Utopia Coaches, based at Sherburn in Elmet, North Yorkshire, provided services to rural communities between Selby, Drax, Tadcaster and York.
The company announced it was going into liquidation in a tweet on Wednesday evening, about an hour after drivers said they received the text messages.
Utopia has not responded to the BBC's request for comment.
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Driver Carl Longfield said he left work on Wednesday with no idea the company was going to cease operating.
"I left the depot thinking everything was OK saying, 'see you tomorrow' and I got home and got a text at about 19:55 saying 'thank you very much but we are ceasing trading at 00:01'.
"We had no idea the company was in such a bad state," he said.
"The more concern for me is the passengers we have left behind in the remote communities. They relied on our services to get into work, to school, to colleges and they've been left remote."
Richard Green, another driver, said he felt completely "deflated" by the news and said he was also concerned for passengers.
"They relied on us but evidently the company couldn't be bothered about them."
The drivers met the company's liquidator earlier.
They said they were told employees would receive two weeks' pay if they had been with the company for two years or more.
North Yorkshire County Council said it was working to offer alternatives for subsidised services, including school bus services.
It added it was in discussions with other operators about whether it might be possible to restore some of the company's commercial routes.

Michael Bryn Jones, 39, from Llandudno, disappeared on 3 April 2016 after going to the door of the Hergest psychiatric unit at Ysbyty Gwynedd, Bangor.
He was found hanging in woodland on 21 June.
Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board (BCUHB) said it has already changed its procedures.
An inquest into Mr Jones' death heard he had been a patient at the Hergest unit until a few days before his disappearance and continued to suffer anxiety and paranoia after he left hospital.
He turned up at the unit in the early hours of 3 April and was sent to the accident and emergency department but left without booking in or speaking to anyone.
Robat Hughes, the senior nurse who spoke to Mr Jones at the unit, told the inquest he regretted not asking him whether he was already having treatment.
"He came to the door and asked to see a doctor, but I said there was no doctor there as she'd gone home sick.  I said that if he went to accident and emergency then there were doctors there," he said.
"He was relaxed and calm.  I didn't know if he was using mental health services and I didn't ask.
"I should have asked if he'd been having treatment.  It has been something I've thought about a lot since."
Dr Stuart Porter, a consultant psychiatrist who reviewed the incident, said: "Somebody should have taken Michael Bryn Jones to accident and emergency.  It's also good practice to follow that up with a phone call."
In a statement, BCUHB said it offered "sincere condolences" to Mr Jones' family and "fully accepted" the coroner's findings.
"We have carried out our own thorough investigation, in conjunction with Michael's family, and as a result we have made changes to service provision," it added.
Recording a conclusion of suicide, coroner Nicola Jones said: "There should have been more effort to persuade [Mr Jones] to come into the Hergest unit for a full assessment of his condition.
"He went to that unit looking for help, and he didn't get it."
Bus drivers say they were told by text message their company was closing and they would lose their jobs.
[NEXT_CONCEPT]
A man who went missing after going to hospital with mental health problems should have been given more help, a coroner has said.