Taking the Wheel

Student Launches Unique Bus Service

With the help of his father in 2009, Georgia Southern University student Jon Lockin purchased a 28-seat, military-surplus bus and started a business called “Blue Goose” in Statesboro, taking groups to and from bars and parties.

The Lockins have joined a growing group of civilians successfully launching small businesses after scooping up surplus items ranging from buses to jet engines from govliquidation.com, an online auction site.

Now, entering the 2012-13 academic year, this entrepreneurial student has a fleet of five buses, employs a small security staff and anywhere up to four professional drivers during the busiest parts of the year, and is about to implement a payment feature that uses key tags and pulls up the user’s Facebook profile photo to help combat identity fraud.

Not bad for a college student who has changed his major three times.

“I don’t know what it is,” laughed Lockin. “I can’t seem to decide what to stick with because it all seems interesting to me. I’ve never taken a class with a good professor that I didn’t enjoy. There’s something about the classroom setting, even if I don’t particularly enjoy the subject matter.”

Lockin’s business caters primarily to customers who are not planning on doing any driving on Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights, and accepts reservations for groups of 10 or more for a flat rate. This fall, Blue Goose will plan to take customers as far as Burkhalter Plantation, 3.8 miles from the bars. They’re more than willing to take customers greater distances if the need arises, too.

“We go farther if somebody needs us,” said Lockin. “It’s no skin off our back.”

Blue Goose begins picking up customers at 9 p.m. on business days and starts taking them home at 12:30 a.m., so late nights are common practice for Lockin and his staff.

“It’s really important for me to try not to have a Friday class,” Lockin said. “My weekend schedule is definitely off-kilter doing this as many years as I’ve been doing it. I’m the kind of business owner who likes to be out there. I have employees, but I like to be hands-on. I think that’s vital for businesses of our nature.”

Because of Statesboro’s size and limited night-out destinations, Blue Goose is most profitable when the business follows the market.

“It’s the kind of business where you have to get out,” he said. “While there are some trends, for the most part if you’re not out there seeing when people are going out, where they’re going and when they’re ready to go home, you can get behind the curve in a hurry. You always have to keep an ear to the market. It’s a small market, but if you get in and get out at the right time, with the right piece of equipment, you can have a lot of success.”

Success for Lockin is all about keeping the roads safe late at night. Even with the cost of maintenance, insurance and paying professionally-certified drivers, along with the rest of the staff, there’s still money to be made.

But that’s not at the top of Lockin’ priorities.

“I don’t necessarily measure my success in dollars and cents, I measure it in the number of lives we’re hopefully having a positive effect on,” he said. “At least, I hope we’re out there making a difference.”