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The M&L Difference M&L offers automatic limo bus complimentary upgrades when available. If we have a bigger or fancier bus not in use, it’s yours – at no extra charge. Special price considerations for return customers as well as multiple bus moves. Our charter bus rates are all-inclusive. There are no hidden costs such as tips, tolls, or fuel. If you’re planning a party such as bachelor or bachelorette, birthday, or any special occasion, we drive, you party. Our party buses offer catering menus and allow for your group to bring or drink alcohol on board. We take care of all the details to get you to your destination – safe, on time, and cheerful. Our party buses offer catering menus and passengers can bring or drink alcohol on our charter buses. 
Entrepreneur M&L Transit Systems Inc.: In the driver's seatTransportation business steers its way back to profitability after 9/11Boston Business Journal - January 5, 2007by Sean McFadden Journal Staff  WOBURN -- When their commercial transportation business hit a very large bump in the road not too long ago, Michael D'Ampolo and Lisa Cinella simply kept on driving.
Perseverance has been a key piece of the growth strategy for the husband-and-wife owner/operators of Woburn-based M&L Transit Systems Inc., who, like many of their peers in the transportation industry, saw business suffer following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Just three years ago, in fact, M&L had a deficit of $250,000 and was forced to slash by half a staff that had grown to 60. "Looking back, we should've reacted more quickly," admits Cinella, 43. For her husband, a one-time light heavyweight boxing champion, failure was not an acceptable option. "It's not how hard you can get hit, but how much you can take and still keep coming forward," says D'Ampolo, 42. Marking the company's 24th year in operation, the owners see 2007 as a comeback year. The operation reached $3.8 million in revenue and retained earnings profits of $20,000 in 2006, and is on track to reach $350,000 in profit this year -- a level not seen since its peak in 2001. With a staff of 45 and a fleet of 33 buses, M&L's business model is about 70 percent public and private transit, providing shuttle bus and commuter service for fixed routes throughout Greater Boston. The other 20 percent is chartered bus service, including casino trips, corporate travel and weddings. The company has further diversified recently through a service division, currently representing 10 percent of its business, for which it performs maintenance and repair for other companies' buses at its 7,500-square-foot facility. The transportation business itself has been an ongoing learning process for the former high school sweethearts, who launched M&L in 1983 with $2,000 of Cinella's personal savings, followed by an additional investment of $100,000 from D'Ampolo's father two years later. "We were competing against one of the largest transportation companies in the area," recalls Cinella. "And they had all the money in the world to advertise, buy new equipment and to pay their employees well." She adds that an increased need for service from Logan Airport and positive word of mouth helped fuel M&L's growth. "Their staff are very considerate," says client Gayle Barker, director of senior services for the Wellesley Council on Aging. "And they really do go above and beyond to get creative with scheduling." It was perhaps naiveté, admits D'Ampolo, that kept the couple from realizing the full impact of 9/11 on their business for several years, as some of the towns with which they had contracts began to lose funding for transit service. By 2004, they were forced to go into serious survival mode: First, they stopped taking salaries themselves. Then, they asked their remaining team of 30 employees to not only give back a dollar an hour each from their pay, but to forfeit their benefits. D'Ampolo and Cinella also took out a second mortgage on their house in an effort to pump more money back into the business. Cinella recalls, "Everybody was saying, 'You're in the hole for $250,000. You're basically bankrupt. File bankruptcy, start over, do something else.' " Still, the couple refused to throw in the towel. Longtime client Caroline Connor, executive director of the Waltham-based 128 Business Council, says D'Ampolo and Cinella have matured as entrepreneurs: "They really have been able to grasp the business and the financing (aspect), which is complicated in this industry, as well as the customer service side." It's an expensive business to operate, the couple says, with buses currently costing anywhere from $99,000 to $175,000, and needing to be replaced about every six years. As a reflection of M&L's renewed health, however, D'Ampolo and Cinella were recently able to obtain financing for new buses. Equally important, this month marks the first raise in five years for their employees, as well as a reinstatement of their medical benefits. His business finally back in the black, Cinella attributes M&L's survival to "just learning your business. ... Even though the profits have returned, we still cut the fat; we're still running lean. And a lot of it is teamwork." Sean McFadden can be reached at smcfadden@bizjournals.com. All contents of this site © American City Business Journals Inc. All rights reserved. OUR BUSES Our Buses come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and styles; here are numbers only a transporter could love: Our buses:
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