Quick’s Bus: Long on Family and Service

Quick-Livick, Inc., better known as
Quick’s Bus Company, celebrated its
76th anniversary Nov. 18. Quick’s
Bus Company provides charter bus service for
organizational and recreational group tours.
It also offers a daily commuter service from
Fredericksburg to Washington, D.C., and
Northern Virginia.

The family-operated bus company started
back in 1946, when Robert L. Quick and his
father, D. Thomas Quick, saw potential in seven
used buses. Both men have since passed away,
leaving the much-built-upon creation in the
hands of their family.

Today, almost 70 years later, the company
consists of two Virginia locations and 57 motorcoaches.
Quick’s son, Robert Quick, Jr., 65, is
president of the company. “This was my father’s
life,” Quick said. “He worked until two years
ago and then died just a year ago. He loved
working in the bus industry.”

Quick, Jr. retired from the U.S. Army in
1992 and became president of Quick’s Bus
shortly afterward. “I worked with buses before,”
he said. “But I had a lot to learn.” He joked,
specifically, about the difficult transition of
working with the military to working with civilians.
“You tell someone in the military to do
something, and they do it,” he said, laughing. “It
was hard to adapt.”

Quick’s sister, Deborah Quick Ray, was
already working with the company when Quick
assumed role as president. “President is just a
title,” Quick said. “It’s really a partnership with
my sister.” Ray fulfills the role of secretarytreasurer.
“She has worked here forever.”
Quick’s two children, Jason and Kim, began
working for Quick’s in the 1990s, bringing a
fourth generation to the business. Jason currently
works as general manager at the Fredericksberg
office.

The company is now too big to employ only
within the founding family. However, it continues
to provide the friendly-family business
service it is known for. “We have a lot of good
people,” said Quick of his employees. They realize
how important it is, for drivers especially,
to be knowledgeable, kind and courteous. “You
can send an old bus out with a great driver, and
the guests will be happy as clams,” he said. “Or
you can send out a new bus with a bad driver,
and you’ll get complaints.”

Moving forward, Quick’s son Jason will
continue to assume more roles within the company.
Quick, a travel and motorcycle enthusiast,
plans to “ease [his] way out,” of this business.
“Nobody in my family has ever fully retired,”
he said. “I will continue to check in now and
then, just as my father and my uncle did before
me.”