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Among the many business matters the association tended to at its first meeting of 2015 was electing its new Board of Directors, which is as follows:
President: Jeff Shanker of A-1 Limousine
First Vice President: Jason Sharenow of Broadway Elite Chauffeured Services Worldwide
Second Vice President: David Seelinger of EmpireCLS Worldwide Chauffeured Services
Secretary: Karen Gajda of Country Club Transportation
Treasurer: Jon Epstein of Royal Coachman Worldwide
Outgoing President James Moseley of TripTracker recognized and thanked the association’s many vendors for their support and sponsorships. He also welcomed the newest honorary board member, Philadelphia Regional Limousine Association (PRLA) President Steve Rhoads of Rhoads Limousine, saying that LANJ and PRLA have benefited from an “interactive, cross-border relationship” for a number of years.
Moseley also expressed his gratitude for “the opportunity to work with you all as your LANJ president” and reported on LANJ’s major accomplishments in 2014, which included: achieving a membership of 112 companies, the most in LANJ history; taking the TNC fight full-force to Trenton; installing the LANJ Line to the benefit of operators; establishing the 2015 Sponsor Title Program to benefit vendors; ensuring that the LANJ website is a frequently updated tool to assist members with their needs; upping the LANJ E-News publication frequency from monthly to semimonthly; and establishing the new Membership Committee. LANJ has also formally changed its name to reflect the singular “Association,” indicative of its unified mission as a statewide organization.
Newly elected President Jeff Shanker of A-1 Limousine then spoke of the association’s ambitious plans for 2015, introducing the new lobbying firm that the executive board hired to aid in the fight against TNCs, the Kaufman Zita Group, an established bipartisan organization based in West Trenton.
The TNC bill AB 3401 had been combined into Assembly Committee Substitute (ACS) 3765, which passed through the Transportation Committee in December. “We have to remain focused,” Shanker urged members in attendance. “The fight, to a point, is still in the Assembly but it’s not with the Transportation Committee. It’s now grassroots, boots-on-the-ground: We have to get out to all of our elected officials. That means that we need you.” He added that the association will be looking to its members “for significant input” when it comes to LANJ’s legislative efforts and taking its fight to the Senate.
And LANJ members are already heeding the call for all hands on deck, with more than $5,000 being spontaneously pledged at the meeting to help fund the association’s PAC. Shanker says that the association will need quite a bit more throughout the year to accomplish what they have planned.
Shanker also outlined a number of goals that LANJ has put into place for the upcoming year, which include strengthening its relationship with local and national transportation associations, as well as establishing the likes of social media, marketing, education, and technology committees internally.
Chauffeur Driven’s Editors Susan Rose and Madeleine Maccar both attended the meeting. Maccar offered an update on the upcoming Executive Retreat in Nashville and show in Miami, and raffled off a show pass to the Miami show, which was won by Billy Placier of Music Express Worldwide.
The next LANJ meeting will be March 25.
Visit lanj.org for more information.
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Aurora, Colo. — Members of the Colorado Limousine Association (CLA) elected the association’s 2015 Board of Directors at the January 20 membership meeting. The new board members are as follows:
President: Shane Stickel of Presidential Limousine
Vice President: Adam Paul of Colorado Corporate Car
Treasurer: Mary Norby of Corporate GT Denver/Carey Denver
Sergeant at Arms: Nikko Ouzounis of White Dove Limousine
CLA Executive Director Joseph Carr of the political consulting firm Artist & Associates says that the association will most likely appoint someone to the role of the association’s secretary.
With the onset of the state’s legislative session on January 7, the CLA is eyeing a possible bill to deregulate the state’s taxicab and chauffeured ground transportation industries, “which would be pretty good for us, but there hasn’t been anything introduced and it’s so early on that it’s hard to say if it will be introduced,” says Carr.
CLA is discussing the possibility of moving its meetings from Tuesdays to Wednesdays, and will hold its next meeting on February 18.
Visit cololimo.org for more information.
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Richmond, Va. — The Virginia Limousine Association (VLA) is urging its state Senate and House of Delegates to make substantial changes to legislation that establishes rules for TNCs to operate in Virginia. The Senate Transportation Committee approved a measure January 21 that will advance to Senate; a similar bill currently awaits consideration in the House of Delegates.
“Senate Bill 1025, as currently written, creates a terribly unfair playing field,” VLA President Paul Walsh of Superior Executive Transportation said in a press release. “It dramatically increases the costs for traditional limousine companies by requiring as much as a $100,000 license fee for any company wanting to operate as a TNC in Virginia. This is fine for Uber and Lyft that have billions of dollars in Silicon Valley backing, but not for mom-and-pop firms here in Virginia that have much higher insurance and taxes, which they must pay.”
According to Walsh, the alleged purpose of the license fee is to fund DMV’s regulatory and enforcement costs of TNC legislation. “But a one-size-fits-all fee of $100,000 precludes almost, if not all, but a handful of the existing 700-plus licensed passenger carrier companies in the state of Virginia from any chance to compete,” he said.
Licensing fees of $50 per vehicle would fairly fund the legislation just as well without favoring the large TNC companies, according to VLA Secretary Randy Allen of James Limousine Service. But Allen adds that the committee removed that option at the request of Uber and Lyft because it would harm their business models by imposing costs on drivers who may not be able to pay it. TNC drivers use their own personal vehicles, so they do not pay the full car tax under Virginia law; because limousine companies operate commercial vehicles, however, they receive no such break.
VLA also contends that long-operating TNCs elsewhere in the country are luring drivers from legally operating companies by promising higher pay but not necessarily standing by their word or disclosing the full cost of being a “partner company.”
“The TNC business model and actual practice in community after community forces drivers to work longer and longer hours, as rates paid by the passengers go down and commissions charged by the TNC companies to the drivers go up,” said Glenn Stafford of Love Limousine, the legislative liaison for VLA. “Virginia is not aware of the damage being done across America and why states like California and New York are taking second looks at the laws they passed regulating TNCs.”
Walsh says the limousine companies are dispirited and angry about the rush to action and lack of consideration to the impact SB 1025 and companion bill HB 1662 could have. “It is hard to fight the big California money and the politics,” he said. “We are counting on the good people in the House and Senate to stop this steamroller before it’s too late for our members.”
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