- Details
- Category: Industry News
With the COVID-19 epidemic wreaking havoc on the chauffeured transportation industry, it’s not only operators and builders dealing with the effects. Vendors who work closely and even tangentially with the industry have also been devastated by the shutdown caused by the pandemic.
Virtually overnight, Create-A-Card founders Arthur and Kathy Messina, who built a career by supplying business cards and marketing materials to the industry, found themselves without clients to service.
“With no one traveling or conducting business, our clients didn’t need business cards or mailers,” says Arthur.
Like so many other businesses struggling to stay afloat, Create-A-Card shifted gears to provide safety and sanitization products for their client base. Arthur says he took the cue after seeing local distilleries distributing hand sanitizer instead of spirits. With hand sanitizer, gloves, and especially masks high in demand, particularly for the service industry, the Messinas saw a way they could help.
“Different companies that lost revenue had to retool their businesses. These days we’re all into this “re” concept—RE-brand, RE-start, RE-fresh,” says Arthur. “We could have sat on our laurels, closed the office, and not answered the phones. But our clients were looking for safety products for their employees and customers, and we chose to stay active and help them.”
The Messinas worked with local vendors to provide a selection of masks and mini hand sanitizers that could be branded with a company logo. Safety kits for passengers and employees containing masks, sanitizers, wipes, and gloves, have been increasingly popular for Create-A-Card clients. However, with peak demand, providing the items was challenging in the early days of the pandemic.
“It was like the precious metals market: each day the price would change,” laughs Messina. “We’d quote a client, and by the time the order was processed, we’d be out of stock. Fortunately, now that it’s June, the stuff that was coming from overseas is hitting our shores. Prices are finally dropping.”
Create-A-Card has continued to expand their safety product line by offering Safe & Sealed labels to their customers. These labels are removable, tamper-evident seals that can be affixed between the door and the body of a vehicle. When the seal is pulled free, it reveals a “void” text on both sides of the sticker, ensuring the passenger that the car has been unoccupied after being cleaned or sanitized. Messina says the labels can be customized with your logo and any desired text to create peace of mind for your clients.
Like Create-A-Card, their sister company Driving Results peer groups had to change with the times. Traditionally, the Spinning Wheels and Going Global groups would be traveling to cities across the country for peer-to-peer education, networking, and fun. Unfortunately, the travel restrictions (and business decline) currently in effect have put the Going Global affiliate manager groups on hold until 2021. Meanwhile, however, Spinning Wheels members have continued to meet regularly via Zoom meetings. Not only do these events allow the members to keep up with news and commiserate, they also provide the education that Driving Results is known for.
“We’ve been able to bring some speakers on, including CD Publisher Chris Weiss and Kristen Carroll of The LMC Groups, along with other guests to educate the members,” says Arthur. “We recently had Matt Daus of Windels Marx and IATR speak to the group. By doing these Zoom meetings, I’m staying in front of my clients. To me, that’s important. The group environment is a plus—they offer support for each other.”
While COVID-19 has presented the ground transportation industry, and its associates, with an unprecedented set of challenges, the Messinas are confident that the storm will pass and the industry will survive. At the very least, Arthur believes that recent events will serve as a learning experience for operators to strategize.
“We’ve been in business for more than 30 years through the ups and downs. This is the craziest of the ups and downs, but it’s not going to devastate us. Fortunately, we’ve always run our business with the right mindset. If you plan and strategize, you’ll be able to survive.”
Visit createacardinc.com for more information.
[06.09.20]
- Details
- Category: Industry News
Alliance Bus Group, one of the nation’s leading supplier of bus transportation products, is now offering an extensive line of products designed specifically to enable operators to protect their passengers and drivers from COVID-19 within their vehicles.
Alliance’s comprehensive protection plan covers all high-contact areas involved with transporting passengers in an effort to provide the safest possible transportation environment.
"Whether you’re concerned about decontaminating all contact areas within the bus, protecting the driver, reducing passenger exposure via contact points and re-circulating air, or all of the above, we have tools available to assist you in safely running your operation," said Executive Vice President Andy Rolfe.
He continues, “A big part of our ‘Along for the Whole Ride’ philosophy is anticipating our customers’ needs and reacting accordingly. We hope these safety systems can help passengers and drivers see the commitment all operators place on health and safety and ultimately lead to improved ridership levels and more transportation across the country in these unprecedented times.”
According to Alliance, their system utilizes a four-step ‘Green Light’ methodology that begins with a thorough decontamination of the vehicle using a true gas that is most effective in penetrating all areas. Step two is ensuring the driver is protected utilizing an adaptable and customizable enclosure. The passenger area is also retro-fitted to ensure social distancing as well as making obvious recommended best practices. Finally, A/C purification systems make sure air that is re-circulated is as clean and safe as possible in the current operating environment.
These solutions are applicable to all types of vehicles—including mobility vans, shuttle buses, tour coaches, and paratransit buses—and across all industries.
Alliance continues to stay on top of the latest emerging trends and technologies in transportation and will be updating the website busstopcoronavirus.com in real time as more information becomes available.
Visit busstopcoronavirus.com or call 855.791.0060 for more information.
[06.05.20]
- Details
- Category: Industry News
The BLS Company recently announced that Cristina Giles has joined as the new director of business development in California. BLS has 12 company-owned locations across the U.S., including California and its corporate headquarters in Hicksville, N.Y.
Giles has more than 25 years of experience in the travel industry, including as senior business development manager for American Express GBT and VP of sales for Sunny’s Worldwide Transportation Services where she was responsible for business development in California. Additionally, she was a national account and operations manager for BCD Travel, as well as a former corporate travel manager.
Giles also worked for Carey International for almost 14 years. In her role as director of national sales for California, she held the number one sales position for a handful of years and was the recipient of the “Top Sales Person of the Year” award.
"Expanding our sales team during these uncertain times is essential so we can educate travel mangers on how chauffeured car is the safest option for ground transportation," said COO Eric Okon.
Okon says that Giles has had great success in building relationships with clients and driving strong sales achievements.
Giles adds that she is very excited to join The BLS Company family and looks forward to further success with her colleagues and teammates.
Visit blsco.com for more information.
[06.05.20]