A power system (10) operates a plurality of hoist motors (18a, 18b, 18c), each of which controls movement of one of a plurality of elevators (12a, 12b, 12c). The power system (10) includes a power bus (11) and a converter (22) connected across the power bus (11) for converting alternating current (AC) power from an AC power source (20) to direct current (DC) power and delivering the DC power to the power bus (11). The power system (10) also includes a plurality of inverters (26a, 26b, 26c) connected across the power bus (11). Each inverter (26a, 26b, 26c) is connected to a hoist motor (18a, 18b, 18c) and is operable to drive the hoist motor (18a, 18b, 18c) when the hoist motor (18a, 18b, 18c) is motoring by converting the DC power from the power bus (11) into AC power. Each inverter (26a, 26b, 26c) is further operable to convert AC power produced by the hoist motor (18a, 18b, 18c) when the motor is generating to DC power and to deliver the DC power to the power bus (11). A controller (31) manages power on the power bus (11) by controlling operation of the converter (22) and the inverters (26a, 26b, 26c) to drive a motoring hoist motor with power delivered to the power bus (11) by the converter (22) and generating hoist motors.