Prevost announced the retirement of bus industry veteran, Don Arlett. He is closing 21 years with Prevost and a long and successful career that began in the 1970s with Greyhound Bus Lines.
Arlett steps away from his immediate position with Prevost as Key Account Customer Support Manager for New York City Transit.
He began his career with Greyhound in the mid-1970s, working on the West Coast and on a large contract in Saudi Arabia where the company operated coaches for five years. He eventually oversaw the company’s 22 maintenance locations stretching from California to Washington and east into Colorado.
Arlett connected with Prevost in 1997 a brief time after he went to work for another manufacturer in the industry.
Don Arlett is closing 21 years with Prevost and a long and successful career that began in the 1970s with Greyhound Bus Lines. Photo: Prevost
“I had an issue with the A/C system on a Prevost coach and called the company for advice,” he says. “As a competitor, I thought it was very unusual that Prevost so willingly volunteered to walk me through the diagnostics and repair. When Randy Castillo (Regional Service Mgr. for Texas at the time) came to see his Prevost customers, he even invited me to join them for dinner.”
Arlett says soon after that meeting he accepted the offer to join Prevost as South Central Regional Service Manager, where he was soon growing the business and retaining valued Prevost customers. He settled into the Fort Worth, Texas, Prevost Service Facility as Branch Manager when it opened in 2000.
“Don did such an incredible job in Texas, we sent him to all our U.S. service facilities to teach the Prevost way,” says Maurice Gagne, director, Prevost Customer Support. “When he needed a new challenge, we tapped him in 2008 to be our first manager for Key Account Customer Support, beginning with Prevost’s first contract with Greyhound Lines for 50 coaches.”
Arlett became the single point of contact for both companies, as he knew the system and the people. As their liaison, he helped Prevost secure a second contract with Greyhound for 140 vehicles, which launched a long-lasting and highly successful relationship between the two companies.
“My takeaway from my career with Prevost is the pleasure in knowing I was one man on a tremendous team that believes in always putting people first,” says Arlett. “For me, this journey has always been about how well we treat our customers, and the sincere, heartfelt support everyone at Prevost extends to their business operations that reaches beyond the products.”
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