Top Notch Service at Bus Outfit

by Barton Horowitz
Staten Island Advance

Step aboard any one of five H & B Super Express vehicles and imagine yourself a member of the rich and famous. It's not too far a stretch --especially if you're experiencing one of the Annadale-based company's "limo" buses, each appointed with luxurious leather couches, multiple refreshment centers, customized climate conditions, a state-of-the-art entertainment system and an on-board restroom. In addition, if you require something larger than a 16-passenger limo bus, the company offers a choice of 24- or 33-passenger vehicles.

"We're not just transportation," said Howard Reifer, who owns and operates the company with his wife, Barbara.

A former accountant, Reifer, known to most as Howie, describes himself as a "busologist -- a person who listens to you, and makes sure what you need is what you're going to have. I'll prescribe the right medicine to get the job done completely, so you'll be happy with the service."

To ensure customer satisfaction, the couple opted years ago to keep their enterprise a "mom and pop" operation, maintaining only a modest number of buses and making themselves readily available to clients and employees.

"Being small in business, is being personable -- and being personable makes a difference," Reifer affirmed. "I try never to sleep until the drivers are back."

The couple began their venture in Dec. 1984 with a single 14-passenger van.

"Our main thrust in those early years was commuter runs," Reifer recalled.

At that time, like today, exemplary service was emphasized, with clients being picked up at their individual homes, as opposed to group meeting-sites. Reifer, manning the driver's seat himself, would make three to six round-trips to Manhattan each day, beginning with a 6 a.m. run. His day behind the wheel generally would end around 8:30 in the evening.

Nowadays, the couple's work schedule is no less brief.

"This is because the phones are always ringing," Mrs. Reifer noted, adding that she and her husband personally answer all incoming phone calls.

"This is because the phones are always ringing," Mrs. Reifer noted, adding that she and her husband personally answer all incoming phone calls.

In addition to the devotion of its owners, H & B's success has been strengthened by the dependability of its drivers, the couple affirmed.

"We don't have a high turnover of drivers," said Reifer, who regularly sits behind the wheel himself. "Drivers do make the company."

His wife agreed, highlighting the professionalism of the staff. "They're always dressed in proper attire -- and they assist passengers getting on and off the buses."

The concern H & B drivers show for clients is echoed by the actions of the owners themselves. In fact, aside from mechanical maintenance and the actual driving of the vehicles, there are very few tasks involving the business that the Reifers don't tackle on their own.

The two have split the responsibilities, with Mrs. Reifer handling the administrative end of the enterprise, and her husband concentrating on its day-to-day operation.

"He books all the work, and then gives me the paperwork to prepare for the drivers," said Mrs. Reifer, who also works full time as an administrative assistant for a Wall Street brokerage house.

Her husband noted that in the days following the devastation of Sept. 11, the couple could have suffered irreversible financial setbacks, but Mrs. Reifer's outside employment helped keep expenses in check.

"My wife is an integral part of the company. Without Barbara, the sun doesn't set," Reifer said.

Financial demands aside, operating a transportation business is not easy -- and some of the chores required to keep H & B running smoothly are not as glamorous as the luxury buses may portend. Daily tasks include cleaning of the vehicles, which Reifer painstakingly performs himself, right down to the most minute interior details.

The Staten Island company that once had specialized in workday commutes, now covers a territory that spreads as far south as Washington, D.C., and as far north as Maine. Preferring to stay local, however, "New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut are the key areas," Mrs. Reifer said.

During a relatively recent period of the company's growth, from 1999 into 2001, Allison Reifer, one of the businessman's daughters from a previous marriage, worked within H & B's headquarters.

She was instrumental to the enterprise during that time, her father said, but a residential relocation to New Jersey forced her to leave the family venture. Outside of the owners, Ms. Reifer had been the only other person employed in the company's home-based office.

"It's very difficult to have an outsider working in your home," Mrs. Reifer reflected. "As a family member and hard-working team player, Allison fit right in. We miss having her here."

In addition to the Annadale couple, the only other face that now appears in their office on a daily basis is that of late New York Yankees legend Lou Gehrig, whose image is portrayed in a poster hanging behind Reifer's desk chair. Gehrig notably played 2,130 consecutive games during a period of over 13 seasons.

"That's how I see myself -- The Iron Horse," the entrepreneur said, referring to ballplayer's nickname.

H & B can be reached at (718) 966-8186, (917) 299-2524 or via its Web site, www.hbsuperexpress.com.

Barton Horowitz can be reached at the Advance, 950 Fingerboard Rd., Staten Island, N.Y. 10305, by phone at 718-816-2867, or by e-mail at horowitz@siadvance.com. His column appears Thursdays in the Advance Business pages.