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Aurora, Colo. — The Centennial State’s operators continue to band together and explore new ways to handle the many issues and concerns they’re facing, as evidenced by the extensive conversations members, supporters, and speakers had at the Colorado Limousine Association’s (CLA’s) most recent meeting held March 20.
The association welcomed two speakers, Jaime McLaren of DriveProfit and Chairman of the Colorado Democratic Party Morgan Carroll, both of whom represented an area in which CLA members wished to be better empowered.
McLauren discussed the ways that the association could increase its website’s visibility and traction through an array of optimization methods that would make it an improved tool for sharing information and rallying members, both current and potential. DriveProfit is currently working with the CLA to revamp the site to achieve those ends.
“She made some suggestions on what we needed help with on our website, and she made it much cleaner and prettier,” CLA President Jason Ramsey of Prestige Worldwide said. “We’re really happy with what she and DriveProfit have done.”
Much of the conversation that Carroll led was dedicated to specifying the ways that the CLA can act as citizen lobbyists to advocate for themselves at the state legislative level without shouldering the expensive burden of seeking outside assistance.
L to R: John Hafer of A Custom Coach Transportation, Jorge Sanchez of Hermes Worldwide, and CLA Secretary Jeremiah Kidane of Ambassadors Limo recently spent a day at the Colorado Capital Building working with legislators on pending bills that affect the luxury ground industry “She showed us how to get information on what bills are pending, how we can know there’s an upcoming hearing or floor vote on a bill, where we can listen to live audio broadcasts so if we can’t get there we can at least know what’s going on, and also when and how we can weigh in on legislation that affects us,” Ramsey said. “We found out that we don’t actually need to hire an attorney or an expensive lobbyist. She showed us that we can get someone to sponsor a bill—the General Assembly already has a team of lawyers on their staff who would draw up the legislation and then we review it, make sure it’s what we want, then take it back to our sponsor. And they also have a research staff.”
With a third of the Colorado General Assembly and the governor up for re-election this year, Carroll advised members to “hit the campaign trails and talk with the candidates about where they stand on issues affecting the industry.”
According to Ramsey, there is currently a bill that would deregulate “large-market taxi operations,” House Bill 18-1320. More information about the pending legislation can be found at dpo.st/2IJ5BWl.
Beyond their membership meeting, CLA members attended a March 29 hearing on proposed Public Utilities Commission (PUC) regulations regarding Proceeding No. 17R-0796TR. This proposal, simply put, would prohibit operators who do out-of-state affiliate work by presenting additional hurdles to the way the Colorado ground transportation industry handles business.
“We’ve been working tirelessly,” Ramsey said. “Our new Legislative Committee Chairperson Jeremiah Kidane has been on the calls with the General Assembly and he’s getting some great results. We’re a limited regulation industry: That means they have limited regulations over us, and we want the PUC to basically have three points of authority: the fingerprint background checks, insurance, and granting authority. That’s what we’d like the PUC to be because all the changes they’re trying to make are unenforceable and they don’t deal with safety.”
With Ramsey noting that Uber and Lyft both faced hefty fines recently—$8.9M and roughly $500K, respectively—he and the CLA are fighting for safety legislation to focus more on TNCs than traditional operators who are already operating well within prescribed laws.
The next CLA meeting will be May 15.
Visit cololimo.org for more information.
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General Manager Abdou Louarti
Tucson, Ariz. — Luxury ground transportation provider Diamond Transportation has been selected as a finalist in by the Better Business Association (BBA) of Southern Arizona for their 2018 Torch Awards for Ethics.
The Torch Award is the most prestigious honor the BBB can present to a business. Being a recipient indicates that the business not only believes in the high standards promoted by the BBB, but also consistently acts on them and continuously integrates them into daily practices.
“We are proud of our company's transparency and ethics and it has won us business,” says Abdou Louarti, Diamond general manager. “Being a finalist for the BBB Torch Award for Ethics is recognition of our hard work and a great morale booster for our team.”
In addition to Diamond Transportation, the BBB of Southern Arizona has named 15 other finalists of the upcoming awards in four separate categories:
- Customer Excellence Award: Catalina In-Home Service, Pima Dermatology, OOROO (aka Vistoso Automotive), Family Air Cooling and Heating.
- Ethics Award: Re-Bath, Diamond Transportation, High-End Used Saddles, Catalina In-Home Services.
- Good Neighbor Award: Chestnut Building & Design, Raskob Kambourian Financial, Re-Bath, High-End Used Saddles.
- Spark Award: Hayes Construction, Re-Bath, Omni Pools, Pressure Works Industries.
Visit diamondtransportation.com for more information.
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Albany, N.Y. — Premiere Transportation recently took delivery of a 2018 Van Hool CX45 luxury motorcoach from ABC Companies.
The new 60-passenger, ADA-compliant CX45 coach is powered by a Cummins ISX engine coupled to an Allison B500 Gen5 transmission. It includes Grande Lux seating, woodgrain flooring, REI Elite entertainment system, interior LED lighting, restroom, Wi-Fi, and 120 volt outlets, as well as Van Hool’s unique rear passenger window. The coach also offers a numerous amount of safety features, such as three-point seat belts, back-up camera, lane departure warning, antilock brakes, daylight running lights, and curbside lighting.
“This new Van Hool Coach takes Premiere to the next level as far as supplying upscale transportation,” said David J. Brown, president and CEO. Within a week of taking delivery of their new coach, Premiere signed a contract with the Albany Empire pro arena football team. Premiere will be handling the team on all of its away games in Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Washington, D.C.
“The synergies created as far as sales and marketing between the two companies has been tremendous. This coach has opened up a brand new doorway for us in new market areas,” added Brown.
Visit premierelimo.com for more information.
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