ALA Regroups to Tackle Airport Dereg

Phoenix — After a period of inactivity, the Arizona Limousine Association (ALA) has reassembled, holding its first meeting February 16 at DoubleTree Suites near the Sky Harbor International Airport. More than 30 people were in attendance.

According to the association’s administrator, Joe Guinn of Limo & Bus Compliance, a number of Arizona operators have not only expressed interest in seeing the ALA reform but also made a concerted effort to breathe new life into group.

“There are a couple of us who have been working on this but we would be nowhere without the leadership of Steve Kaplan at The Driver Provider,” says Guinn. “This is something that we have been hoping could be reestablished for a while. We can all agree that there is power in collaboration.”

The meeting included a brief history of ALA and an overview of who held officer and director positions within the association when it last met. The importance of a formal election process was included in the conversation, with an emphasis on attracting new and previous members to the organization in order for it to avoid the pitfalls of the past.

According to Guinn, Kaplan was appointed as ALA’s interim president during the meeting, given his history as an active member who had previously led the association. He will serve as a “representative of the group for the purpose of presenting joint opposition” on behalf of the industry as it faces the very issue that area operators saw a key reason to resurrect the association: TNC operation at Sky Harbor (PHX).

“The timing was so critical because we’re currently facing a deregulation at the airport that would allow TNCs to freely operate at PHX, as well as higher airport fees and decreases in background checks for drivers that we believe compromise public safety,” Guinn says.

Guinn, Kaplan, and Chris Przybylski of The Driver Provider reached out to their various networks of affiliates, vendors, and previous members to generate interest in bringing back the association to offer the chauffeured ground transportation industry a more unified front in Arizona.

“We made sure that we utilized our full reach into the state, and I think we were all very happy that we had so many people that we packed the meeting room,” says Guinn. He added that many who were unable to attend the recent meeting have expressed interest in rejoining ALA.

For more information on getting involved with the newly reformed association, contact Kaplan at sk@driverprovider.com or 602.453.0001.

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