- Details
- Category: Industry News
San Diego, Calif. — KLTS Transportation has furthered their reach within the Southern California market with the opening of a new office in Los Angeles, based just minutes away from LAX. This new location is fully operational with a full fleet of sedans, SUVs, Mercedes-Benz Sprinters, and minicoaches.
Mike Muhsin, president & CEO of KLTS, says that this expansion will give them the opportunity to build new affiliate relations and acquire new accounts in the L.A. region. In the coming year the company plans to grow the L.A. office’s fleet to 30-40 vehicles.
President & CEO Mike Muhsin
This year has been very eventful for Muhsin and his growing company. In January 2017, KLTS acquired LJ Transportation, one of the Sand Diego area’s oldest and most successful limousine services. Then in July, KLTS merged with Talia First Class Limousine and Wine Tours of El Cajon.
Muhsin is excited about the future of his business. “We’re looking forward to continuing to grow and serve the Southern California market. We now have more than 70 vehicles that run between San Diego and L.A.”
Visit kltslimo.com for more information.
[CD1217]
- Details
- Category: Industry News
Scott Solombrino, president and CEO of Dav El / BostonCoach New York — The National Limousine Association (NLA) has announced that Congress’ long-in-the-works federal tax bill contained a provision that would have given the TNCs a “safe harbor,” which would allow companies like Lyft and Uber to continue to misclassify their workers. Through the hard work of the NLA’s Government Relations and Public Relations programs, the association was able to garner the support of three senators who were able to strike the provision through an amendment.
In a letter to association members, NLA Secretary Scott Solombrino, president, Dav El/BostonCoach, cited this as “the single biggest event since our passage of the ‘Ride Act’ years ago” and praised Senators Murray, Brown, Warren, Casey, Carper, Sanders, Murphy, and Sheehan for their roles in pulling the provision from the bill. He also thanked his NLA President Gary Buffo of Pure Luxury Transportation along with Robert Alexander of RMA Worldwide and Jason Kaplan of The Driver Provider, his co-chairs on the Legislative Committee and Public Relations Committee.
“This is a HUGE win for our tiny but very powerful industry," said Solombrino. “Battles like this will not go away; they will continue to try to find pathways to legalize their criminal business practices.”
In the weeks after the NLA’s legisilative win, Solombrino penned an open letter to President Trump in order to bring attention to the negative impact that autonomous vehicles will have on the American workforce. In the letter below, which was drafted on behalf of the NLA, Solombrino responds to Uber's move from its current model of ride-sharing using freelance drivers to owning a fleet of autonomous cars about not being a commercial business until drivers are no longer in the picture.
Chief among the issues raised to the president is Uber’s advocating for the development of autonomous vehicles, despite the company “that has built its existence on the hard work and labor of its drivers, profited off of the revenue generated by hardworking Americans and now it has publicly stated that its goal is to rid itself of the majority of its workforce.”
Solombrino also cited a report from CBS, which stated that "at least 10 million US jobs have a high risk of bowing to automation in the next decade as companies deploy machines that can learn and perform tasks." Also, he mentions that more than 1.8M truck drivers' jobs are now on the line, with .some estimates pegging the number of jobs in the U.S that rely on driving at 20 million.
The open letter (which can be read in its entirety at limo.org/press-room/5598789) makes an appeal that President Trump not only consider the economic effects of autonomous vehicles, but also the safety implications of not having a person in control.
“To be put simply, it is your promise and your prerogative to ensure that the American worker is protected and allowed to prosper,” wrote Solombrino. “Drivers are voters, computers are not. This will be among your most enduring legacies as President, and I urge you to speak out on this issue and come to the aid of hard-working American drivers.”
Visit limo.org for more information.
[CD1117]
- Details
- Category: Industry News
Members of the Premier team were on hand for the day, including Facilities Manager Todd Davis Dallas — It was an industrywide affair when Premier Transportation held an open house November 15 to celebrate the grand opening of its new location. With upward of 30 national operators coming in from all over the country, visits from local affiliates, a number of vendors making the trip out—including representatives from Grech Motors, which sponsored the event—and scores of clients dropping by throughout the day, owner Eric Devlin estimates that 250 guests helped the Premier team celebrate their newest Texan home right in the heart of Dallas’ uptown Hospital District.
But the story really begins two or three years ago, when Devlin realized that neither a corporate office that only offered surface parking nor continually renting out space made for a tenable long-term arrangement for his company and the motorcoaches in his fleet.
“From the standpoint of efficiency, morale, growth, and making an investment, it was time to buy our own building,” said Devlin. “What predicated that decision was getting into the coach industry, since we didn’t really have a place to park those bigger vehicles. When we bought our first two motorcoaches, we secured a secondary lot about 10 miles away from our office, but it was inefficient, inconvenient, and our coach chauffeurs felt isolated for being so far from the office and everyone else.”
Members of the transportation industry came out in droves to attend Premier’s November 15 open house A two-year search was followed by some repairs and remodeling once Devlin found the 44,000-square-foot former manufacturing facility that sits atop more than two acres of land: With its ample space for maneuvering buses and coaches, plus a prime location that allowed for both garage and office space, it was a perfect fit. And within just a couple of months, the renovated building was ready for the Premier family to throw open its doors for a welcome reception.
“I knew we were going to have a big open house,” Devlin said of an event that turned an office building into a catered soiree with food, cocktails, wall-to-wall decorations, a green-screen photobooth complete with props and costumes, and DJs. “But what I didn’t know was the extent that my team would go to. They literally transformed a warehouse into something else. It was just an incredible setup. It was a great setting and our clients loved it.”
In addition to having three minicoaches by Grech and some Mercedes-Benz Sprinters by First Class Customs on display, the open house also presented an opportunity for Premier to reconnect with its extended family and make sure that affiliates, vendors, and clients alike were able to put faces to the names they’ve been working with and enjoy some in-person conversation.
Premier’s owner Eric Devin addresses the event’s attendees Devlin credits Director of Global Sales Lori Clark, Facilities Manager Todd Davis, Marketing and SEO Director Shelby Harris, and Associate Sales Kristi Walker for going above and beyond to ensure that the day was a success that brought the whole Premiere family together. Drawing on Walker’s DMC and planning background, plus relying on Clark and Harris to manage the guest list and other logistical moving parts while Davis “made the building look great,” Devlin knows that his entire team “worked tirelessly” to make it all come together spectacularly.
“By leaps and bounds, we exceeded our expectations of not only the production of the event but also the effect that it had on our clients,” he said. “When you think of a limo company, you don’t always get a great visual picture. But we really blew people away with our facilities.”
Affiliate Manager Jami Crouch added that being able to host an event while also maintaining the daily tasks that keep the company running added to the positive impression that Premier’s guests got from the day.
“Allowing our clients, partners, and guests to see our operation from the inside was really important,” she said. “Inviting them to see where everything happens, to see our dispatch department, to meet the people taking their reservations makes it so much more human. Plus, they got to see us host an event while still running the company—they got to see that we have a great team who can handle anything.”
The garage at Premier’s new facility And having the visible support of the industry behind them as the Premier team celebrated its newest milestone was the icing on the cake.
“Having so many of our affiliate partners come from all over the U.S. to support us as we opened a new facility by just being there for us and celebrating with us was such an incredible feeling and such a wonderful thing to be a part of,” Crouch added.
Now that life has settled back into a more day-to-day routine, Devlin is pleased with the new location’s convenient proximity that puts his company within five minutes of the downtown scene, 10 minutes from the city-owned public airport Love Field, and 20 minutes from DFW.
“We’re now really close to most of our starting and ending points,” he said. “Being so centrally located is already helping to increase the efficiency of our company.”
Visit premierofdallas.com for more information.
[CD1117]