Hawkeye Stages Is Born
1954
Hawkeye Stages is born, with the purchase of operating authority and used coaches from Waterloo Stages.
Travel in Luxury
Hawkeye Stages has one of the most modern fleets in the region, and our coaches are loaded with the latest technology.
70 Years of Experience
We have been doing this a long time! Since 1954, in fact.
Safe Way to Travel
Our motorcoaches and professional drivers consistently receive the highest possible ratings for safety and reliability from the DOT and DOD.
Exceptional Drivers
Some of the most friendly, accommodating and professionally trained individuals you will ever meet!
Hawkeye Stages
Our History
We’ve been doing this a long time – since 1954, in fact. And during that time we are proud to say we have learned a lot. The result is that, today, we can confidently state that we have a fleet of motorcoaches that is unmatched anywhere in the Midwest, and a staff of drivers and support personnel that is second-to-none.
First Tour
1956
First tour conducted, with 2 buses traveling to California at the end of December to watch the Iowa Hawkeyes play Oregon in the 1957 Rose Bowl, which the Hawkeyes won.
Expansion!
1960s
Expansion! Purchased bus companies in Oelwein and Mason City
Student Educational Tour
1964
Began promoting educational student travel to schools, eventually leading to the development of a very successful student travel division.
Tour Planning
1977
Received Interstate Commerce Commission authority to completely plan tours. Previously tours had to be planned through a licensed broker.
End of the “line”
1994
Suspended operation of final regularly scheduled “line run.” Hawkeye Stages had provided daily routes across the northeast half of Iowa.
Expanded
2002
Expanded into Central Iowa (Marshalltown) with purchase of operation previously known as Marshall Coaches.
Further Expansion
2008
More expansion! 13 coaches and the tour business know as Northland Travel purchased from Northwest Iowa Transportation. Operations expanded to Fort Dodge, Des Moines and Waterloo, allowing Hawkeye Stages and its tour companies to fully serve all of Iowa, southern Minnesota and south west Wisconsin.
Today
2024
Still family owned, Hawkeye Stages is more than 60 years old! Operations have expanded to Newton, Iowa and we continue to look for creative ways to extend motorcoach travel to new markets, offer travel planning services and more. In effort to reduce our impact on the environment, our offices are going green by installing solar arrays and geothermal technology.
Areas We Serve
Hawkeye Stages offers charter bus and motorcoach services for travel to all points in the USA with offices located in Decorah, Newton, and Waterloo. We serve charter bus customers from all over the state of Iowa, parts of Minnesota, Illinois, and Wisconsin.
Safety and Professional Drivers
Our drivers are some of the most friendly, accommodating and professionally trained individuals you will ever meet! They are held to the highest levels of standards in industry safety and training having been individually selected for their customer service skills, their driving history, and professionalism. Each is expected to participate in regular intervals of training involving both classroom and “hands-on” continuing education. Rest assured! Our drivers are the very best in the industry and are ready to create for you, our valued passenger, a memory through travel.
Fleet Maintenance
Hawkeye Stages takes great pride in our fleet of 19 state of the art motorcoaches. When not in use they are periodically inspected, serviced and cleaned from top to bottom to ensure that they are in the highest level of operating condition.
Periodic and preventative maintenance takes place at one of our three facilities statewide and is completed by in-house, regularly trained personnel with three things in mind–passenger safety, comfort, and travel experience. Our diverse fleet represents some of the finest names in the motorcoach transportation industry–MCI, Prevost, and VanHool. They range in passenger capacity from 36 to 56 seats. We have gone the extra mile in several of the coaches creating “extended legroom” by removing some of the seats. This results in greater comfort for passengers traveling on our longer excursions.
Our coach amenities include 110V electrical outlets, state of the art audio/visual systems, and WiFi by special arrangement. Passenger-controlled overhead lighting and ventilation and overhead luggage storage bins are also present within our interiors. We have spared no expense on passenger seating designed for greatest comfort. Many of our coaches have leather interiors, and all of our coaches are equipped with safety belts. We take great pride in our fleet! We are proud to say that it is one of the newest fleets in the country, a tradition we intend to maintain.
