BY SUSAN ROSE
Cover Art: TruPath Specialty Vehicles Co-owners Ryan Casey (left) and Shannon Kaser at their facility in Elkhart, Indiana. Photography by Adrienna Kaser.
Anyone can claim to understand what transportation operators need. Shannon Kaser has spent nearly 30 years living it.
As the owner of a transportation company with around 130 buses operating across six locations in northern Indiana, Kaser has spent decades purchasing vehicles, working with manufacturers and dealers, listening to drivers, and relying on mechanics to keep his fleet moving. Every purchasing decision came with lessons—some positive, others frustrating.
“I usually buy vehicles based on my drivers and my mechanics,” Kaser says. “The drivers are in touch with the customers who are getting on and off the bus, and my mechanics are the ones who work on them. That’s what I live and breathe every day.”
Today, his experiences as an operator help to shape a different kind of venture: bus manufacturing.
Founded in 2025 and based in Elkhart, TruPath Specialty Vehicles (TPSV) may be a new name to many operators, but the people behind the company are anything but. Kaser partnered with President and Co-owner Ryan Casey to create a company built around a simple philosophy: design buses the way operators would create buses if they had the opportunity themselves.
The TruPath Specialty Vehicles executive team (clockwise from top left): Mark Barczak, Rodney Crowder, Shannon Kaser, Toby Crowley, Nathan Hose, and Ryan Casey That philosophy became the starting point for every conversation they had about bus manufacturing. Together, they believed they could bridge the gap and thus, TPSV was born.
Casey’s background in manufacturing leadership, including positions with Forest River’s Marine Division and Lippert Components (a major industry parts supplier), completed the circle. While Kaser understood what operators wanted and expected, Casey’s years on the builder side could execute the vision and bring it to reality.
“We did not want to be a ‘me too’ bus builder,” Casey says, clarifying that they didn’t want to produce functional boxes without careful thought and purposeful engineering behind them. “We wanted to really focus on quality and innovation. We all had products that we liked, but whenever there was a problem, the dealer always complained the OEM was a pain to work with and get results. You had to go through all this nonsense to get anything done. That’s not us. We want to treat people right and ultimately have our dealers and the end users have the best experience they can with the bus.”
Although TPSV officially incorporated early last year, the idea had been years in the making. The founders spent considerable time discussing what kind of company they wanted to manifest before putting their first vehicle into production, which happened late last summer.
Executive team (L to R): Director of Purchasing Nathan Hose, Director of Operations Toby Crowley, Director of Engineering Mark Barczak, Director of Sales Rodney Crowder, President & Co-owner Ryan Casey, Vice President & Co-owner Shannon Kaser, and the Sales & Marketing team Hudson Kaser, Carter Kaser, and Nico Hawthorne Rather than trying to enter every corner of the commercial shuttle bus market at once, they intentionally narrowed their aperture. The company’s first platform is built around Ford E-350 and E-450 chassis—the models most applicable to many shuttle operations—while Ford Transit, Chevrolet, Mercedes-Benz, and larger Ford F-Series chassis remain in various stages of development. Depending on the configuration, buses can accommodate up to 20 passengers.
“We want to focus on this shuttle space and be the best there before we move on and diversify too much,” Kaser says. “We’ve come a long way with our team and a lot of research and development and prototypes. We really have a solid product now going out the door.”
Casey says there were plenty of opportunities to move faster, but Kaser’s experience as an operator kept the team grounded.
“As much as we wanted to run and develop everything under the sun, Shannon’s been really tough on the operations team and research and development because he knows it’s got to be right. He’s had buses that were rushed to market that had all kinds of issues, and he didn’t want us making those same mistakes.”
While Kaser and Casey bring different perspectives to the business, both are quick to point out that TPSV extends well beyond its two founders.
Buses at various stages of production “It’s not just about Ryan and me,” Kaser says. “It’s who we surround ourselves with. You surround yourselves with the right people and great things can happen.”
Drawing from Elkhart’s deep manufacturing community, the pair assembled a team of leaders and craftsmen with generations of knowledge in engineering, operations, purchasing, and sales.
“We really went after people who had experience in the industry or exceptional leaders in like businesses,” Casey says. “We wanted to make sure that we had guys that weren’t trying to force somebody to be something they weren’t.”
But they knew that buyers needed more than just a vehicle. What happens after the sale is often just as critical as the product itself—a familiar scenario that Kaser can relate to.
“As a people person, you want people who stand behind their product,” he says. “If there’s something wrong, these guys are there. We want to be that partner that customers feel good about.”
That philosophy extends to everything from warranty work to replacement parts. “Our big thing with warranty and service is to just be super-fast,” Casey says. “Instead of pointing fingers, what’s more important to us is getting problems fixed and making sure we identify the root cause so they don’t happen again,” noting that the entire team understands that a parked vehicle means lost revenue for operators. Rather than building the largest network possible, TPSV has chosen to work with qualified dealers capable of supporting customers long after delivery in a professional and timely manner.
The production team at the TPSV facility in Elkhart, Indiana “We’re just south of 20 dealers right now. We’ve been very particular about who we sign with,” Casey says. “We won’t sign dealers unless they have a brick-and-mortar location to be able to do service. It’s such a key to us to make sure that we take care of the dealer and our retail customer.”
While functionality remains the priority, the founders also recognize that appearance matters—particularly for operators serving corporate clients, hotels, and executive transportation customers.
Early in the company’s development, Kaser walked through one of the first completed buses and immediately knew something was missing.
“I’ll never forget standing in one of our first builds. It was just cold in there,” he recalls about the all-white aesthetics. “So, Ryan got on the phone and hired an interior decorator to come in and give us different palettes, designs, and options. The look and the feel from those first couple buses to now is night and day. I’m proud of the refinements we’ve made.”
That attention to detail has since expanded into executive-style packages featuring upgraded interiors, distinctive lighting, custom flooring and wall treatments, and exterior styling intended to appeal to higher-end customers who want those distinguished touches.
TPSV’s Executive/Limo-style bus “Our focus is on those details,” Casey says. “The last thing we want is for somebody to walk through a show and say, ‘I really like that, but I wish they would have done this one thing differently.’ We’re pretty hard on ourselves because we want it all to come together.”
To ensure that their products are as durable as they are aesthetic, the builder works with such suppliers like Gerflor (flooring), Rollie Williams (paints and coatings), TK Steel (steel), and Premier Products (seating). While every supplier contributes to a beautiful end product, seating occupies a unique role as customers are most likely to remember how the seat felt after an hour on the road. Kaser notes that Premier’s seating consistently delivers high-quality seating solutions that combine comfort, durability, and modern design, helping them to provide an exceptional experience for their passengers.
For all the discussion surrounding product development, dealer support, and design, both founders acknowledge that none of it matters unless operators have confidence in the company behind the badge—and they appreciate that trusting a new builder, even one with a strong portfolio and a team of highly skilled craftsment behind them, is a leap of faith.
12-passenger + 2 wheelchair ADA-compliant bus Kaser has felt that hesitation himself. That’s why he isn’t asking operators to simply trust a new name, because he’s been there.
“We understand that we need to earn trust,” Kaser says. “We have a long-term vision. We’re not just another startup bus builder. We’ve been doing manufacturing and been in this industry for decades, so we’re very sensitive to every step in continuously improving and being a healthy partner.”
For industry operators evaluating new equipment, that ultimately may be TPSV’s biggest differentiator. The company may be a newer entrant in the manufacturing space, but its philosophy has been forged through years spent building buses and, perhaps more importantly, operating them. After all, the knowledge gained through the practical application and daily use of the end product—the operator’s perspective—is often the missing piece once it leaves the manufacturer’s assembly line. Its founders aren’t asking customers to buy into a new name; they’re asking them to trust the experience behind it. They’re building vehicles they want operators to be proud to put in their fleets and carry their clients, because Kaser would be proud to put them in his own. [CD0726]
