PEMBINA - Soaring fuel prices are proving to be a pain for most people in the country, but they may have helped save the jobs of hundreds of workers in North Dakota's oldest town.

The Motor Coach Industries plant is the biggest employer in Pembina - about a quarter the residents in the town of 640 work there. Four years ago, it was struggling to stay open.

Now, as more people across the U.S. shun gas-guzzling vehicles for public transportation, bus ridership is up. Transit systems from Houston to New York City are mulling expansion to keep pace.

"The bus industry is healthy right now - it's in a good place," said Michael Melaniphy, a Motor Coach Industries Inc. vice president.

It's a turnaround from just a few years ago when bus sales were down and the company had massive layoffs, making the future of the Pembina plant uncertain.

MCI will begin delivering the first of 102 hybrid diesel-electric buses this summer to Houston's transit system, under a contract worth about $80 million. Another 126 diesel-only buses are being shipped out to the transit system in New York City. Officials say that deal totaled more than $67 million.

Mike Ohmann owns a hardware store in Pembina, which got its start in 1797 as a fur-trading post and was known as the first white settlement in the Dakotas. Ohmann said his business has gone up and down with the fortunes of the bus plant.

Layoffs hurt the economy in the region, since many the workers commute from within a 75-mile radius of town, Ohmann said.

"When there are layoffs, it means nobody is putting another nickel into their home," Ohmann said. "Losing that plant would be devastating."

Motor Coach Industries, based in Schaumburg, Ill., makes buses for public transportation and motor coaches that are used as luxury recreational vehicles.

MCI's main plant is in Winnipeg while the Pembina assembly plant is 60 miles away - just over the border in northeastern North Dakota to satisfy conditions of the federal Buy America Act, which requires buses involved in federal contracts be produced in the United States.