it and he rebuilt the company and in 1941, 1942, 1946, he moved the office to a new garage that he and his brother-in-law actually helped to build, laying the bricks and the blocks.

And, you know, so he was a real different kind of guy, street kid, street smart, and he had all kinds of skills that he tapped into.

- Fantastic.

If you're just joining us, we're with Tom JeBran, present CEO of Trans-Bridge Lines, celebrating their 80th anniversary this year.

But that's not what we really want to focus on.

We want to focus on the journey, how it got from here to there.

But I want to come back to something you said earlier that I thought was really, really important.

You mentioned the employees, their commitment to Trans-Bridge.

Number one, how many do you have and how do you keep that mission flowing through your employees?

- So, pre pandemic, we had close to 180 employees.

- Wow.

- So almost 100 drivers.

We had 30-some in the shop.

And then of course, the office and the senior management staff.

But, you know, it was a smaller family business back in the 40s, 50s, 60s.

And we grew up with the drivers and they were our baby-sitters sometimes.

My mom had to go to the office at work and they put us on a bus and we rode from Phillipsburg to Easton to Washington and back.

It was probably an hour and a half.

We sat in the front seat and we behaved!

- Oh, that's fantastic!

- So we grew up with the mechanics.

I worked with mechanics.

My brother worked with the mechanics when we were younger, you know.

So, the people would come over to my grandfather's house and they would talk and they would come to our house.

Maybe one had electrical skills and they would fix something and they'd just share a drink.

And so it was a closer family thing.

As we got bigger, it was harder to do that thing.

But we grew up.

Sometimes, we had drivers with us for 45, 50 years.

- Wow.

- And Jim and I would ride the school buses and they would be our drivers back in 1965 and 66.

And then I think all of them now have retired, but that's how they kind of knew us as little kids and we got close and my dad was always there.

We're always at the business.

So if you want to see us, we're there.

It's not like we're, you know, hanging out at some resort somewhere.

- Country club!

- I like to do that, but...!

- For a short period of time.

I get that.

There are a lot of modern management books that would say you can't, you shouldn't get too close to your employees.

I think the Trans-Bridge story says quite the opposite.

- You do have to keep a distance a bit.

But it doesn't mean that you can't be friendly, doesn't mean that you can't know the person and know their families and be concerned when they're hurting or they need somebody to talk to.

And, you know, I've had a lot of people come into my office over the years and just close the door and talk, and that's the way it should be.

- Of course.

- So we try to make everyone feel comfortable and part of the group.

- Four generations in a family business is a very rare occurrence.

Now, we've had the pleasure, we've had the honor of interviewing a couple sixth generation family businesses, Chris Martin, Martin Guitars, one of those, fantastic, the Yuengling sisters, fantastic.

The odds...

This is a SBA, Small Business Administration, statistic that a family business makes it to the third generation, less than 3%.

You're heading into four, you're already into four, maybe heading into five.

Is there a dynamic, a philosophy?

How do we explain the survivability of Trans-Bridge when so many other businesses tend to fall apart after the second generation?

- You know, I can't answer that question, that would be a textbook answer.

I don't have that formula.

But I know that our family has worked hard.

And I know Jim and I, my brother and I, have worked really hard.

We wanted the business to succeed since we were young.

And a lot of the staff that we brought in from outside the business brought in great ideas and great management skills.

And it's through the dedication of the people that we have working with us that we're able to succeed.

- Fantastic.

You've mentioned Jim a couple of times.

Your brother is active in the business.

Give us a sense of what he does on a day by day basis.

- Jim started with computers.

He did not have that experience.

But when he graduated from college, they said, hey, we bought a computer, can you run it?

And so that's what he did.

And payroll, he was in charge of payroll, accounting, finance.

So he shares that part of the business.

And then I do more of the operations and sales end, the marketing end, but then we all come together to figure things out.

- Two pieces of a puzzle that need to fit together, one operating independently from the other, that spells disaster.

- Right.

- Fantastic.

- So we work it as a team.

We always have with ourselves.

Our sister Janet is involved in the business.

She runs the tour company.

And then we have a lot of great staff, people that we work together with.

- Well, we've kind of tiptoed into the family discussion.

We've got your brother Jim, your sister Janet.

Your mom figures rather prominently in all this.

Tell us a little bit about Camille.

- So, Mom was working for the government back in the late '30s.

I couldn't tell you the name of the organization, but she gets a little pension from that.

- Wow!

- Yeah, interesting.

- Wow.

- So I don't think they expected her to live, you know, 104 years, 103 years.

But she is still active in the business.

She will question us when we get together.

She was coming in pre pandemic every Wednesday to check on things, have a couple of meetings.

She gets our financials, she reviews those, she reviews our minutes of our different meetings, and she ask a lot of questions.

She's pretty darn sharp.

So she keeps us right down the straight path.

- She's still Mom.

- Still Mom.

- Still Mom.

That's a beautiful thing.

Every company should have a mom, especially one that's got longevity like that.

That is just fantastic.

She has seen all the generations.

- Yes.

- And you mentioned she had a job with a government organization in the 30s.

- Yes.

- At 103, you can do that, you can go back that far.

The challenges and the changes that she has seen over the 80 years of Trans-Bridge are almost unimaginable.

- Sure.

- The pandemic must have been a really significant challenge for you.

- It is.

It has been.

- And remains.

- It remains.

And we don't expect it to change for a couple of years.

A lot of our passengers were commuters in and out in New York City.

Now, we saw it declining over the years, where people were not going in five days a week, they were going in four days.

We saw that coming, but we didn't expect it to hit as rapidly as it did.

The technology changed.

You have the Zoom calls.

You have Microsoft Teams, so you don't have to go to the office.

And we're seeing that the people are not returning.

And that's affected us and a lot of our other folks that we know in the business, in the community, that they're having problems with getting the commuters back.

And that was a big part of our business.

You know, we talk about trains in the Lehigh Valley.

I like trains.

When I go to San Francisco, I'll take a train out to where I'm going from the airport.

You know, the Amtrak service from Philadelphia to Washington is great, but I don't believe the population density in the Lehigh Valley can support train service.

We're barely supporting the bus service, which is a lot less expensive to operate.

So we're struggling with where we're going to go in the future and how we're going to maintain that part of the operation if we're not getting the clients to commute as frequently as they were once before.

We are looking at different online ticket sales and reservations, which will help us better track what our needs are for standby buses, extra sections.

- So evolving.

Every business has to evolve.

1941, start of World War II, the company's been through recessions, it's been through conflicts and wars and upheavals.

This is another challenge.

You've got a strong management team.

- Yes.

- When we present challenges to your management team, is there a process they follow to kind of think through getting to a result or is it more gut feeling and intuition?

- I think it's more gut - feeling.

We do have a group.

As a matter of fact, Jim and our director of operations are out at a meeting now with a group.

It's called the Spada Group, and they're out there discussing some of the issues that are our members are having.

So they share a lot of information.

As a matter of fact, on my way in, I got a text saying, hey, we need to look at this when I get back.

So that gives us some idea.

And then I'm also in an executive group locally.

And then we talk about issues that affect all of our businesses.

And if you have a problem, they're there, the senior management, the CEOs, they're there to help one person through, give suggestions.

So we don't have a formal process.

But we work it out.

- It sounds like you're gathering intel from a lot of different sources.

That's got to be a huge advantage in terms of making informed decisions.

- Sure.

- You mentioned that you're part of an executive group.

Is that chamber related?

Is it independent?

Over the years, the term mastermind has been used a lot.

How did that come about?

- It was a Vistage group.

It was part of that.

And during the pandemic, we didn't like the direction our group was going.

So we left Vistage and we formed our own little group that we run ourselves, and we bring speakers in and we do all day executive sessions so we can discuss issues.

And it's working out really well.

We have 16 members.

- Different industries?

- All different, yes.

- So you're getting input from outside the six dots, so to speak, of the transportation?

- Absolutely.

- Wow, that's really fascinating.

In your professional development, has there been a mentor?

Is there somebody that you would point to and say, I've kind of taken my lead from this person or I've learned the most from this person?

We'll put your executive team to the side so we don't point one out of 15.

But is there somebody or some organization that you've relied on most over the years?

- Well, I think when I was younger, I was in the sales and marketing of the Lehigh Valley Group and John Chaya was in that group, and John is a great guy.

And he was instrumental in 2000 in helping us develop a strategic plan and some goals and long-term ideas that we should be adhering to.

So we did that with John.

Of course, my dad and my uncles, I mean, they were just great.

My uncle Joe was in maintenance, so I worked with him in maintenance.

My uncle John was in sales and my dad was in sales and operations.

And so I got a little help along the way from that, sometimes a kick in somewhere.

- As necessary.

As necessary.

- Of course, my mom, she and I always had discussions since I was a kid about the business, and she was in finance and HR.

So I got a lot of input.

So I'm kind of a generalist.

I'm not a specialist.

And then one particular fellow that we hired, Kirby Parnell, he was president of Greyhound Central, and back in 1991, '92, we needed a director of operations.

And he applied, and my dad wouldn't call him because he said, hey, he's president of Greyhound.

- He's a big guy!

- And finally he flew in and we had lunch with him and he was great, and he mentored Jim and I right up until 2015, when he retired.

So, great guy, big company ideas, but he started at the bottom, he started in dispatch and operations and worked his way up to president.

So, really great guy, learned a lot from him.

Then just different people that we work with every day teach us different things.

Just great.

- If you keep your eyes and ears open, it's amazing what you can pick up dealing with... You mention hanging out with bus drivers, hanging out with the guys back in the shop that are fixing...

These are smart people.

- Yes.

- They've got experience.

They've lived life.

And they're a step back, so they can be honest with you and tell you what they see, which can be really valuable.

- Sure.

- You've got two daughters in the business.

I'm the father of three daughters, so we've got some issues in common.

One of my daughters, as you know, works in our business as well.

I'm proud beyond all belief.

Is there a training program?

Is there an educational program?

How you develop your daughters so that when the time comes they can perhaps step into an executive role?

- So, I have four daughters.

All of them have worked at the business since they were younger, whether it was out gardening in the outside, pulling some weeds or working in the front office, selling tickets, answering phones or working inside, doing cleaning of windows of buses and things.

So they had a taste.

They grew up with it.

They listened to the conversations, the good and bad and the ugly.

But they all went off and did their thing.

My oldest went to Morgan Stanley in New York City.

She worked there for five years, and my controller recruited her to come back.

So she's in the accounting finance department.

- Nice.

- My second daughter was working at Liberty Travel and she was recruited to come back by our general manager of the tour company at that time to handle cruises and air transportation.

And she actually set up our pier transfer that we run to the cruise lines in Bayonne and in New York City.

So she joined the company and then she transferred into HR, where she is today.

There was an opening there.

She said, I'm going to apply for it.

So I have the daughters working for other people.

They don't work directly for me.

- Oh, very good.

- And they had to meet with my brother, their uncle, before they joined the company.

- No pressure!

- Just had to meet with him, just as his daughters would have to meet with me.

And we lay down the law.

- Fantastic.

- Are any of his daughters in the business as well?

- No, they're a little younger, and I'm not sure if they have the interest, but you never know, because they're young.

- We'll find out.

I you had one piece of advice you would give to another owner of a family business, what piece of advice would you give?

- Be patient with your family members.

It's really hard to work with family, and there is no competition.

There should not be competition between the family members, just you're working for a goal.

You're working together and you respect each other.

Not to say there's not going to be issues going forward, but, you know, you resolve those issues as grown-ups and you don't hold grudges.

And Jim and I are so fortunate that, you know, after I beat him up as a little kid, we get along fine now.

And now he's bigger than me.

So...!

- Brothers!

- Brothers!

- That's fantastic.

Tom, you've shared a lot that I think folks who have seen so many of the buses for so many years never dreamed there was that much of a back story, so to speak, starting with AJ over 100 years ago and leading up to a modern, dynamic, evolving company today that you've got to wonder, wouldn't it be fantastic if we could somehow connect with AJ and let him see?

Maybe he can see exactly what has happened after all these years and the pride he would feel.

It has to be amazing.

- Yeah, it would be.

I mean, this is something I don't think he could imagine, but he certainly loved the business and stated it to the day he died.

And I think he would be proud of what we've accomplished.

- Well, congratulations, sir.

80 years.

It's a good start.

We'll see where it goes.

Another 80 years.

That's not a bad thing.

- I'm liking that.

- Three or four more generations.

Why not?

Have some fun.

Have some fun.

As I turn to you, I want to thank Tom JeBran for being my special guest and giving us some insights behind the scenes, the back story of a company that so many of you have seen for your entire lifetimes in the Lehigh Valley and beyond and so many of you have taken advantage of.

That's why we get to see so many great shows on Broadway, because Tom takes us there and his entire team.

So what a fantastic story.

I think we scratched the surface.

I'm sure there's lots more there.

Maybe in the future we'll have that conversation again.

I want to thank all of you for being part of the show, For those of you that enjoy our answers to your questions, we encourage you.

Send us your e-mails, gene@askmtm.com Your e-mails are fantastic.

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So whether it's an investment question, income tax question, estate planning or a business question, please send those right over, gene@askmtm.com, and we'll answer every single one.

Sharing time with you is one of the things I am most thankful for.

So if you are in that holiday spirit, you're in the spirit of Thanksgiving, I hope that you'll remember all those people that have had a positive impact on your life.

If your mom is either 103 or 104 and you can say thank you or if she is, as mine is, in a far better place, you can still say thanks for all that they share with us.

Thanks for sharing part of your evening with us.

We'll see you next time right here on More Than Money.