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Washington — Carey International has announced that it is opening an operation in the Houston metropolitan area. Carey Limousine Houston, a wholly owned subsidiary of the company, commenced service for existing customers on November 4, and is now expanding its service offerings to the public.
"As the fourth largest city in the U.S., Houston stands as another significant hub in our collection of international business centers in which Carey International operates," said Gary Kessler, president and CEO of Carey International. "We look forward to working with Houston's business travel community to provide Carey's signature ground transportation solutions in Southeast Texas and in the more than 1000 other cities in which we operate."
Carey Houston specializes in executive and leisure transportation, and provides specialized ground transportation logistics management services, including group transportation for meetings and events, private aviation ground transport services to private airfields, FBOs, and regional/municipal airports, and one-on-one road show transportation management.
Visit carey.com for more information.
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After nearly a year and a half of careful planning and exploratory meetings, transportation professionals around the Keystone State have announced that the Pennsylvania Passenger Transportation Association (PPTA) is on its way to becoming an established organization.
The association will serve as a unified, statewide voice for chauffeured ground transportation, ambulance and school bus services, and the taxi, bus, and motorcoach industries.
While a June 2016 exploratory meeting featured a dozen attendees—with luxury transportation as well as the state’s bus, taxi, and ambulance associations accounting for those companies represented—PPTA’s founders include Michael Barreto of Flyte Tyme Worldwide, Douglas Rydbom of Premiere #1 Limousine, and Louis Weiner of All Star Worldwide Transportation. CD’s Industry & Brand Ambassador Philip Jagiela, also of PALM Association Management and Consulting, will serve as executive director.
According to Barreto, the association will be “the strong transportation base we need in Pennsylvania” while helping the state’s many passenger-transportation operations work in a concerted effort and deliver a consistent message.
“The idea came about that we would open it to not just the livery industry but to anyone who does for-hire transportation with passengers in Pennsylvania,” he said. “We figured that it would give us a lot broader of a brush to deliver information to the capitol with, and it would also give us a better understanding to have people outside our industry offer their input and influence to initiatives we want to see in the state.”
The PPTA has been a long-gestating idea, as Barreto said that its founders were exercising caution while diligently crafting an association that would offer clear supplementary benefits—not competition to preexisting organizations.
“We needed to know how to go about establishing this association without conflicting with any other association’s initiatives,” he said. “This association is being formed to have a unified voice for the for-hire industry in the state capitol. That’s the most important thing. We’re not trying to pull away from what the other associations have done at the state and federal levels—we want to enhance that with one message at a statewide level to reach our representatives and get things done.”
Specific to this industry, Barreto points out that as operators are delving into work beyond the more traditional retail and corporate mainstays, having a diverse association will help them navigate the landscape of a changing decade to come.
“Considering that a lot of livery operators are diversifying into transit contract shuttle work, motorcoach work, and medical nonabulatory work, it seemed to address where our industry will be heading over the next 10 years or so,” he explained.
It was important to include as many voices as possible to “develop more avenues of connections and communication to other industries that we’ve never had before.”
Barreto added that in addition to the association advocating for and providing education to the overall passenger transportation industry, it will also be serving as a watchdog organization to the benefit of companies still battling for a level playing field against ever-encroaching TNCs.
The PPTA plans to meet every other month in 2017—twice each in the eastern, central, and western thirds of the state—with its first official meeting to be heldin the year’s first quarter. A daylong meeting featuring education and a Day on the Hill is also in the works.
Email Barreto at michaelb@flytetime.com for more information about PPTA.
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Atlantic City, N.J. — The Florida Limousine Association (FLA) met up November 14. Led by President Rick Versace of A1A Limousine & Airport Service, those in attendance discussed potential changes the industry could be facing on both the local and national levels.
With the election preceding the meeting by less than a week, the future of the Affordable Care Act—commonly referred to as “Obama Care”—was in question. Possible changes to the Department of Defense, Department of Transportation, and Department of Labor were also discussed.
The National Limousine Association’s (NLA’s) upcoming legislative session will determine the five states where it will zero in on key TNC battles. It is looking for regions that have the best chance of seeing the passage of legislation that protects the riding public. The FLA has seen success joining with its regional taxi industry in terms of preventing TNCs from gaining significant traction, and is now setting its sights on such passenger-friendly legislation. A top priority will be advocating and lobbying to make fingerprint background checks mandatory for all for-hire providers: luxury ground transportation, taxis, and TNCs.
Versace emphasized that leveling the playing field and putting TNCs on the defensive will be a central focus of the year to come. He credited the NLA with working to ensure that TNCs’ comparatively lax approach to safety—both of their passengers and the riding public in general—remains a rallying cry for the industry and a prevailing topic in conversations about rail-hailing services.
Visit floridalimousine.com for more information.
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