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HALCA President Wes Hart of American Corporate Transportation opened the meeting by welcoming the crowd and introducing the lineup of speakers for the evening. First, Hart introduced two representatives of the City of Houston Administration and Regulatory Affairs (ARA)—Kathryn Bruning, Asistant Director CP/Transportation, and Nikki Cooper-Soto, Division Manager-Vehicle for Hire Permitting and Enforcement—who addressed the group about licensing requirements and new efforts being made to coordinate registration for airport pickups. Bruning and Cooper-Soto spent a great deal of time clarifying the “Chapter 46” requirements that pertain to offering vehicle-for-hire services to those with disabilities. Attendees were encouraged to visit the ARA website for full regulatory documentation.
Next to speak were two executives from technology firm Karhoo: Tarek Mallah, Senior Vice President, and Gregg Haroutunian, Supplier Relations Manager. In outlining Karhoo’s mission and goals for the near future, the pair encouraged HALCA members to think of the company as “Expedia for ground transportation needs.” Mallah and Haroutunian also shared their belief that their aggregate service will allow a greater audience to select premium transportation services. Karhoo is planning a “soft launch” for those who sign up for the service early, with a “hard launch” in several large markets (including Houston) expected by November 2016.
Jagiela was the final speaker of the evening. He shared nationwide industry trends with the HALCA members, and stressed that CD is in the trenches with their involvement with associations around the country. Further, he encouraged the group to reach out to the magazine to share their views, and emphasized a need for each member to become more involved in the workings of the association. Before Jagiela concluded, he raffled a pass to the Chauffeur Driven Trade Show & Conference to be held in Washington, D.C. on October 9-12, which was won by Bill Ata from AllStar Transportation Service & Limousine.
Before concluding the meeting, Hart announced two by-law changes that need approval by general membership, and then introduced the 2016-2017 executive board officers:
President: Wes Hart of American Corporate Transportation
Vice President: Ismail Abed of La Brees Limousines
Treasurer: Matt Assolin of Nikko’s Worldwide Transportation
Secretary: Laren Barash of The Houston Wave
HALCA’s next general session meeting is tentatively planned for the third Tuesday in October at a location to be determined.
Visit houstonlimos.info for more information.
[CD0716]
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Scottsdale, Az. — The Arizona Limousine Association (ALA) recently held a membership meeting on June 14 at Certified Benz and Beemer. Twenty-seven members were in attendance for the event, which included the announcement of a new board of directors.
The meeting was facilitated by acting president Steve Kaplan of The Driver Provider, who opened the meeting with a membership update. Kaplan reported that ALA now includes 32 transportation companies and 6 vendor members among its ranks.
Chief among Kaplan’s industry updates was the recent City Council hearing in Phoenix, which approved TNC pickups at the city’s airports. While ALA was understandably displeased with the results, they hope that the group’s presence will increase along with their membership, ultimately allowing them to fight harder.
Next, ALA Administrator Joe Guinn of Limo & Bus Compliance gave the group a presentation about the importance of DOT compliance in the industry. He provided an overview of the requirements for receiving MC and DOT numbers on vehicles.
After Guinn concluded, the 10-member board of directors was then announced. They are Kelly Alderete of Xtreme Limousine, Andrew Boorse of Transtyle Transportation, Keith Clifton of Desert Knights Sedans and Limousines, Jeff Conly of Vitesse Worldwide, Marla Evel of Marveless Transportation, Jeff Goldin of Southwest Sedan Service, Billy Jinks of JET Limousines, Ira Schneider of Goldstar Executive Transporation Services, Joe Trobunella of AZ Limo, and Ben Zaharie of AZ Sedans. The board is planning a closed-door meeting with Kaplan in which officers will be appointed.
Visit azlimousineassociation.com for more information.
[CD0616]
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New York — Dashride, a provider of dispatch, reservation software and other proprietary technologies that improve the processes of limousine and taxi companies, recently announced that it launched Dashride Connect, the world’s first on-demand affiliate network.
The Dashride Connect service allows operators of livery companies to communicate with one another so they can better satisfy the ground transportation needs of their customers. With Dashride Connect, companies can instantly farm in and farm out rides to swiftly fulfill requests no matter where a customer is located. Dashride Connect is available to all taxi and limousine companies, regardless if they are using Dashride as their back-office software. Fleets from across the world are opting-in to Dashride Connect and leveraging the affiliate network to grow revenues, increase customer satisfaction, and gain global coverage.
“Since starting Dashride two years ago, our primary mission has been to empower livery operators by increasing their digital capabilities and improving their internal systems,” said Nadav Ullman, founder and chief executive of Dashride. “With Dashride Connect, we are unifying fleets worldwide. The technology is an industry changer that strengthens legacy operators facing competition from ride services like Uber and Lyft.”
Dashride Connect is the latest offering of Dashride, a company currently empowering more than 250 operators of limousine and taxi companies across the world. Dashride allows these established businesses to provide today’s consumers with the mobile tools they demand. The technology also serves as a comprehensive back office tool, modernizing a livery company’s day-to-day operations by improving everything from dispatching and billing procedures to vehicle management.
“There are more than one million established livery companies operating across the globe today, and these organizations service millions of loyal customers,” said Ulman. “Dashride Connect is the first and only platform with the ability to link each and every one of these livery operators. We are providing the largest affiliate network in the history of the taxi and limousine industry, and we’re doing it at no cost to the operators.”
While Dashride Connect links operators globally, the technology also helps companies satisfy customer demand closer to home. In periods of high demand, an operator of a modest sized fleet may have trouble servicing ride requests. Even those with large fleets admit that they occasionally abandon requests due to the labor involved with managing those rides. Dashride Connect technology allows operators to instantly farm-in and farm-out customer calls. This increases revenues for the operator while advancing customer retention.
“We've worked hard for years to become a highly trusted transportation provider, but we are constantly evolving and improving to ensure our clients receive the service they desire," said Abe Amer, the owner of Angel Elite, a growing corporate & private Chauffeur service in NYC. "While we enjoy strong loyalty in our home city of New York, our customers often ask for our services when they’re traveling out of town or arriving in their home cities. Dashride Connect has expanded our affiliate network allowing us to compete at the highest level. Whether our clients are traveling domestically or internationally, we’ve got them covered"
Visit dashride.com/affiliate for more information.
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