NYC, NASSAU & WESTCHESTER TLCs SET UP NASSAU RECIPROCITY
New policy allows chauffeured operators to move about with more flexibility
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OPERATOR DEBATE: This week Linda Moore delves into the issue of premium chauffeurs. . .
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LIMOUSINE, CHARTER & TOUR:
No better way to explain it than with this example.
The term "LimoLiner.com" best sums up the direction of the industry to larger group vehicles with limousine services that are advertised and booked online.
The May issue of LCT Magazine will feature one medium-sized operator who would have never thought about going into motorcoach service this time last year.
Now he's about to buy his fourth motorcoach, while his stretch limo fleet has fallen from seven to one.
JUST A RUMOR -- FOR NOW. Black is the second most popular vehicle color choice among consumers, and obviously the first among chauffeured transportation operators. And while
this report dispels any recent rumors, it's not far-fetched to consider that global warming do-gooders might overreach and actually try this stunt. If they can "talk" about remotely controlling household thermostats and "de-carbonizing" much of the electricity grid, then they surely could consider a ban on black vehicles. In this case, going green and keeping the types of vehicles customers prefer must remain a black-and-white issue. -- M.R.
ARGUMENTS AGAINST: Here is one more factual finding to be added to the industry lobbying arsenal against the union-driven Employee Free Choice Act: It's
blatantly unconstitutional. That's something to file away for use against zealous unionistas out to destroy free markets and free speech. -- M.R.
MORE BAD NEWS: We at LCT regret relaying this type of information, but unfortunately it's a sign of the dismal times.
STORY HERE. Federal is an industry stalwart, with a legacy going back to the stagecoach era. It is one of the strongest, most trusted coachbuilders in the world, and the industry should count on them bouncing back.
LESSONS FOR OPERATORS: This WSJ account of how the business community stood strong and unified against the anti-democratic card check legislation is a better example of "Yes We Can" than anything politicians in DC can muster. The chauffeured transportation industry would do well to draw from this example as it battles rampant regulations, a decimated business travel climate, and Avis WeDriveU. Regadless of prevailing political winds, unity coalesced through NLA and local association involvement, as well as LCT Magazine events, can net results favorable to operator survival and service growth. -- M.R.
INDUSTRY ALERT: While Avis WeDriveU may be ceasing chauffeured rental car operations in Miami-Dade County, its concept is still being promoted in the travel industry, as
this travel blog shows. The chauffeured transportation industry -- the one that follows the rules and pays for licenses -- needs to keep educating travel agencies and bookers not only about the superiority of legitimate chauffeured services, but how Avis WeDriveU has been dealt a pivotal, precedent-setting blow. Similar regulatory decisions in other metro areas are very likely on the way, thanks to pressure from actively engaged industry associations. Avis WeDriveU should not be presented as a viable ground transportation alternative. Hand-in-hand with the regulatory battles goes the PR offensive as well. -- M.R.
REGULATORY HEAVY HYBRID HANDS: This doesn't look took pleasant for the NYC taxi industry; it certainly must not happen to luxury limousine operators in NYC. Stay up to date and get on board with LBOA, an active, vigilant industry association looking out for you.
BUT NOT HERE: Some big-time Saudi prince with a name as long as a stretch limo has reserved 66 of them for 90 days at Lake Geneva, Switzerland. . . .
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HOTELS SET EXAMPLE: Reeling from recession-driven fearful pull-outs and cowardly poltiical attacks, the hotel, meeting, and conference service sectors are using constructive ways to work with clients and handle business.
STORY HERE. Considering a client's circumstances and cutting a deal is the long-term approach to keeping as much business now and building good-will for future growth. -- M.R.
BLADDER CONTROL: Ewwww, that's a photo of a Prius bladder. I never knew the Toyota Prius had something called a fuel bladder. But then I never knew the Prius could be called a limo either.
The bladder appears to have caused a few problems. In the zeal to reduce hybdrocarbon emissions, Toyota designed a collapsible fuel bladder that recedes as the car consumes gas. Except, the bladder wouldn't always stretch back at fill-up nor did it register correctly on the fuel gauge.
Not very Depends-able.
Now the third generation heavenly hybrid will have a GAS TANK like all other vehicles. Better to have gas problems than bladder problems?
Anyway, it must be frustrating if an operator is handling multiple runs with a Prius and can't depend on a reliable fuel range estimate. But then, again, why is the Prius a livery sedan? -- M.R.
QUIVERING NAME-CHANGERS: The fallout from the business travel backlash hurts local economies nationwide. Now some hotels, resorts, and conference centers think they can capitalize on the recession and its freakish political climate by changing their names to avoid the terms luxury, resort, spa, etc. . . .
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UNION MISCHIEF UPDATE: News that 41 U.S. Senators are
lined-up against the union-driven Employee Free Choice Act may be the formation of a firewall against this anti-business, anti-worker, anti-democratic legislation.
IS IT STEALING OR JUST A SPECIAL TREAT? In her ongoing operator debate series, Linda Moore asks whether under the table deals among employees constitute company theft. . . .
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RECEIVABLES TRICKLE: While sales have remained steady, getting paid is another matter. LCT contributing editor Jim Luff, also owner of Limousine Scene in Bakersfield, Calif., shares the domino effect and asks. . .
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OPERATORS NEEDED: The Luxury-Base Operators Association will be meeting with Taxi & Limousine Commission officials next week to go over proposed rules affecting chauffeured transportation for New York City. . .
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LCT ALUM LANDS NEW POSITION: Former LCT Managing Editor Jon LeSage will be working with the Limousine Environmental Action Partnership (LEAP) as a communications and research consultant. The press release below. . .
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WHEN TOURISM SUFFERS: In Michigan, charter and tour companies have found a way to bring in tourists
by the busload.
LINDA MOORE ASKS: LCT is getting a strong response to operator questions and issues posted by our east coast editor and associate publisher. Here is the latest matter requiring your input. . .
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UNION OFFENSIVE: This
latest example of union tactics shows the vicious desperation of the campaigners for card-check legislation -- one of the single worst legislative threats to businesses and the democratic ideal. Expect more to come before this fight is over. Unions have a track record of burdening and decimating the industries they infect, i.e. Detroit automakers and U.S. airlines. Don't let chauffeured transportation become one of them. -- M.R.
TRAVEL PANIC: 4Q 2008 numbers out today confirm. . . .
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ETHICAL PRACTICES: At what point is a last minute cancellation from an affiliate billable? LCT contributing editor Jim Luff, also owner of Limousine Scene in Bakersfield, Calif., shares his cancellation policies….
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S.O.S. FOR THE PALATE: What happens when the Chauffeured Sage of Boston stages a food fight at an authentic Italian restaurant in Nancy Pelosi’s “Cali-fone-ia” district?
Last night, between bites of grilled salmone, chicken cacciatore, antipasti, insalate, and spumoni, the Greater California Livery Association got a taste. . .
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DOWNTURN: This is why a consortium of travel, transportation, and hospitality groups are aggressively trying to stave off destructive legislation and corporate demonizing in Congress. Continental Airlines is just one of many companies whose recessionary challenges are being compounded by the anti-business travel climate. -- M.R.
PRICE OF PRIUS PLUNGES: Too bad for those who ran out and bought a Prius during the $4-a-gallon gas hysteria last summer;
you paid too much. Priuses and hybrids in general are languishing on lots. Meanwhile, newer, larger hybrid vehicles -- such as ones that would actually qualify as luxury livery vehicles -- are on the way as the technology and diversity improves. Most troubling is the fact that none of the hybrid vehicles lines are their own profit centers for automakers, and some operators have told us they still have to charge a premium above regular rates to clients who prefer hybrid vehicles. Nothing wrong with that as long as a livery hybrid vehicle earns a profit and serves its greenish PR purpose. But as long as gas prices remain affordable, patience and persistence for better green vehicles prove to be the prudent course. -- M.R.
GCLA WANTS TO KNOW: The biz travel chill coming out of Washington, D.C. could potentially decimate the business travel, hospitality, and ground transportation industries, including luxury limousine operators. GCLA members have received the following e-mail that should go out to all operators nationwide. . .
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LCT CONTRIBUTING EDITOR JIM LUFF shares major changes in operations technology during his 19 years in the industry. What are your war stories?
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FLEX FUEL & CARD CHECK: These scams are two of the most odious threats to the health of the chauffeured transportation industry in America. Get the facts on these loser trends. . .
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MOMENTUM BUILDS AGAINST BAD TRAVEL RULES: The list of professonal travel, hospitality, meeting, and transportation service organizations rallying against flawed business travel legislation is reaching critical mass. Such cooperation and backbone prove that businesses can effectively move against ill-conceived governmental interference in the job-creating marketplaces. Check out below list. . .
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OPERATOR PLATFORM: In today's operator discussion, LCT East Coast editor Linda Moore asks how operators should reciprocate work among multiple affiliates in the same service area. . .
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THE GREATER CALIFORNIA LIVERY ASSOCATION is adding its influential voice to the rising opposition against a destructive anti-business-travel bill sponsored by Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass. See latest online news item and a letter from GCLA President Alan Shanedling. . .
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NO FEAR: Another example of how the business travel and hospitality industries are countering the aggressive anti-business drivel coming out of D.C.. . . Response from LA Inc. below. . .
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SURVIVAL: Congressional busybodies are trying to ruin the temporary business prospects of much of the corporate transportation and travel industries with their overblown recessionary rhetoric about micro-managing TARP recipients and chilling the climate for meetings-related hospitality and vehicle services.. Limousine and livery operators -- not just the big players -- must take this seriously and get organized, talk back, and take control . . .
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CHAUFFEURED TRANSPORTATION should borrow the below tactic from the business travel industry, meeting planners, and destination managers in responding to the political attack on the world of business interactions. Despite a recession and bailouts, politicians do not have the right to start treating business travel like smoking. Those clueless politicans, who by the way helped cause this crisis, still ride around in chauffeured vehicles. . .
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LCT CONTRIBUTING EDITOR and "fashionista" Jim Luff offers firsthand experience on what to wear, and what not, and why it means so much to your business image. . .
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PALE GREEN VIEWS: The American public is increasingly questioning the global warming hype, according to the latest survey results, and becoming more skeptical. Maybe it's the economy making people less stupid?
A recession tends to refocus priorities and render past "imperatives" frivolous. Tell someone facing higher taxes, a halved 401(k), plummeting home values, a shrinking business, and/or frozen or declining pay that, um, you'll just have to pony up even more $$$ to fight global warming? That's something for operators to consider before spending "green" money. An operator should make sure "green" spending decisions are subject to the same rigorous cost-benefit analysis as any other investment, capital expenditure, or supplier outlay. -- M.R.
OPERATOR DISCUSSION: So one of your affiliates turns out to be a deadbeat operation. How do you make them pay?
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OPERATOR VIEW: Jonna Sabroff, the first vice president of the Greater California Livery Association and owner of ITS of Los Angeles, offered this firsthand assessment of industry challenges and the importance of associations in stabilizing the industry. . .
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LETTER FROM CANADA: Alberta operator and LCT supporter Dave Brodoway recently sent us a message on how he's applying what he learned at the International LCT Show to his operations. It's heartening to see an operator defying recessionary odds and actually gaining market share. . .
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GOOD VS. BAD: Two newspaper articles were posted today on limousine operators that illustrate two sides of the coin. . .
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FACT-AVERSE MEDIA: The chauffeured transportation industry has sustained a "drive-by" media barrage about the sedan services provided to many corporate clients in New York. This means operators of all sizes need to be out front rebutting the misleading claims in the report. . .
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MARKET TRENDS: Weddings, proms, quinceaneras, and funerals: as spring comes round the corner, event planning is active but this year very cost controlled. Consumers are spending less on all of these activities, but they do continue. Here's some of the very latest media coverage of these markets. . .
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KEEPING CURRENT: The following message from GCLA board member Mark Stewart shows how limousine associations nationwide should be responding to the recession and revenue hits among operators: Organize operators; keep them informed; offer them survival strategies; focus goals on fighting bad regulations and politics. . .
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PACKAGE PRIMER: If you are at a loss to explain the complexity of the so-called stimulus package to your employees, chauffeurs, clients, and suppliers, here is a quick helper that can put it into simple terms. It's the classic tale of the professor and the student. . . .
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KEEP YOUR EYE OUT: For any TV reports in the New York area, possibly NBC Channel 4, about executives supposedly abusing limousine or Town Car service. We shouldn't put it past politicians and the media to start targeting clients in the back of Town Cars with class warfare labels. . .
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NEW LAW: The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative takes effect June 1. Read all about the details here.
For ground transportation companies, this has to do with cross border trips to Canada and Mexico. Great Lakes Limousine Association Executive Director Richard Greiner made the following points:
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CONGRATULATIONS!: Business magazines and associations typically present awards to industry leaders. (Does this sound familiar to you?) The Association of Destination Management Executives just unveiled its '09 winners. Read on for their names, and ideas on how to turn this into a marketing opportunity.
-- Jon LeSage
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PRICE POINTS: Reston Limousine had these EYE-OPENING charter bus trip rates published in one of its local papers, the Fairfax Times:
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BIZ TRAVEL BADMOUTHING: Leading hotel executives have asked Congress to stop
demonizing corporate business travelers for, um, traveling for business. Good for them; Congressional trashing of biz travel hurts chauffeured transportation operators directly. As this economic crisis unfolds, it becomes increasingly clear that fault lies with government interference in the economy as well as bungled policies and regulations -- not the everyday business traveler who helps the private sector generate the tax dollars needed to pay the public tab. -- M.R.
SELECTING A CHARITY: Jim Luff discusses the benefits of charity work.
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WEB NEWS: Here's the latest on LCT's website LCTmag.com:
-Three new important industry channel pages are starting up: Finance & Insurance, Technology, and Driving Green, and more are in the works.
-eTrader will soon be added, and is a great place to purchase and market chauffeured transportation vehicles.
-Visit the website for daily news (especially on Wednesday when the weekly Driving Force e-newsletter goes out, and which has been getting really good in the past month) and regular feature article additions.
-Take the Web Poll and give LCT timely feedback on industry issues of great concern.
-Ask Dr. Limo to cure fleet maintenance and repair problems giving you a headache.
-See photos from LCT events (some cool ones from the Vegas show are up now) and links to all of these exciting upcoming destinations.
-A section on LimoCentric (which you should know something about, being here now).
-Links to important industry associations for chauffeured transportation and charter and tour operators (recently added).
Some of this you can see now, some will be taking shape soon. -- Jon LeSage
(SUB)COMPACT POSING IN THE SNOW? Oh, I mean limousine.
Whew, I'm so glad this little Prius, err -- there I go again -- limousine, will spare us from all the global warming fallout. You see, those actually are ash flakes in the picture, not snowflakes, since the Earth is burning up with carbon. But I'm curious about the overall environmental impact of the Prius.
Maybe the Prius-fans who insist on calling the subcompact (or is it a compact?) a limousine/luxury vehicle, or lumping it in with luxury chauffeured transportation, should connect with these brave people trying to stop all the global warming. By the way, does Avis offer the Prius as part of its chauffeured drive? It would fit well into their "limo fleet" of Aveos and Cobalts -- M.R.
EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT? Call it the LAZY LABOR THEFT ACT. As if porky so-called stimulus, higher taxes, crippled corporations, and anti-capitalism weren't enough. Now the labor minions of the Democratic Party appear to be readying some of the most destructive anti-business legislation since the Depression-era Smoot-Hawley Tarriff of the 1930s. . .
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ETHICAL PRACTICES: In this week's LCT operator debate, Linda Moore asks if it is acceptable for your affiliate to farm out -- your farm out. . .
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BIZ DOES AS PREZ SEZ: Don't just blame the mortgage crisis, financial exotics, and regulatory incompetence for your business woes. . . .
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GOOD INFO SOURCE: If you're looking for a useful info/news source on the web for tracking what's happening with business green programs
visit GreenBiz.com. It's been around for years and is a warehouse of information on green trends: news, features, blogs, operations, marketing, energy, resources, and other topics. Of particular interest for you might be State of Green Business 2009, which can be downloaded for free. GreenBiz and
Environmental Leader are worth your time for staying up to speed on corporate and government sustainability trends.
On the subject, LCT Magazine has just posted three articles from its first ever green issue that you can click through and read:
Greening Motorcoaches -- what's happening with charter and tour industry green programs.
Hurry, Hurry? It's Time to Go Green? -- going green four ways: reduce, reuse, recover, and recycle
Can You Go Green and Survive? --
appling sustainability initiatives to secure corporate and group business.
-- J.L.
CELEBRITY CLIENTS: For Toronto operator Roy Stevenson, it took him about 20 minutes to figure out that the woman riding in the backseat with a scarf over hear head was Angelina Jolie.
Platinum Limousine was driving her to the Toronto Film Festival. She wanted to chat with her chauffeur, but didn't want anyone outside the car recognizing her. This is unlike most of Platinum's other customers who want everyone seeing them step out of a white limo. More typically, celebrities will be driven in a black sedan or SUV, but the point is: privacy is a top priority. Most chauffeurs/operators won't reveal the identities of celebrity clients unless trying to impress you with good stories during cocktail parties. But they don't want to be quoted on it. -- J.L.
AUTOMAKER SETS RECORD STRAIGHT ON NEAR-TERM FUTURE OF TOWN CAR
Check out the latest on plans for the Town Car and rebates below. . .
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WHAT ARE THE SENIORS SAYING ABOUT LIMOS? With the recession in full fury, operators intersted in keeping their prom clientele need to be prepared to respond to arguments such as the one below, that appears in Teen Ink magazine:
"There’s no problem with renting a limousine to get to and from the prom as long as more than three couples go together and split the cost, especially with the price of gas lately. Yes, limos mean fewer cars on the road and make socializing more fun, but you can only rent them for so many hours and then you are stuck."
TEAM SPIRIT: Limousine Association of Houston President Joe Jordan offers quotes from the Army War College and Martin Luther King, Jr., along with tributes to GCLA and NLA President Ron Sorci. Successfully getting through this economic meltdown "will require an enormous amount of effort of all of us working together," to quote Jordan.
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