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- Category: Industry News
The National Limousine Association (NLA), the leading nonprofit organization responsible for and dedicated to representing the interests of the private chauffeur transportation industry, recently worked with the Global Virus Network (GVN), an international coalition of medical virologists whose goal is to help the international medical community by improving the detection and management of viral diseases, to create a recommended hygienic protocol for drivers and operators amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. As the country begins to reopen and travelers look to safe modes of transportation, the NLA is dedicated to giving the general public the peace of mind that choosing ground transportation is the safest option.
The following recommended guidelines have been approved and validated by the GVN to maintain safe, healthy environments to protect NLA passengers and drivers:
- Vehicles go through a cleaning cycle with a hospital-grade disinfectant 30 minutes after completing each trip. All common areas and high-touch areas, such as armrests, door handles, lavatories, seatback screens, and seat belts, are wiped down and disinfected between trips by drivers and chauffeurs while wearing PPE and gloves.
- Where practicable, it is recommended to open the vehicle windows to minimize potential exposure.
- All drivers will be screened daily based on Centers of Disease Control (CDC) and Department of Health recommendations.
- All drivers shall use PPE as required by local, state, and CDC recommendations
- Glove wearing is promoted. Gloves are mandatory while handling luggage. Using hand sanitizer or washing hands after removing gloves is recommended.
- Safe passenger signs or placards reading “This vehicle is deep cleaned daily in accordance with the CDC recommendations” should be positioned in vehicles reflecting driver’s attention to safety.
- Hand sanitizer or wipes will be available to all drivers and guests.
- All passengers on board are required to wear face coverings.
- It is highly advisable that drivers add similar messaging to the “Terms and Conditions” portion of all email confirmations.
- Prearrival text messages should include a message reading, “XYZ Transportation cares deeply about the health of our passengers and our chauffeurs. For that reason, if anyone at the pickup location has been sick or quarantined due to COVID-19 or has been in recent close contact with someone showing COVID-19 symptoms, please contact us to reschedule your transportation to a more advantageous timeframe.
The NLA has also announced new chairs and members of two more committees for the 2020-2021 term.
These include:
Small Operator: Javaid Chaudhry of NYG Limousine (co-chair), Douglas Schwartz of Executive Ground Transportation (co-chair), Kirk Bagger of Captains Car Service, Bill Faeth of Limo University, Imran Haider of US Limo System, Kevin Mullane of Silver Oak Transportation, and Jason Taylor of Prestige Transportation.
Legislative: Matt Assolin of Nikko’s Worldwide (co-chair), Brett Barenholtz of Above All Transportation/Boston Car (co-chair), Diane Forgy of Overland Chauffeur Services, Joe Guinn of Limo & Bus Compliance, Jason Kaplan of The Driver Provider, Jason Ramsey of Prestige Worldwide, Josh Roman of Heaven on Wheels, Tim Rose of Dolphin Transportation, and Rosina Rubin of Attitude New York.
Visit limo.org for more information.
[06.09.20]
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- Category: Industry News
As companies look ahead to the future of business, the United Motorcoach Association (UMA) has created a major online training event to guide motorcoach owners and team members as they prepare to restart following an unprecedented shutdown. The Bus & Motorcoach Virtual Summit: Ready. Aim. RESTART—scheduled for June 17-19—will bring expert business consultants together with motorcoach operators to help each participant build their own roadmap forward. A unique aspect of this event will be expert-led follow-up sessions at four-, eight-, and 12-week intervals so participants can stay engaged and on track as they move through the stages of restarting their businesses.
“This event is going to empower and motivate operators in a way that is just what they need right now as they prepare for what’s next,” says UMA President and CEO Larry Killingsworth. “Our Summit is laser-focused on providing the tools and strategies every company will need moving forward.”
Bruce Heinrich of PAX Training
The sessions will take place in three-hour blocks beginning at 1 p.m. ET each day. The Virtual Summit will provide a combination of expert presentations, panel discussions, and breakout sessions. Participants will come away knowing the information and strategies they need to create their roadmap to the future.
Among the speakers are Bruce Heinrich and James Blain of PAX Training, who also spoke at the 2020 CD/NLA Show in Las Vegas this past February, as well as UMA Town Hall frequent contributor Jim McCann of Spader Business Management.
The Virtual Summit is $99 per individual for members ($169 for non-members). To encourage teams to participate, UMA members can register a team of up to five people from the same company for $199.
Visit uma.org/summit for more information and to register.
[06.08.20]
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- Category: Industry News
With the COVID-19 epidemic wreaking havoc on the chauffeured transportation industry, it’s not only operators and builders dealing with the effects. Vendors who work closely and even tangentially with the industry have also been devastated by the shutdown caused by the pandemic.
Arthur Messina of Create-A-Card
Virtually overnight, Create-A-Card founders Arthur and Kathy Messina, who built a career by supplying business cards and marketing materials to the industry, found themselves without clients to service.
“With no one traveling or conducting business, our clients didn’t need business cards or mailers,” says Arthur.
Like so many other businesses struggling to stay afloat, Create-A-Card shifted gears to provide safety and sanitization products for their client base. Arthur says he took the cue after seeing local distilleries distributing hand sanitizer instead of spirits. With hand sanitizer, gloves, and especially masks high in demand, particularly for the service industry, the Messinas saw a way they could help.
“Different companies that lost revenue had to retool their businesses. These days we’re all into this “re” concept—RE-brand, RE-start, RE-fresh,” says Arthur. “We could have sat on our laurels, closed the office, and not answered the phones. But our clients were looking for safety products for their employees and customers, and we chose to stay active and help them.”
The Messinas worked with local vendors to provide a selection of masks and mini hand sanitizers that could be branded with a company logo. Safety kits for passengers and employees containing masks, sanitizers, wipes, and gloves, have been increasingly popular for Create-A-Card clients. However, with peak demand, providing the items was challenging in the early days of the pandemic.
“It was like the precious metals market: each day the price would change,” laughs Messina. “We’d quote a client, and by the time the order was processed, we’d be out of stock. Fortunately, now that it’s June, the stuff that was coming from overseas is hitting our shores. Prices are finally dropping.”
Create-A-Card has continued to expand their safety product line by offering Safe & Sealed labels to their customers. These labels are removable, tamper-evident seals that can be affixed between the door and the body of a vehicle. When the seal is pulled free, it reveals a “void” text on both sides of the sticker, ensuring the passenger that the car has been unoccupied after being cleaned or sanitized. Messina says the labels can be customized with your logo and any desired text to create peace of mind for your clients.
Like Create-A-Card, their sister company Driving Results peer groups had to change with the times. Traditionally, the Spinning Wheels and Going Global groups would be traveling to cities across the country for peer-to-peer education, networking, and fun. Unfortunately, the travel restrictions (and business decline) currently in effect have put the Going Global affiliate manager groups on hold until 2021. Meanwhile, however, Spinning Wheels members have continued to meet regularly via Zoom meetings. Not only do these events allow the members to keep up with news and commiserate, they also provide the education that Driving Results is known for.
“We’ve been able to bring some speakers on, including CD Publisher Chris Weiss and Kristen Carroll of The LMC Groups, along with other guests to educate the members,” says Arthur. “We recently had Matt Daus of Windels Marx and IATR speak to the group. By doing these Zoom meetings, I’m staying in front of my clients. To me, that’s important. The group environment is a plus—they offer support for each other.”
While COVID-19 has presented the ground transportation industry, and its associates, with an unprecedented set of challenges, the Messinas are confident that the storm will pass and the industry will survive. At the very least, Arthur believes that recent events will serve as a learning experience for operators to strategize.
“We’ve been in business for more than 30 years through the ups and downs. This is the craziest of the ups and downs, but it’s not going to devastate us. Fortunately, we’ve always run our business with the right mindset. If you plan and strategize, you’ll be able to survive.”
Visit createacardinc.com for more information.
[06.09.20]