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Members of the WFLA board include (L to R): Treasurer Blaze Basevic of President Limousine and Sedan Service, Secretary Justin Nystedt of Crowd Pleaser Limos, President Jeremy Jenkins of His & Hers Limousines, and Directors Matt Clemens of PIC Insurance and Ryan Hilberth of Rental Limo/Book.limo Tampa, Fla. — The West Florida Limousine Association (WFLA), formerly the West Florida Livery Association, recently turned over its board of directors, which represents a mix of familiar and new faces. Starting with re-elected board members, Jeremy Jenkins of His & Hers Limousines will serve as the returning president, along with David Morris of Kings Executive Limo & Car Service as vice president, Blaze Basevic of President Limousine and Sedan Service as treasurer, and Gregg Moulton of Orlando’s Select Transportation as a director.
New additions to the WFLA board include Secretary Justin Nystedt of Crowd Pleaser Limos and Director Ryan Hilberth of Rental Limo/Book.limo. Hilberth joins Matt Clemens of PIC Insurance as a second non-voting vendor board member. Soon after the new board was announced, the group identified a handful of issues to address at the association’s next meeting.
The WFLA board voted previously to drop from seven voting board members to five. The association then voted to rebrand the group with a slight change to the WFLA moniker, swapping the original “Livery” for “Limousine.”
“I’ve always had to tell people outside of our industry that the WFLA is the West Florida Limousine Association rather than ‘Livery’ because most people do not know what that word means,” says WFLA President Jenkins. “We are excited to announce that we officially changed the name from West Florida Livery Association to West Florida Limousine Association.”
In addition to the slight name change, the WFLA board also decided to acquire wfla.org as the association’s new domain name under the direction of Hilberth. “At our last meeting, we did a quick poll to see how many of our members knew the existing URL for the WFLA and the results were disappointing needless to say. As such, we decided that we needed a more memorable name that would elevate the WFLA as we re-brand.”
On March 29, the Hillsborough County Public Transportation Commission (HCPTC) voted unanimously in favor of reducing local limousine permits by 90 percent for all operators, including full refunds for those who already paid.
“This is a huge victory for us and we’ve waited a long time to level the playing field by getting this to go through,” Jenkins says.
The HCPTC board also voted to allow for controlled surge pricing for special events including airport rides, sports games, and concerts.
Following the acquisition of a new domain name, the group plans to redesign its logo to reflect the name change as well as re-design its website in the near future.
The next WFLA meeting is scheduled for May 17.
Visit wfla.org for more information.
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ABA CEO and President Peter Pantuso
Washington, D.C. — In a notice published in the Federal Register on March 23, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) withdrew its Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NPRM) on Safety Fitness Determinations (SFD).
FMCSA had previously announced in mid-January that it was delaying any movement toward a final rule and preparing to issue a supplemental notice of proposed rulemaking. However, after consultation with the new Secretary of Transportation Elaine L. Chao, the Agency elected to abandon this plan and withdraw the proposal. A brand new rulemaking would need to be initiated in order for any changes to be made in the future.
As the American Bus Association (ABA) and many other commenters argued in nearly 200 sets of submitted comments, FMCSA must first evaluate and consider the results of the CSA Correlation Study currently underway within the National Academies of Science (NAS), before moving forward with any changes to the CSA program, including Safety Fitness Determinations. Currently identified by three “ratings” from FMCSA, safety fitness is indicated by the “Satisfactory,” “Conditional,” and “Unsatisfactory” designations.
ABA and several bus operator members were active in participating in the three public meetings of the NAS throughout 2016 and helped to provide the motorcoach industry’s perspective on the CSA program during their discussions and deliberations. The final report of the NAS study is set for publication in June 2017. ABA further elevated the withdrawal of the SFD rule as one the Association’s top priorities with President Donald Trump’s Transition Team and in direct correspondence with Secretary Chao.
“This is a big win for the commercial motor vehicle industry. ABA supports getting the bad actors off of our roads as the safety of our passengers is our number one priority,” said ABA President and CEO Peter Pantuso. “However, making decisions based on bad data is not a path that would result in increased safety or the removal of substandard operators. So it makes good sense to withdraw this rule until the data can be improved.”
As recognized with a direct excerpt from ABA’s submitted comments in the published withdrawal notice, ABA’s voice and the voice of the motorcoach industry was heard loud and clear by the new Administration throughout this process.
“Conceptually, the use of real-time safety performance data for making safety fitness determinations is a good idea. But the data must be sound, timely, accurate, and reliable. Unfortunately, the current data is just not there yet,” Pantuso said.
The ABA will be hosting its 2017 Capitol Hill Fly-In May 3-4 in Washington, D.C.
Visit buses.org for more information.
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Moorpark, Cal. — Chosen Payments was recently contacted by multiple limo operators in New Jersey, California, and Texas who recently incurred combined fraud losses of approximately $5,500. These are repeated occurrences of the same scam involving a single suspect who travels to the same residence in Los Angeles from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).
In March, Chosen Payments was notified by Gem Limousine Worldwide that a client had used various names and credit card numbers to fraudulently book transportation primarily between LAX and a residence in the Griffith Park area of Los Angeles. The suspect frequently redirects airport transfers to become “as directed” jobs that last several hours with stops at The Project, on Hollywood Boulevard, The El Rey Theater, and area jazz clubs.
The suspect uses a mobile app to place orders with various limo operators. Upon completion of the order, the credit card is either declined after service has been rendered or the true cardholder initiates a chargeback resulting in a loss of money to the operator. Since all of the past orders have involved a farm-out, the Los Angeles based companies who perform the rides don’t lose any money but the company that farmed the job out is left holding the bag. Chosen Payments is currently working with Detective Michael Gentry with the LAX Police Department since the thefts technically occur at LAX at the time the ride begins or ends.
Operators should always pre-authorize a credit card, use the Address Verification System when processing cards and have your chauffeur physically view the credit card along with a matching form of identification unless the client is an established client.
Additionally, Chosen Payments would like to share information specifically for Los Angeles based operators who might find themselves in the same situation. Gem is no longer accepting these orders and most recently, Concorde Worldwide, also based in New Jersey was the latest victim. “It is important that we work together as an industry to locate this criminal and bring him to justice," said Jeff Brodsly, president and CEO of Chosen Payments.
The suspect uses the following names: Aren Carter, Aren Green, Jason Friedman, and Paul LeRoy.
The most frequent addresses for pickups and drop-offs are: 6459 Rodgerton and 822 No. Formosa in Los Angeles.
Should any operator take an order that may be associated with this suspect or these addresses, please contact Detective Michael Gentry with the LAX PD at 424.646.8351 or contact Jim Luff at Chosen Payments.
Visit chosenpayments.com for more information.
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