- Details
- Category: Industry News
Babylon, N.Y. — More than 20 members of the Long Island Limousine Association (LILA), their chauffeurs, and family members were treated to the reprise of a tradition on Aug. 19 when the association’s annual fishing trip made its first appearance after a four-year hiatus.
Bill Goerl, a LILA board member and the organizing force behind the fishing excursion, says that while his fellow association members had periodically expressed interest in bringing back the event, it took some angling from an unexpected source to really get things going again.
“My daughter’s actually the one who egged me on. She kept asking about when we were going to do the fishing trip again, so that’s kind of why we put it together,” he says. “Robert Cunningham [of Platinum Limousine] is the current president, and he gave the okay to bring it back.”
The outing began nearly a decade ago as an opportunity to foster lighthearted camaraderie among LILA members during a rough patch of gloom-and-doom news—with “so much going on in the industry today,” Goerl says that an afternoon of high spirits and leaving work matters at the shore is still very much a necessity.
“It’s a fun day’s fishing trip: no business, just a gathering open to all members, their families, and their guests,” Goerl says. “It’s a day for bonding with the people we work with.”
The summertime tradition was met with a number of successful catches during the four-hour boat trip on the Captree Boat Basin, located on the south shore of New York’s Long Island. Fluke, sea robins, and even a few crabs comprised the LILA bounty, with Sal Curiale of All County Limousine and his daughter Janine reeling in the day’s biggest catch, an 18.5-inch “doormat fluke”—called so, according to Goerl, “because it’s so big it’s like a doormat.”
And Allan Cunningham, the son of LILA’s president, even caught his first fluke during the trip. “Allan was so excited about the fishing trip, it was apparently all he talked about for the three weeks before,” says Goerl. “He actually caught a keeper. He was mesmerized by it.”
[CD0814]
- Details
- Category: Industry News
Montreal — Nearly 100 industry leaders met in Montreal, Canada, from July 16-18 for the Taxicab, Limousine & Paratransit Association (TLPA) 96th Annual Mid-Year International Leadership Conference.
(Seated, L to R) Victor Dizengoff, Judy Griffin, Judith Potter, Robbie Werth, Margie Wilcox (Second row, L to R) Berj Haroutunian, Murray Rosenberg, Paul Rosenberg, Judy Swystun, Bill Scalzi, Ellis Houston, Sherry Watson, Fred Sweets, Jeb Corey, Tom Arrighi (Third row, L to R) Dave Reid, Jim Donnelly, Jim Bell, Dwight Kines, Bill Rouse, Bill Yuhnke, Jim Gillespie, Mike Fogarty, Brian McBride (not shown: Alfred LaGasse).The conference began with a meeting of the TLPA board of directors. It was noted that the fight with unlicensed transportation networking companies (TNCs) such as Uber and Lyft was not going away. The board then examined TLPA’s continuing efforts to combat TNCs by reviewing its App Public Relations, Legal/Regulatory, Federal Legislation, and Member Education efforts. The day ended with a cocktail reception where networking opportunities renewed old friendships and established new ones.
After a group breakfast came the general session, where President Robert Werth welcomed everyone to the conference and then addressed Industry Priorities and Challenges: unlicensed—and, in many cases, illegal—transportation companies; enhancing customer service; the next transit reauthorization bill; one-touch mobile data terminal exemption from distracted driving provision; passage of the Passenger Safety and Security (PASS) Act; how to use social media; and technology in general.
President Werth reinforced TLPA’s message to regulators and elected officials as to what is needed to ensure a level playing field for fair competition, including how all operators should require the following: full-coverage primary commercial automobile liability insurance; law-enforcement-conducted background checks; motor-vehicle record checks; public vehicle inspections; non-discriminatory service; and payment of local taxes.
Michael Stiegel, Esq., from the law firm Michael Best & Friedrich in Chicago, Ill., gave the presentation “Illinois App Litigation, Regulation and Legislation.” Stiegel provided a history of Uber in Chicago, an overview of the four Uber-related Chicago court cases, and the city’s rideshare company ordinance. He concluded his remarks with an explanation of legislation passed by the Illinois House and Senate that is awaiting the governor’s signature. The bill is balanced, as it establishes basic safety and training standards as well as insurance minimums for rideshare companies.
The educational sessions concluded with a wide-ranging open discussion on our industry’s future.
The TLPA 96th Annual Convention & Trade Show will be from Oct. 15-19 in San Antonio, Texas, at The Grand Hyatt San Antonio and the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center.
Visit tlpa.org for more information.
[CD0814]
- Details
- Category: Industry News
San Mateo, CA —ABC Worldwide Transportation has recently launched its new mobile app, ABCTRANS Mobile, which gives its clients one place to seamlessly create, review, and modify reservations, as well as track an in-transit driver. The app also allows ABC Transportation passengers to view receipts from previous trips or look over itineraries for upcoming ones.
After working on the app nearly all year, ABC Transportation launched it July 28 during the Global Business Travel Association Convention.
“It’s what we’ve been striving for for quite some time. We hope it solves a lot of problems for our customers,” says Don Mahnke, ABC Transportation president.
Feedback from early users has been largely positive so far, and Mahnke says that the few suggested tweaks are “helping us get better by the day.”
“They all love the functionality of it and the ease of use,” he says. “They think they’ll be able to use this, and their whole travel departments will be able to use this.”
One of ABC Transportation’s aims was to release an app that offers more services to its clients than the app of a ridesharing company like Uber does.
“You want [a client] to be able to have more options than Uber, which we succeeded in,” Mahnke says. “They can book outbound, inbound, incoming, and they can see the rate in advance. We can do things that Brand X does, and we do it better with licensed, insured drivers around the country.”
ABCTRANS Mobile also opens up ABC Transportation to a new potential client base.
“We’ll be able to have customers booked around the world. We can market our app, and that’s a big open market that we’ve never had before,” Mahnke says.
The app is free and available for immediate download for both the Apple and Android operating systems.
Visit abctrans.com for more information.
[CD0814]