- Details
- Category: Industry News
L to R: John Hafer of A Custom Coach Transportation, Mary Norby of Carey Denver, Shane Stickel of Presidential Worldwide Transportation, Adam Paul of Colorado Corporate Car, and Nikko Ouzounis of A White Dove Limousine
Denver — More than 30 members and friends braved a snow storm to attend the annual holiday event of the Colorado Limousine Association (CLA). Held at Mickey’s Top Sirloin restaurant, the dinner party gave CLA members the opportunity to socialize and celebrate the accomplishments of the past year.
President Shane Stickel of Presidential Worldwide Transportation welcomed the attendees with a short speech, and expressed his gratitude to the current CLA board members. He also took a moment to recognize Franci Ouzounis of A White Dove Limo for her role in obtaining the venue for the holiday event. Before giving the floor to Phillip Jagiela, CLA Executive Director and Chauffeur Driven Industry & Brand Ambassador, Stickel closed by announcing that elections for the 2016 board members will be held at the next general membership meeting.
CD Industry & Brand Ambassador Philip Jagiela (right) with Doug Pooley of Colorado Limousine
After Jagiela greeted the crowd, he shared some of CLA’s 2015 successes and provided highlights regarding the association’s social media activity and new website. Unfortunately, Jagiela was met by disappointed groans when he announced that, this year, there would be no “standard raffle” of the highly sought-after passes to upcoming Chauffeur Driven events; however, this was a bit of misdirection, as two passes were given to winners of a trivia contest. Douglas Pooley of Colorado Limousine in Denver took home a pass to the Chauffeur Driven Executive Retreat in New Orleans, and Mary Friesema of Red Boots Limousine in Denver won the pass to the Washington, D.C. show.
Next, Barb Curtis of Two Step Limousine took the floor to announce her candidacy for NLA’s At Large seat. She shared her experience, which includes six years as an NLA director and five years as the association’s secretary. After Curtis spoke, Stickel made a few closing comments to close out the evening event.
CLA’s next general membership meeting will be January 19.
Visit cololimo.org for more information.
[CD0116]
- Details
- Category: Industry News
Ira Goldstein, Executive Director of the New York Black Car Fund (left) and Berj Haroutunian, Fund President (right), present a special award to James Conigliaro in appreciation of his many years of dedication and service to The Fund.
New York — The Black Car Fund (NYBCF) recently held their monthly meeting on December 21, which was followed by a holiday dinner party. Thirty people were in attendance to celebrate, including members of the NYBCF board, former board members, industry leaders, and vendors.
Following on the heels of the group’s successful charity work with the New York Cares Coat Drive and Food Drive for City Harvest, the dinner gave attendees the opportunity to celebrate the past year and relax with industry peers. The meeting presented the perfect opportunity to give thanks to board member, James Conigliaro, General Vice President of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers, for his years of dedication and service to the Fund. His son, James Conigliaro Jr., is taking his position on the board, after being appointed by Governor Andrew Cuomo, at the recommendation of Speaker of the NYS Assembly Carl Hastie.
Visit nybcf.org for more information.
[CD0116]
- Details
- Category: Industry News
New Orleans — The Limousine & Sedan Steering Committee of the Taxicab, Limousine & Paratransit Association (TLPA) met in New Orleans for a full-day planning session on December 2, 2015. Co-chairs Ira Goldstein of the Black Car Fund and the Black Car Assistance Corp in New York, N.Y., Mike O’Connor of Transdev/SuperShuttle/ExecuCar in Phoenix, Ariz., and Paige Coker of Transportation General in Birmingham, Ala. led the discussions.
Ira Goldstein, Black Car Fund
Much of the morning was spent discussing the changing customer expectations that limousine and sedan operators now face. To address those prospects, many of the committee members reported they are taking the following actions: Creating customer loyalty programs, offering more hands-on management of large group events, offering more flat-rate fees or even zone-based fees, focusing more on VIP clients to ensure they always receive the best service, figuring out ways to effectively involve chauffeurs in customer recruitment, adopting e-training that can be accessed by chauffeurs during their wait times, making certain the customer receives timely service even if that means turning the trip over to a licensed competitor, expanding marketing on social media, and other steps.
The committee members discussed a variety of educational topics that could be presented at TLPA’s Spring Conference & Expo in New York City, April 21-23, and decided on the following four topics: 1) “Driver recruitment and retention”; 2) “How to organize and manage social media”; 3) “Call center out-sourcing”; and 4) “‘Cooperition’ for cooperatively competing.” The titles of the four sessions are self-explanatory, with the possible exception of the fourth one. “Cooperition,” a term frequently used by Ira Goldstein, refers to transportation companies that compete with one another in recruiting clients/customers but pool resources to make certain customers receive prompt service.
During the afternoon, the committee focused on state and federal legislative issues. Its members reported that they expect legislation addressing TNCs to be addressed in New York, Florida, Massachusetts, and Connecticut. On the federal level, TLPA expects a push to address the concerns of sharing-economy proponents, including Uber. TLPA’s position is that local transportation is a state concern and that Congress should respect state rights and let this issue be resolved at the state or local level of government. Additionally, TLPA is monitoring Congress to see if it is going to take any action on the employment status of sharing-economy workers. The legislative discussion ended with the committee members reaffirming that TLPA’s 2015 position paper on TNCs addresses the key issues and no new issues need to be added to the paper.
The committee members ended their deliberations by focusing on TLPA’s public relations program. The committee endorsed Community Connections and TLPF’s Transportation On Patrol (TOP).
Visit tlpa.org for more information.
[CD1215]