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MCTA President Charlie Murray of Total Transportation
St. Paul, Minn. — Minnesota Chauffeured Transportation Association (MCTA) welcomed more than a dozen attendees to its September 13 meeting at O’Garas Bar and Grille. Among those present were a few new members, like representatives from Midwest Transit Equipment and Erix Coach.
President Charlie Murray of Total Transportation kicked off the meeting before giving his report and turning the mic over to Adam Kiran of meeting sponsor Midwest Transportation Equipment, which also had a bus on display outside the meeting venue.
The meeting included updates on a bill that would regulate TNCs statewide. While the bill didn’t move in the state legislature in 2018, it is expected to in 2019. Additionally, a number of Metropolitan Airports Commission (MAC) updates included: 2019’s 3.15-percent commercial fee increase that will see livery operators paying $3.36 and taxis paying $4.50; construction continuing in a new parking ramp (expected to be completed in 2020), which will be followed by the opening of a new transit center; and MCTA members strategizing ways for their services to receive signage comparable to that of TNCs.
The September meeting provided an opportunity to check out a Midwest Transportation Equipment bus
Mike McKay of MNDOT was the meeting’s guest speaker. After thanking everyone again for their efforts to ensure that Super Bowl transportation went smoothly, McKay noted that his office is focusing on customer service now that its restructuring is complete. A “rulemaker” has been hired, and a group will be created to address the rules overseeing the state’s chauffeured transportation providers. He also noted that MNDOT is awaiting direction from the new administration, as it does not yet have any proposed state legislation for 2019.
Vice President Gus Ortis of executive transportation then led a discussion about the tips and tricks of the trade, including phone systems, warranties, maintenance (especially relating to repairs and tires), insurance companies, vehicle types, body work, reservation systems, and car models.
Members were entered into a raffle to win a pass to the 2018 Chauffeur Driven Show, which CD had donated to the association. MCTA Secretary/Treasurer Chad Peterson of Renee's Royal Valet was the lucky winner.
Visit mnlimo.org for more information.
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President of Forest River Bus Divisions David Wright Elkhart, Ind. — Forest River Bus, America’s largest shuttle bus manufacturer, announces the longest and most comprehensive warranty in the industry today.
All Forest River commercial buses will now come standard with an unprecedented 5-year/100,000-mile warranty at no additional charge. Before now, this warranty was only available on Forest River’s luxury flagship bus brand, Berkshire Coach, and the length and coverage is unparalleled in the industry.
“Forest River customers deserve the absolute best coverage our industry has to offer,” said President of Forest River Bus Divisions David Wright. “The plan to offer a 5-year/100,000-mile warranty has been in development for more than a year. This warranty would never have been possible without the unparalleled partnership we have with our dealers and our suppliers. Forest River’s financial strength, outstanding supplier relationships, and commitment to the end user is what makes this type of warranty possible.”
In other news, Forest River Bus has become the first bus company in the country to equip its buses with a standard rear camera and driver-viewing monitor for safe reverse operations. In collaboration with Rosco Vision Systems, the builder will install an automatic camera system that will provide rear video images to the driver in order to help them make informed safety and operational decisions. It is designed to turn on and off automatically, providing outstanding visual images in both day and night conditions to aid the driver. The size and placement of the back-up camera system is non-distracting to the driver and unobtrusive in the cockpit while not in use. The system will be covered by Forest River’s unprecedented 5-year/100,000 mile warranty.
“Forest River Bus has always been committed to making safety a top priority,” said Wright. “We were the first to install seat belts as standard equipment in all our buses. Now we are taking safety one step further by installing a back-up camera system as standard equipment. From our perspective, safety should never be optional.”
Ben Englander, CEO of Rosco Vision Systems, states, “Our relationship with Forest River goes back many years, even beyond camera systems to more traditional vision safety products like mirrors. We knew the day would come where cameras would be standard by law or by choice, and we applaud Forest River Bus for choosing the path to safety ahead of mandatory requirements. We have all heard that buses are not permitted to back-up by procedure, but in actuality, we know they back-up all the time. By having an effective safety solution, we mitigate risk on every level and take the subjectivity out of safety.”
Visit forestriverinc.com for more information.
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Dallas, Texas — Limo Anywhere, the ground transportation industry’s most widely used software solutions provider, has continued its visionary approach with innovative new products and enhancements to popular existing products. The company announced these changes at the Chauffeur Driven 2018 Show outside of Washington, D.C.
In response to growing numbers of users who provide bus and shuttle transportation, Limo Anywhere, in concert with the company’s strategic partner AddOns.la, jointly released Bus Anywhere, an integrated add-on that will allow operators to use the software to manage their bus/motorcoach trips.
AddOns.la President Andy Norman explained how the product was developed: “We collaborated with several Limo Anywhere customers who currently run bus/motorcoach operations to identify a comprehensive set of requirements for Bus Anywhere. I am pleased to say that this new solution, which includes a robust quote-to-reservation management module, enhanced multi-passenger, multi-day/week reservation capabilities, and a highly sophisticated pricing engine, will help solve many operational problems our customers face in the bus/motorcoach business.”
With Bus Anywhere, users can easily book trips over multiple days or weeks. Bus Anywhere also offers flexible rate pricing, an online booking portal, and an intuitive quote system. The state-of-the-art add-on is completely integrated into the user’s existing Limo Anywhere program and will allow operators to expand their services to lucrative shuttle contracts, group charters, corporate events, airport/cruise transfers, and school charters.
In addition to Bus Anywhere, Limo Anywhere is bolstering the company’s mobile portfolio with a series of upgrades and enhancements to its driver app, Driver Anywhere. At its core, the app allows drivers to view their assigned trips and receive up-to-date information about any changes. Dispatchers can also track trips live.
The upcoming version of Driver Anywhere boasts a new and improved user interface that is loaded with advanced features, such as detailed driver profiles, improved greeting signs, expanded driver workflow, trip rate details breakdown, and a communication link between drivers, customers, and dispatch. Limo Anywhere also teamed up with Square and Century Business Solutions to provide two credit card swiping options within the app. The app is free and included with all Limo Anywhere packages.
Last but not least, Limo Anywhere has built an entirely new reporting and analytics platform for its users. Historically, the company’s software offered preset designed reports for users across multiple categories. In response to customer requests, LA has expanded its platform to allow users to build, organize, and arrange their own custom reports. They can modify reports by using filters and deleting or adding columns and arranging them in the order most helpful to them. Once users design their reports, they can save the new formats and view them whenever they want, with up-to-date data to make decisions about their business. The reports compile a wide range of information from trips, invoices, accounts, drivers, vehicles, payments, and payroll. The new advanced reporting and analytics module is also free to Limo Anywhere customers.
Sean Arena, President of Limo Anywhere, believes this is a critical advancement and a natural addition to the company’s portfolio of solutions: “Enabling customers to quickly glean advanced insights into their business in a user-friendly manner should be a core expectation of any SaaS-based company. In addition, our customers face a growing need to provide more frequent and tailored reports for their downline clients. The new reporting and analytics module was built with flexibility, extendibility, and efficiency top of mind.”
Visit limoanywhere.com for more information.
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