Luxury Line Run Motorcoach Service Adds Another Texas Route

We may not have the Hyperloop One yet, but at least now Vonlane fans can travel in style between Austin and Fort Worth.

The luxury motorcoach company — which is known for its roomy, 16-seat buses and complimentary refreshments, Wi-Fi, and satellite TV — is set to open the new route on Oct. 2, just in time for Austin City Limits. There will be service seven days a week.

culturemap Austin article here

Related article: Texas Luxury Bus Service Adds Intercity Route

Keywords

line runs   motorcoach operators   motorcoaches   Texas operators   

 

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Uber Loses License To Operate In London

In a huge blow to Uber in the United Kingdom, London’s transport regulator has rejected its application to renew its license to operate in the city.

In a statement today, TfL said it has concluded Uber is “not fit and proper to hold a private hire operator licence.”

TechCrunch article here

Related article: NLA Commends London Vote To Revoke Uber License

Keywords

limo licenses   London operators   regulatory enforcement   TNCs   Uber   United Kingdom   unlicensed operators   

 

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Transportation Future, Driverless Vehicles Hot Topics At BusCon 2017

How connected and autonomous technology will impact the transportation industry, the usage of alternative fuels and electric vehicles, and transit maintenance training and best practices were just some of the highlights of BusCon 2017, which was held at the Indiana Convention Center in Indianapolis Sept. 11 to 13.

METRO Magazine article here

Keywords

BusCon   buses   industry events   luxury vans   motorcoaches   tradeshows   

 

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How One City Grapples With Too Many Illegal Party Buses

If you’ve spent any time enjoying Kansas City’s nightlife, you’ve probably seen them: the colorful, customized buses carrying revelers to restaurants, bars and sporting events.

A popular choice for bachelor and bachelorette parties, weddings, birthdays and other celebrations, party buses let riders enjoy a good time without the risks of drinking and driving.

But more than half — and perhaps as many as two-thirds — of the party bus companies operating in this area defy state and federal regulations designed to protect riders and the public, The Star found in a months-long investigation.

Kansas City Star article here

Party Bus Riders Who Never Made It Home

Editorial: A lack of federal and state oversight has allowed these popular services to proliferate with few protections in place for customers. Many party buses are anything but safe for passengers.

Keywords

deaths   fatalities   federal regulations   illegal operators   Kansas operators   limo buses   Missouri operators   party buses   passenger safety   regulatory enforcement   state regulations   

 

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Operator Selling Batch Of 2015 BMWs With Low Miles

PLEASANTON, Calif. — Ten BMW 740Li livery sedans, all with less than 100,000 miles, have been posted for sale on Limoforsale.com by an operator who only wants to buy more of them.

Black Tie Transportation owner and CEO Bill Wheeler Sr. bought 30 BMWs in 2015 as his new primary fleet sedan, and is now selling the first 10 of them so he can buy 10 2018 MY BMWs within the next 90 days.

The 10 740Lis are available now on Limoforsale.com for $28,999 each and range from 89,000 to just under 100,000 miles. Anyone who buys two to 10 of them will get an additional $1,000 off each vehicle, Wheeler said.

SPECS, PHOTOS, SELL INFO HERE

Black Tie used all 10 long-wheelbase luxury sedans to carry mostly single-rider clients to and from airports in the San Francisco Bay Area, which means the cars have accumulated more highway than city miles and received minimal client wear-and-tear. Wheeler can attest to the model’s low maintenance track record and client enthusiasm.

“The car has been received amazingly by clients, and basically been locked into our market,” Wheeler told LCT. “Besides putting tires on them, we have not had to do anything; no transmissions, no A/C compressors, nothing but reusables like tires and a few windshield breaks.”

Given the 740Li’s durability, Wheeler plans to run his remaining 20 2015 sedans until about 150,000 to 200,000 miles. His company follows a fleet policy of turning over vehicles every two to three years.

When Wheeler bought his first BMWs, he slightly raised his rates with no drop-off in client business. His approach was to distinguish his company as a premium chauffeured service provider in the metro area where transportation network companies (TNCs) started.

LCT background articles:

• How To Upgrade Your Fleet For Better Results
• Operator Orders Most BMW Limo Sedans To Date

Keywords

Bill Wheeler   BMW   BMW 7 series   California operators   Limoforsale.com   online vehicle sales   premium luxury sedans   San Francisco operators   used vehicles   

 

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Too Much Smart Talk On A.I.

Each year seems to bring a topic alarming the industry with related forecasts of bad endings. In 2015, it was driverless cars. In 2016, the supremacy of TNCs. This year: AI (artificial intelligence).

I’ve been to three conferences so far this year that included the subject of AI, which is applying technology to replace human tasks in faster ways. In a positive way, the state of the industry presentation at the March LCT Show touched upon a direct benefit to operators: Bot and voice activated technology that can handle call center, service desk, and web FAQ functions. Likewise, Leadership Summit speaker Brian Solis talked about AI’s disruptive role, such as apps and the advent of driverless vehicles.

But during a digital media conference I attended in April, a speaker warned 6% of jobs will be lost to AI by 2021; 47% by 2037; and 95% of machines will write better than humans. Could AI replace writers, editors, and marketers, the speaker asked? I wondered if it would happen after I retire.

What’s Next?
2015 – Driverless Cars
2016 – TNC Supremacy
2017 – Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Mad Info
Media coverage brings such doomsday scenarios: One third of men 25-54 will be unemployed! 45% of jobs to be automated! 30 million unemployed drivers with nowhere to go! 75% unemployment by 2100! What will people do? How will they earn a living? Can everyone earn money polishing robots? (Wait, no, they’ll polish each other). We need a national guaranteed income!

Oh, please sheeple media, calm down already. I’ve recently read several articles on AI explaining how it’s an innovative tool that creates new jobs and makes our lives easier. I can’t think of anyone now who wants a harder life.

AI Benefits
• Call Center
• Service Desk
• Web FAQ

More Jobs
In several industries, physical labor jobs have yielded to more digitally-driven jobs. A commentary in the May 14 Wall Street Journal by two economic academics, Bret Swanson and Michael Mandel, points out how e-commerce has created 397,000 jobs since December 2007, making up for the 76,000 jobs lost at stores. Hydraulic fracking that spurred the shale oil and gas boom — at least one cylinder pulling the U.S. out of the Great Recession — has boosted oil-and-gas work hours by 17% during the last 10 years.

Tech think tanker Robert D. Aktinson in the April 17 issue of National Review cites studies showing how fewer than 5% of jobs can be fully automated, while AI will eliminate only 1.25% of jobs in 15 major developed and emerging companies by 2020. Only 10% of jobs across 702 different occupations are actually at risk of automation. More than offsetting such small losses are the billions of dollars saved, new job roles yet to be created, and increases in economic productivity thanks to AI and robotics. In my case, I wouldn’t mind having a bot edit rote press releases and upload content to our websites, thereby freeing me up to write more interesting articles, create videos, and tour companies.

Really? AI Job Loss Forecast
6% by 2021
47% by 2037

Losses < Gains
Now, some jobs and roles will be lost forever. On May 11, 1997, chess champion Gary Kasparov was defeated by an IBM supercomputer, Deep Blue. Writing in the WSJ in April, Kasparov admitted he had a hard time with the machine-beat-man irrelevancy. But he sums it up best: “Waxing nostalgic about jobs lost to technology is little better than complaining that antibiotics put too many gravediggers out of work.” Civilization advances non-stop. No one would want to bring back all the jobs that collectively provided the brainpower and service levels of the smartphone now in about every purse and pair of pants. Kasparov points out how jobs such as drone pilot, social media manager, and 3-D print engineer did not exist 20 years ago.

Intelligent machines free us from menial physical and mental labor, he writes, thereby “elevating our mental lives toward creativity, curiosity, beauty, and joy.” I can think of worse ways to spend one’s time.

Most of us will keep working. For now, mass driverless cars seem further off than first predicted, maybe 2030 instead of 2022. Uber has hit some skids, to say the least. The limousine industry still supports our LCT events and magazines, print and digital. Technology will sort out all the progress and keep more people busy.

As we size up how AI will change our business lives, we’ll still need the informed intelligence and judgment of the human mind. That human mind attached to a soul brings infinite potential for creativity and achievement, one unique person at a time. I’m not betting techies ever find an AI invention replacing God.

Keywords

artificial intelligence   industry trends   Information Technology   innovation   LCT editor   Martin Romjue   research and trends   

 

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ABC Companies Donates Vehicle To Bus Museum

HERSHEY, Penn. — The Museum of Bus Transportation here just completed its most successful Spring Fling, with over 500 attendees and 50 “visiting” coaches supplementing the Museum’s 38 antique buses.

One highlight was a major donation by ABC Companies. Senior VP Mike Laffan presented John Oakman, the museum’s Fleet Committee Chairman, with a fully refurbished 2004 Stewart Stevens Tug with an air compressor on it for use in moving and maintaining the museum’s vehicles.

“This is a huge donation,” Oakman said. “We’re dealing with fragile antiques, and this tug lets us maneuver and service them safely, reducing the risk of damaging irreplaceable buses.”

Last year the Cornell family and ABC donated a restored 1956 Scenicruiser, and have committed to lend their famous 1921 White Motor Co. “Little Red” bus for display in the near future.

“The Cornell family and ABC are well known for their remarkable accomplishments and contributions in the bus business,” Oakman said in a press release. “But the industry may not be aware that their achievements are matched by their generosity in preserving the equipment and history of our industry. The Cornell’s have donated buses, and restored coaches in their facilities, as well as given money and their considerable expertise to the Museum. The Museum and the coach industry are literally in their debt forever.”

Roman Cornell, ABC executive vice president and CCO, said on behalf of the Cornell family, “History is interesting and an important part of our lives. It’s fun to look back and see where we came from. ABC is fortunate to be in a position to donate to this wonderful museum and preserve the industry that has done so much for our family.”

Source: ABC Companies press release

Keywords

ABC Companies   buses   industry vendors   motorcoaches   Van Hool   vintage vehicles   

 

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Don’t Ask About Pay History If You’re Hiring In NYC

Due to a new bill passed by the New York City Council on April 5 (Introduction Number 1253-A) NYC employers are no longer able to ask job applicants, the applicant’s current or former employers, or managers or employees of the applicant’s current or former employers about compensation and benefits history.

Public records are also off the table, as the bill prohibits employers from conducting searches of the applicant’s salary history through public resources.

GovDocs.com article here

Keywords

chauffeur pay   driver pay   employee issues   hiring   hiring chauffeurs   human resources   New York City   New York operators   

 

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Business Travelers More Anxious About Security

They may want good work-life balance and access to a better technology experience, but more than anything else, today’s business travelers want a better sense of security when traveling on behalf of their organizations, according to a joint survey conducted by American Express Global Business Travel and the Association for Corporate Travel Executives.

Business Travel News article here

Keywords

airlines   aviation   business travel   corporate travel   Safety   

 

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This Heartland City Now Lets Taxis Operate Like TNCs

Kansas City’s licensed taxi business is about to all but disappear. But not its taxis. On Monday, Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens signed a law pushed by ride-hailing companies Uber and Lyft. It poses lighter regulation than Kansas City’s ordinance governing drive-for-hire businesses.

Kansas City Star article here

Keywords

legislation   Lyft   Missouri operators   regulatory enforcement   state regulations   taxis   TNCs   Uber   

 

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Should Local Governments Regulate Uber?

Years of fighting among local governments, the Legislature, and ridesharing companies such as Uber and Lyft could soon come to an end.

Lawmakers have sent to Gov. Rick Scott legislation prohibiting local government from regulating the companies. Instead, the companies would need to meet statewide insurance and background check standards only.

Tampa Bay Times article here

Keywords

Florida operators   legislation   Lyft   regulatory enforcement   state regulations   taxis   TNCs   Uber   

 

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These Brothers Succeed By Following The Rules

SAN DIEGO, CA — Anyone who lives and runs a business in California knows it’s painfully difficult to stay on top of all of the regulations one must follow to operate legally. From workers comp to proper licensing and inspection fees, it seems like the list never ends and rules are constantly changing.

Selim and Umut Aslan, owners of MIB Worldwide Chauffeured Services, work tirelessly to ensure their company does things the right way — and their clients certainly notice.

Do What’s Right

The state’s notorious reputation often has fellow operators asking many questions. “When we go to other states and we tell others how we run our company, the initial reaction is often pity. They say, ‘how do you make money?’ But the answer is you just get used to it,” Selim says.

A lesson he and his brother have learned over the years is no matter how right you do things in California, you’ll get in trouble somehow. “We comply as best we can, but there’s no black and white. The only way you can be prepared for anything is by doing your due diligence in ensuring the safety of your clients to the absolute best of your ability.”

This tactic has certainly worked for them, as they now operate 15 vehicles, including Chrysler 300s, Lincoln MKTs (which they like because they can upsell for the luggage space), SUVs, a Sprinter, and a minibus. They serve many corporate clients who also use them on their own personal trips. “I can proudly say the vast majority of our clients are our own. Farm-in work is only about 10% of our gross profit,” Selim says.

Learn From Other’s Mistakes

Selim came to the U.S. in 2004 as a college student from Turkey, and started working for a transportation company that allegedly skirted regulations in 2007. According to him, they didn’t pay their staff overtime. He had an argument with the owner over this in 2009, and quit the company knowing he and his brother could start their own business doing things the right way.

“We wanted to take good care of the people who worked for us,” Selim says. They pooled their money and started MIB with one Town Car in July 2009.

The lessons the brothers have learned over the years have helped their business grow. For example, if something goes wrong, don’t deny it — own up to it. Even if you know nothing was done wrong on your part, try to make it up to the client.

“If you go to our Yelp page, we don’t distribute any coupons or pay anyone for reviews. We don’t do that and never will. They are genuine and not influenced by anything other than the level of service we provide. We don’t fight with clients; we just take care of it,” Selim says.

Keep An Open Mind

Although the company still has a long way to go, having a loyal client base is something he and his brother are proud of, Selim says. “We’ve been hurt by Uber like every other company out there, but we still survive and are busy. We also try to give back to our community as best we can.” You’ll often see them at Greater California Livery Association (GCLA) meetings supporting their fellow operators and keeping up to date on the latest legislative issues. 

In the future, they plan on pushing more into the event planning business because it’s the facet of ground transportation least affected by Uber and because they are seeing an increased demand for it. They don’t want to rush into it too quickly, but hope to add more minibuses and coaches to their ever expanding fleet.

Keywords

California operators   GCLA   Greater California Livery Association   group transportation   LCTFast40   Millennials   online reviews   regulatory enforcement   San Diego operators   state regulations   TNCs   Uber   Yelp   

 

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Party Bus Involved In Shootings Was Illegal, Feds Say

KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The FMCSA requires licensed companies to have inspections and proper insurance. The service invovled in the shootings was not listed on in the federal free app Safer Bus, where you can now search for legal operations.

FOX 4 News article here

Keywords

criminal incidents   Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration   federal regulations   illegal operators   law enforcement   Missouri operators   party buses   

 

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