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Blacklane will start its novel chauffeur hailing in 21 cities across 11 countries in March 2021. New York is the first city, launching March 1.
Blacklane Co-founder and CEO Dr. Jens Wohltorf
The global chauffeur service already offers scheduled rides in 50 countries. Blacklane’s new on-demand rides maintain the same premium quality, health and safety standards, fixed competitive fares, and sustainability as its pre-booked trips.
“People need trusted local transportation now more than ever as cities reopen,” said Dr. Jens Wohltorf, Blacklane CEO and co-founder. “Many companies have built ride-hailing platforms with little quality control and confusing costs. But Blacklane has built a global chauffeur-hailing service with clear, consistent rates and the highest quality standards."
After New York, Blacklane begins chauffeur-hailing service March 2 in London and Dubai. Berlin launches on March 3, followed by Paris on March 4. All eight U.S. cities will go live by next week and all 21 cities will have launched by March 26. The full city list is:
- Austria: Vienna
- France: Paris
- Germany: Berlin, Düsseldorf, Frankfurt, and Munich
- Ireland: Dublin
- Italy: Milan
- Portugal: Lisbon
- Singapore
- Switzerland: Zurich
- UAE: Dubai
- U.K.: London, with electric vehicles using the company’s recent Havn investment. The fleet operates the all-electric Jaguar I-PACE and Teslas.
- U.S.: Boston, Chicago, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco, and Washington, D.C.
As with its scheduled rides, Blacklane partners with only the best local chauffeur companies. It continues its proven all-inclusive fares based only on distance. Guests do not pay extra for higher demand, traffic, or tolls, providing the same cost certainty for all types of trips.
The company’s carbon-neutral program extends to hailed chauffeur service. Blacklane was the first ground transportation company to offset carbon emissions from all rides and business operations worldwide, starting in 2017.
Private and business guests book on Blacklane’s iOS app. Chauffeurs clean and sanitize vehicles before and after each journey. They greet guests with a slight bow instead of a handshake, maintain maximum distance, and provide hand sanitizer and masks. Guests can call or chat with Blacklane’s 24/7 customer service team in the app.
Blacklane’s scheduled service continues as usual, with rides booked 30 minutes to months in advance on its website and apps. Guests can reserve private and sanitized door-to-door airport transfers, hourly rides and intercity trips.
Visit blacklane.com for more information.
[03.01.21]
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ABC Companies, a leading provider of motorcoach, transit, and specialty passenger transport equipment in North America, announced that it has entered into a strategic U.S. distribution agreement with Grande West, a leading supplier of electric, CNG, gas, and clean diesel buses. The ABC distributorship supports Grande West’s focus on U.S. expansion as it begins marketing the fully Buy America compliant Vicinity heavy duty midsize bus, the Vicinity Lightning EV, and Vicinity LT light duty models to new and existing customers.
Under the new agreement, ABC will distribute the manufacturer’s Vicinity heavy-duty vehicles throughout the Western United States from Texas to California. The Vicinity line fills in key transit and private shuttle markets within the ABC portfolio of new vehicles for these locations, enhancing the offering to current customers while expanding to other sectors.
ABC Companies President Roman Cornell
“As we continue to expand our portfolio offering, our main goal is to provide more choice and price points for operators in the private ground transportation and public transit segments,” said ABC Companies President Roman Cornell. “Our distribution agreement with Grande West enables ABC to offer its proven record of customer sales, service and support with a proven high-quality Buy America compliant product line. After an extensive search, we found the Vicinity product line which achieved best in class results across a number of the Federal Transit Authorities Altoona testing procedures. The 12-year/500,000-mile heavy-duty testing regime demonstrated stellar results for fuel economy, structural durability and maintenance and repairs. This solidified our decision to bring the Vicinity line into the ABC product portfolio as our customers expect us to find and bring high-quality products to their operations.”
With shifting priorities across the spectrum of ground transportation providers, ABC looks to deepen its product line to effectively provide the versatility and single-source convenience operators need.
“Our customers’ needs drive our strategic priorities,” said Cornell. “The Grande West Vicinity lineup offers added flexibility and choice to our transit customer base who already utilize ABC’s parts and maintenance services. While it’s also a great fit for our private operators who want to use midsize vehicles for a variety of fleet applications like local transportation contracts, line runs, and shuttle service.”
The new agreement also expands ABC’s growing battery-electric portfolio, which currently spans from passenger transport vans up to 45-foot motorcoaches, as well as double-deck zero-emission vehicles. With decades of experience in sales, technical, repair and maintenance support, ABC is committed to supporting heavy duty midsize market users who can leverage the expertise of a proven market leader.
“We are proud to announce our distribution partnership with ABC, representing an excellent addition to our reach in the United States, particularly as we begin to market our Buy America compliant Vicinity buses to new and existing customers,” said William Trainer, president and chief executive officer of Grande West. “In particular, ABC’s well-established reputation for EV sales in the California market will prove invaluable as we bring our new Vicinity Lightning EV bus to market. We look forward to working closely with Roman and the ABC team going forward.”
Visit abc-companies.com and grandewest.com for more information.
[03.01.21]
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WFLA President Jeremy Jenkins
An uptick in business due to Super Bowl LV was a positive point of discussion on the February 24 Zoom meeting held by the West Florida Limousine Association (WFLA). WFLA President Jeremy Jenkins of His & Hers Limousines reported that several members saw a rise in business in February, largely due to the demand from the Big Game.
Unfortunately, WFLA members were disappointed, to say the least, in the policing around Tampa’s Raymond James Stadium with regard to ground transportation. Despite members paying up to thousands of dollars in temporary permit fees, the city did virtually no patrolling to make sure paperwork was in order. This led to TNCs and non-permitted vehicles accessing the prime curbside realty at the stadium. WFLA members are expected to speak to area officials so this type of snafu does not occur again, particularly since the city is planning to continue their temporary permitting policies.
WFLA members are anticipating the arrival of Wrestlemania in April, which often brings a great deal of work. At the time of the meeting, it had yet to be determined whether spectators would be permitted to attend. The WFLA Board promised to keep members informed of any news from the WWE regarding the event.
Construction at Tampa International Airport has been a source of frustration with nighttime work shutting down major arteries into the facility. However, WFLA Secretary Tom Halsnik of Walsh Transportation reported that completion is being fast-tracked, with plans to finish by the summer. On the plus side, members reported that flight activity is increasing and more people appear to be traveling. Operators remain hopeful that tourism will soon return, as they were disappointed that the popular Parade of Pirates event had been cancelled.
The next WFLA virtual conference is scheduled to be held on March 24. The organization plans to hold a live board election during the meeting.
Visit facebook.com/WestFloridaLimousineAssociation for more information.
[02.26.21]