Model S Cover - LCT Oct 2013

HOLLYWOOD LIMO SHOOTS FOR THE STARS FIRST REVIEW: TESLA MODEL S
TESLA MOTORSCHARGES AHEAD IN FLEET SALES
TESLA MOTORSCHARGES AHEAD IN FLEET SALES
GLOBAL LIMOUSINEGLOBAL LIMOUSINE
A LEGACY OF EXCELLENCE
Beating Uber
At Their Own Game
Don’t Cut Your
Safety Budget
Landing Big
School Contracts
Beating Uber
At Their Own Game
Don’t Cut Your
Safety Budget
Landing Big
School Contracts
A LEGACY OF EXCELLENCE

4 | LIMO DIGEST | OCTOBER 2013
Contents 10/13
Limo Digest (ISSN 1095-8436) is published 11 times per year by Digest Publications at 3 Reeves Station Rd,
Medford, NJ 08055-9630. Periodicals postage paid at Medford, NJ and additional mailing offices. Phone (609)
953-4900, Fax (609) 953-7707, Email: info@limodigest.com, Website: www.limodigest.com. All statements
made, although based on information believed to be reliable and accurate, cannot be guaranteed, and no fault
or liability can be accepted for error or omission. All opinions are those of the author and do not necessarily
represent the views of Limo Digest, Digest Publications, or any of its advertisers. Subscription rates: U.S. one
year $28; two year $42; Canadian and International rates $50. Postmaster, send address changes to Limo
Digest, Circulation Department, 3 Reeves Station Rd, Medford, NJ 08055-9630.
S For Success
Get up to speed on the fleet vehicle
of the future: the Tesla Model S
BY ADAM LEITENBERGER
24
On the Cover: Meet the newest addition to
fleets across the country: Tesla’s Model S.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY Tesla Motors
LAYOUT BY John Crawford
Departments
Publisher’s Notes 6
Curbside 8
Industry News 10
Women in the Industry 20
Association News 54
Association Calendar 60
Affiliate Spotlight 62
Referral Guide 63
International Connections 77
Classifieds 79
Advertisers’ Index 82
At the Wheel:
We Review the
Tesla Model S 28
Features
50
Global Dominates
Global Limousine is built on
a legacy of experience
BY EVAN McCAULEY
32
Uber Can Save the
Livery Industry... Really
How to beat rogue apps
at their own game
BY DAN SUTICH
40
Don’t Cram For the Exam
Be prepared for school
administrators to test your
company on safety
BY DR. JOLANDA JANCZEWSKI
Don’t Cut Your Budget
When it Comes to Safety
Some cost-costing measures
can hurt you more in the end
BY GREG W. CRESCENZO
44

PUBLISHER’S NOTES
YOUR INDUSTRY.
OUR MISSION.
ONE VOICE.
y now, most of you know that our much-anticipated 20th anniversary
show has been postponed. Our team felt it necessary to make this dif-
ficult decision based on what we were hearing from all of you: con-
cern, confusion and frustration surrounding the unusual number of trade
shows competing within a narrow period of time, resulting in an increasing-
ly negative atmosphere, which many began describing as the “trade show
wars.” As our decades-old tagline indicates, our mission is to be your voice,
and as such, we couldn’t with a good conscience contribute to the dilution of
your show season. To advocate for a more unified industry, we felt it was our
duty to make this sacrifice.
Our team nevertheless worked incredibly hard to put together a first-rate
educational series, the results of which I am personally very proud—so
proud, in fact, that I couldn’t bear to watch it go to waste. We’ve therefore
dedicated this issue to repurposing some of the best educational content we
had slated for the show’s seminars and workshops—specifically, those which
explore the topics of safety and technology.
In this month’s featured company profile, Senior Editor Evan McCauley
takes you behind the scenes at Philadelphia’s Global Limousine, where
President Anthony Viscusi prioritizes chauffeur safety training by enforcing
an in-house defensive driving program. Likewise, Greg Crescenzo of Atlantic
Investigations and Dr. Jolanda Janczewski of the Transportation Safety
Exchange contribute their safety expertise in the featured articles on pages
44 and 50.
Skeptical about safety and other issues surrounding tech-savvy rogue app
companies? Learn how to beat Uber at its own game in the feature on page
38, contributed by Dan Sutich of Perfect Chauffeur. Once you’re done learn-
ing about the technological threats that face the industry, look back on the
bright side of what technology brings to the industry with our cover story on
page 24, where Associate Editor Adam Leitenberger gets you up to speed on
the fleet vehicle of the future, the all-electric Tesla Model S. And—my per-
sonal favorite read of the month—be sure to spend some time with Creative
Director John Crawford on page 8, where he reveals the artistic process
behind the reinvented Limo Digest brand, and his vision for bringing our
website into the 21st century.
It’s a good feeling to have such a rich and informative magazine to offer
you the first month in my new role as publisher of Limo Digest. Our dedi-
cated editorial team and I are energized and focused on staying true to the
Limo Digest mission of being the voice of the luxury ground transportation
industry.
Kay Weninger, Publisher
kay@limodigest.com
(609) 953-4900 n www.limodigest.com
EDITORIAL OFFICE
3 Reeves Station Road, Medford, NJ 08053
PUBLISHER
Kay Weninger (x206) n kay@limodigest.com
ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER
& EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
Dawn Sheldon (x236) n dawn@limodigest.com
SENIOR EDITOR
Evan McCauley (x252) n evan@limodigest.com
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
John Crawford (x203) n john@limodigest.com
ASSOCIATE EDITOR & DIGITAL MEDIA MANAGER
Adam Leitenberger (x202) n adam@limodigest.com
CIRCULATION ASSOCIATE
Norman Green (x215) n subscriptions@limodigest.com
CONTROLLER
Kim Kustera (x208) n kimk@limodigest.com
Advertising Sales: (609) 953-4900
CONTRIBUTING WRITERS
Greg W. Crescenzo
Dr. Jolanda Janczewski
Daniel Sutich
LIMO DIGEST EDITORIAL ADVISORY BOARD
Alan Candeub n Park Avenue Limousine
Joe Cirruzzo Sr. n A Elegant International
Rob Hansen n Bayview Limousine
Tom Holden n Rose Chauffeured Transportation
Carolyn Nelson n Belaire Limousine
Amondo Sapiro n M&L International Worldwide
Dave Shaw n Olympus Limousine
Robert Vaughan n Best Transportation
B
Find us
also on
Our Website Has
Gotten a Makeover!
As part of our brand makeover (see page 8), the team at
Limo Digest has recently relaunched our website—updat-
ed regularly with breaking news and informative content.
See us at limodigest.com.

CURBSIDE / Our New Look
Limo Digest 2.0
WHY LIMO DIGEST
CHANGED ITS LOOK...
THE BIRTH OF THE
NEW BRAND
BEFORE AFTER
hen it comes to branding
your own company, it
has to come naturally.
Nothing about the process can be
forced. So when I took over as
Creative Director of Limo Digest, I
thought it would serve us best not to
rush into a complete overhaul, but
rather wait until the new personali-
ty of the brand evolved organically,
stemming from the fresh vision of
our new staff. Put simply, we needed
a reboot.
The first order of business was the name.
Although Limousine Digest had been the official
name of the magazine for the better part of the
past quarter century, it gradually came to be
known as Limo Digest to our readers. The title
change made all the sense in the world. It rolls
off the tongue more easily; the term “limo” can
be used to describe all luxury ground trans-
portation, and fits nicely as the boilerplate on
the magazine covers—it just looks like it
belongs there.
Once the decision was made to change the
name of the magazine, the logo needed to be
updated. The result is a bolder, more easily rec-
ognizable alteration of the original with a mod-
ern look that winks at the history of the brand
but marks a definitive step toward the future.
Now that we had a logo, we needed to settle
on a new look for a more up-to-date, mobile-
friendly website, incorporating our new brand
colors and reenergized mission.
Limo Digest is now formatted to include a
wealth of interesting stories, relevant articles
and breaking luxury ground transportation
news. The revamped website will be the engine
that drives our brand—a brand dedicated to
keeping our subscribers informed about all
issues relating to survival in this incredibly
competitive marketplace. Through our new
website, you can learn from the experts and
stay updated on news events as they happen
every day.
Not only did we reinvent the look, feel and
functionality of our brand, but have also been
retooling our monthly magazine to match. We
hope that, with each issue, you will start to see
a new attitude emerge—a renewed dedication
to delivering better content in a more stylish
and readable format.
We want to interact with the quiet majority
of our readers, and encourage you to reach out
and let us know what you think of the changes.
Facebook us, Tweet us, contact us on
LinkedIn, or visit limodigest.com and leave a
comment. You can even contact me directly at
john@limodigest.com and let me know per-
sonally what you think. Thanks and I look for-
ward to your feedback!
In our inaugural installment of Curbside, Creative
Director John Crawford talks about leading the aesthetic
reinvention of the Limo Digest brand, followed by his pick
of the top 10 industry logos; plus, the results of our
monthly poll and the best of your tweets, Facebook posts,
and blog comments.
W
CURB
Minimal... Modern... Motion.
The original Limousine Digest logo had become
outdated and did not resonate with the new
direction our team resolved to move toward.
The new Limo Digest logo not only makes more sense as
the pillar to building a new brand identity, but visually rep-
resents both our history and our magazine moving forward.

OCTOBER 2013 | LIMO DIGEST | 9
From the Web / CURBSIDE
Having been involved in design and advertising for over 15
years, I know a good logo when I see one. A good logo
shows that a company cares about the way they present
themselves to the public. In my daily duties as the Creative
Director of Limo Digest, I have become familiar with hun-
dreds of luxury ground transportation companies’ logos.
Here are my top 10 favorites.
10. LSW CHAUFFEURED TRANSPORTATION
LSW introduced a new logo a little over a year ago and they
hit a home run with the typography and logo choice. The
best way to describe this logo is: BIG but unobtrusive.
Quietly confident. And that’s a good thing in the luxury
ground transportation industry.
9. ALLSTAR INTERNATIONAL
There’s just something about this logo that sticks out to
me, and I really can’t articulate it. Maybe it has to do with
how it all fits together so well. Nothing seems forced.
8. MONTREAL LIMOUSINE
Anyone who has ever had the pleasure of visiting Montreal
will understand how well this logo articulates the look and
feel of this Canadian city. The understated motion and
abbreviated “MTL” combined with the skyline of the city, as
well as the blue and gray color scheme, come together into
an icon that embodies trustworthiness and ease of travel.
7. KINGS WORLDWIDE TRANSPORTATION
TheKingsWorldwideTransportationlogoexemplifieshisto-
ry and class, which resonates perfectly with the name and
industry. When it comes to demonstrating power, choosing
red as your primary color is a touchdown in the logo depart-
ment. This logo works for me because it parallels the com-
pany’s personality and vision.
6. ANGEL LIMOUSINE
Not only is it the choice of colors, but also the choice of
fonts that conveys a sense of comfort and reliability. This is
an example of an icon above the name standing alone with
great effectiveness. The wings are symmetrical and the
subtle yet implied globe is a nice detail.
5. CLI WORLDWIDE TRANSPORTATION
Here is a logo that just looks dependable. It just demands
respect without coming off as pretentious. The use of both
serif and sans serif fonts makes the logo look elegant and
steady. To be honest, this is a logo that I wanted to dislike
because it follows a formula. But it’s just too good at fol-
lowing that formula to ignore. Sometimes doing what is
expected isn’t the wrong choice. You just have to be good
enough at it to get noticed. CLI’s logo does just that.
4. OVERLAND CHAUFFEURED SERVICES
Overtly simple yet stylish, the logo reads clearly and stands
out in a crowd - just by being itself. And isn’t that what we
all want in life? The big “O” defines classic and historic, but
gives the viewer just enough motion to hint at progressive.
I also love the subtle open “A” in “Overland” and how it mir-
rors the “V.” It’s a seamless combination of motion and
stability. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
3. LOGIC LIMO
On the opposite end of the spectrum is Logic Limo. Simply
put, it stands out not only in its composition but in its
choice of fonts and colors. You can’t stop staring at it and
its originality makes the brand stay in your head long after
you’ve turned away. Way to break the rules, guys.
Sometimes that works, too.
2. GRAND AVENUE
Not only is this a personal favorite, but an overwhelming
favorite of everyone in the Limo Digest staff. The typogra-
phy and effective yet simple color scheme of greens and
grays balance out the progressive feel of the top half of the
logo.Thebestfeatureisthattheiconabovethenameofthe
company can stand alone with equal brand identity. One of
the other elements that I love about the logo is its inclusion
of the company tag line: Be Driven. The whole formula adds
up to a winning combination that exemplifies strength and
consistency of service with an eye on the future of luxury
ground transportation.
1. ZETIAN LIMOUSINE
Not only did I love the logo, but again this was one everyone
picked as a favorite. The reason: it looks luxurious without
trying to be luxurious. Maybe it’s the silver and black com-
bined with a rich purple backdrop. Sometimes great art
cannot be defined... it simply has to be experienced. This is
the case with the winning logo. It just came out on top.
There you have it. The ten best logos in the industry. A
perfectly executed logo in the ground transportation indus-
try can give your company a huge head start. Make the
most of this important branding decision to make sure your
company's core values are communicated effectively.
Top 10 Logos in the Luxury
Ground Transportation Industry
10 9 8 7 6
5 4 3 2 1
By John Crawford, Creative Director
For the full original blog post
on which this article is based,
visit www.limodigest.com.
YOUDRIVE
J. Nathan Higdon
My article for @LimoDigest is out in electronic
copy today! I’m biased, but I think it looks great!!
Dan Kelly
@JNathanHigdon @LimoDigest just read
your article. Very intriguing.
GrandAvenueWorldwide
GA’s #logo was named #2 in Top 10 Logos
for Ground Transportation from @LimoDigest!
@SeigenthalerPR did a great job.
http://tinyurl.com/m7p77vy
ETS International
Did you know ETS was named Most
Charitable Company by @LimoDigest in
2009 & 2011? See how we make dreams
come true: http://hub.am/GHJO1n
LSW Chauffeured
Check out this great article featuring
our own Melissa Thornton in @LimoDigest
http://ow.ly/oMsao
#business #women #success
Limo Digest
Man says state won't let him start
low-cost limo service - WFSB 3 Connecticut
http://www.wfsb.com/story/23508842/man-
says-state-wont-let-him-start-low-cost-limo-
service#.UkGcNAgaUak.twitter …
Mike Pederson
@LimoDigest we don't need any
#halfpricedlimos driving prices down.
Take a #taxi if u wanna b #cheap.
Upkeep is expensive on a #Limo
Which of the holiday marketing
strategies discussed in last month’s
article by Arthur Messina do you find
most effective?
E-blasts
Hold Message
Holiday Greeting Cards
Gifts for Best Clients
In-Vehicle Flier
Poll Question
Weigh in! To vote in this month’s
poll, go to limodigest.com.
25%
0%
0%
56%
19%
Seigenthaler Public Relations •
Limo Digest ranked Grand Avenue’s logo as #2 in the
world. We’re proud to be a part of their drive to the top!
Top Ten Logos in the Ground Transportation Industry ~
Limo Digest

INDUSTRY NEWS
INDUSTRY
NEWS
v All-New Mercedes-Benz S-Class is “Most Intelligent Car on the Road”
v WTS International Congratulates Feinberg on Executive Role at USDOT
v American Comfort Limousines Supports Lighthouse of Collier’s Annual Summer Children’s Camp
v Reston Limousine Receives Highest Safety Rating
v Alliance Limousine Introduces New Mobile App
v Limo Digest Congratulates Inc. 5000 Honorees
v Buses Required to Stop at Pennsylvania Weigh Stations
v Go Showtime Receives Award for Eco-Friendly Fleet
v Planet Halo Introduces Latest Multi-Channel Video Recorder for the Fleet Industry
v AM General Acquires Vehicle Production Group’s Assets
v Limo Safety Law Passes in California
v MTG Family of Companies Consolidates to Improve Operations
All-New Mercedes-
Benz S-Class is
“Most Intelligent
Car on the Road”
THE ALL-NEW 2014 S-CLASS has raised the bar yet again
within the automotive industry, featuring new levels of craftsman-
ship, refinement, and overall luxury.
Some of the new standard equipment includes 20 more
horsepower, rearview camera, Panorama Sunroof, All-LED
lighting (entire vehicle, inside/out), Keyless Start, and Magic Vision
Control. With its beautiful interior craftsmanship that features
heated armrests and hot stone seating massage, ionized
air purification via the Air Balance Package, first-class rear-seat lux-
ury, and a Burmester sound system, its character and overall pres-
ence is unmatched. It also includes an intelligent suspension sys-
tem called Magic Body Control, which sees the road ahead and
adjusts the suspension accordingly.
“Every time we introduce a new generation, we have the oppor-
tunity to deliver more power, greater efficiency and unmatched
safety, backed with an improved value proposition,” said Steve
Cannon, president and CEO of Mercedes-Benz USA. “Not only is
the new S-Class the most intelligent car on the road, it’s also a
smart choice.”
Mercedes-Benz focuses on real-world safety with the goal
of accident-free driving, and the S-Class offers a portfolio
of more than 30 standard and optional active and passive
safety technologies called Intelligent Drive.
For example, the Driver Assistance Package
offers the following content:
• Distronic Plus with Steering Assist:
Radar-based cruise control system with
semi-autonomous steering inputs that
can work from 0-124 mph depending
on road conditions.
• Pre-Safe Brake: Autonomously brakes the
vehicle up to 31 mph with or without driver
input, and can partially mitigate accidents
up to 45 mph.
• Pre-Safe Plus: Rear-facing radar that senses
possible rear collisions and prepares the
vehicle for a possible secondary incident
into an active intersection.
• BAS Plus with Cross Traffic Assist: Reads
cross-traffic encounters with stereoscopic
cameras and adds appropriate brake
assistance to prevent an incident in an
active intersection.
• Active Lane Keeping Assist and Active
Blind Spot Protection: One-sided braking.
Other Intelligent Drive safety features include
Attention Assist and Night View Assist Plus
with human and animal detection. For more
information, visit www.mbusa.com.
n
For more on the Mercedes 2014 S-Class,
visit our website at www.limodigest.comv

INDUSTRY NEWS
WTS International Congratulates Feinberg
on Executive Role at USDOT
U.S. TRANSPORTATION SECRETARY
ANTHONY FOXX has announced that
Sarah Feinberg will be joining the U.S.
Department of Transportation as his chief
of staff. WTS International, the association
whose mission is to build the future of
transportation through the global advance-
ment of women, has historically had great
support from the USDOT for its programs.
“WTS International would like to con-
gratulate Ms. Feinberg
on her new post at
the DOT,” said Marcia
Ferranto, WTS
president and CEO.
“Secretary Foxx’s selection of a woman
for an executive role illustrates his com-
mitment to an administration led by a
gender-diverse team. WTS looks forward
to continuing our work to attract, retain,
and advance women in transportation
with Secretary Foxx’s team.”
According to Secretary Foxx’s announce-
ment, Feinberg served in the Obama
Administration as a special assistant to the
president and senior advisor to White
House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel,
serving as his liaison to the Obama
economic team, the national security
team, and the press and communications
departments. Most recently, Feinberg
managed Facebook’s Washington-based
outreach and communications, as well
as the company’s political and crisis
communications. Prior to that, she served
as Director of Communications and
Business Strategy at Bloomberg LP, where
she managed Bloomberg’s Washington-
based communications.
WTS International and WTS Foundation,
headquartered in Washington, D.C., seek
to attract, retain, and advance women in
transportation. WTS Foundation has
provided more than $1,000,000 in scholar-
ships to deserving women throughout the
transportation industry, supporting the next
generation of transportation professionals
and advancing the principles of WTS.
For more information, visit
www.WTSinternational.org.
n
• Previously served in President
Obama’s administration as a
special assistant to the
president and senior adviser
to White House Chief of Staff
(now Chicago Mayor) Rahm
Emanuel, serving as his
liaison to the Obama economic
team, the national security
team, and the press and
communications departments.
• Managed Facebook's Washington,
D.C.-based outreach and
communications, as well as
the company's political and
crisis communications.
SARAH FEINBERG’S RESUME:

INDUSTRY NEWS
WHEN IT COMES TO CHARITABLE
EFFORTS from luxury ground trans-
portation companies, American
Comfort Limousines is a standout.
This summer, for the third year in
a row, the Naples, FL company
donated 80 hourly rides and
transfers, at a value of over $9,000,
to Lighthouse of Collier’s Annual
Summer Children’s Camp.
Lighthouse
of Collier is an
organization that
helps over 20,000
vision-impaired
and blind individuals in Southwest
Florida. The foundation was estab-
lished in 2009, and is the only
organization of its kind in its region,
with free programs that help blind
and vision-impaired people become
more independent in their everyday
lives—“things that people with nor-
mal vision take for granted,” said
Jon Ziemba, president of American
Comfort Limousines.
The programs focus on life
skills to help participants lead more
self-sufficient lives, such as cooking,
grooming, socializing, navigating,
identifying money, using technology
(such as computers with voice
interfaces that “talk” to the user),
and feeling safe in their daily
environments.
During Lighthouse of Collier’s
Annual Summer Children’s Camp—
which ran from July 8 to Aug. 3
and experienced a 50 percent increase
in campers over 2012—children
enjoyed a range of activities and
functions organized and presented
by Lighthouse of Collier’s all-volun-
teer staff. They learned about music
from around the world, played drums
and tambourines, took lessons on
gardening and planted their own
cactus gardens. They overcame their
fear of water, learned how to paddle
board, and were taught about nature,
with the opportunity to pet an alliga-
tor and a snake.
“One of the neatest things, though,
was that they were able to play tennis
using what is called a sound tennis
ball,” said Ziemba. “The tennis balls
are oversized and contain a device
that beeps, so that blind and vision-
impaired children can hear the ball,
hit it, and play a game of tennis.”
In addition to the support they
give Lighthouse of Collier year-round,
American Comfort Limousines pro-
vided daily transportation for six
campers from their homes to camp,
and back home again at the end of
the day’s activities. The company
also donated rides to over 20 campers
and volunteers for five different field
trips that took place during the
Summer Camp.
American Comfort Limousines is
a family-owned and -operated busi-
ness, which was founded by John
Ziemba, his father Ron, and his
brother Craig in 2007. The company
has grown from two to eleven vehicles
since opening. “We all do a little bit
of everything to run the business,”
says Ziemba, “such as answering
phones 24 hours every day, taking
reservations and answering emails,
doing the accounting, doing some
basic vehicle maintenance, detailing
the vehicles, and sometimes jumping
in a vehicle to be the chauffeur for
one of our clients.” American Comfort
Limousines operates an all-black
fleet of sedans, SUVs, passenger vans,
stretch limousines and buses, and
is the number-one rated company
in the state of Florida on
www.TransportationReviews.com,
with a perfect score of 100 percent.
www.americancomfortlimo.com.
As the only Center for Blindness
and Vision Loss in Collier County,
Lighthouse of Collier has claimed
the responsibility of helping the
area’s blind and vision-impaired
children and adults become
independent. The mission of the
Lighthouse of Collier is to promote
the development, implementation
and ongoing evaluation of programs
and services which foster independ-
ence and enhance the quality of life
for the blind, the visually impaired,
and their caregivers.
www.lighthouseofcollier.org.
n
Participants and volunteers at Lighthouse of Collier’s Annual Summer Children’s Camp, with American Comfort
Limousine’s 14-passenger executive limobus and chauffeurs Frank Saitta (left) and Don McLendon. Saitta drove
a passenger van for the camp’s field trips, and for those children who needed daily transportation to and from
the camp; McLendon drove the limobus for field trips.
American Comfort Limousines Supports Lighthouse
of Collier’s Annual Summer Children’s Camp
v

INDUSTRY NEWS
Reston Limousine Receives Highest
Safety Rating
RESTON LIMOUSINE AND TRAVEL
SERVICE, the Washington, D.C., metropoli-
tan area’s largest limousine/shuttle service,
scored the highest possible rating in an
arduous, three-day Department of Defense
(DOD) independent audit of all aspects of its
safety performance. With this achievement,
Reston Limousine is
qualified to transport
military personnel and
provide transporta-
tion services for feder-
al, state, city and county agencies.
“We are pleased to be awarded these
designations, especially in light of recent
public attention to several tragic limousine
and bus accidents across the country,” said
Kristina Bouweiri, president and CEO of
Reston Limousine.
“The rigorous audit inspections were an
extremely thorough test of our safety fit-
ness,” said Reston Limousine’s safety and
training manager Keith Johnson. He noted
that while the outside audit is “very intense
in regard to qualifications for all commercial
vehicle drivers, it also measures other
aspects of a transportation company, such
as record-keeping, safety management pro-
grams, operational procedures and vehicle
maintenance standards.”
Bouweiri added that while safety perform-
ance has always been a core value for the
company, the recent designations by DOD
and DOT are independent evidence that
Reston Limousine “adheres to the highest
possible safety standards.”
Founded in 1990, Reston Limousine has
260 employees and a 160-vehicle fleet,
including buses, vans, limousines, and
sedans. Reston Limousine serves the D.C.
metropolitan area from headquarters in the
Dulles Airport corridor and a satellite loca-
tion in Capitol Heights, MD. In addition to its
government shuttle transportation services,
Reston Limousine is well known locally for
innovative Virginia wine tours, D.C. brewery
tours, wedding, social, and VIP transporta-
tion.
For more info on Reston Limousine, visit
www.restonlimo.com.
n
LOS ANGELES-BASED ALLIANCE
LIMOUSINE recently introduced a new
mobile app for iOS and Android
devices. The app allows customers to
create new reservations, review exist-
ing reservations and see service rates.
The app is called Alliance Limo
Mobile, and it includes options for
customers to search for Los Angeles
limo services and other car services
at LAX. Customers can create new
reservations simply by entering their
name, desired pickup date and time,
the type of car they would like to rent
and confidential payment information
on the company’s secure network.
The app allows customers who travel
around LAX frequently for work or fam-
ily to save previous travel information
and automatically request it again.
www.alliancelimo.net.
n
Alliance Limousine
Introduces New
Mobile App

INDUSTRY NEWS
Limo Digest
Congratulates
Inc. 5000
Honorees
Inc. magazine’s 5000 Fastest Growing Private Companies
list is, according to Inc., the most comprehensive look at
the most important segment of the economy: America’s
independent-minded entrepreneurs. So it’s no surprise that sev-
eral companies in the entrepreneurial world of luxury ground
transportation are continually on this list.
“For 32 years, Inc. has welcomed the fastest-growing private companies in
America into a very exclusive club. Make no mistake: The Inc. 5000 was
harder to get into this year than ever in its history,” said Eric Schurenberg,
editor-in-chief of Inc.
Limo Digest applauds the companies in our industry—no less than three
this year—who were named on the 2013 Inc. 5000. Complete results of this
year’s list, including company profiles and an interactive database that can
be sorted by industry, region, and other criteria, can be found at
www.inc.com/inc5000. Congratulations to our industry’s honorees!
A leading technology provider
of GPS fleet tracking software for
fleet-based companies, GPS Insight
was ranked number 3,294 on the
this year’s Inc. 5000, with a three-
year sales growth of 97 percent.
This is the fourth consecutive year
that the GPS tracking company has
made the list.
“GPS Insight is thrilled to have
experienced the growth it has over the
past eight years, which has earned us
a place on the Inc. 500 and Inc. 5000
for four years in a row,” said Robert
Donat, CEO of GPS Insight.
GPS Insight utilizes high-quality
GPS hardware and adds the cus-
tomization and enhancements which
fleet-based companies demand. GPS
Insight provides highly flexible solu-
tions, which include a wide range of
customized reports, alerts, and other
innovative features that can be tai-
lored to meet specific customer
requirements and ensure maximum
return on investment. Using the GPS
Insight solution, companies realize a
significant increase in efficiency, and
gain insight into all aspects of their
fleet operations.
For more information on GPS
Insight, visit www.gpsinsight.com.
For the seventh year in a row,
Teddy’s Transportation System, a global
ground transportation company
based in Norwalk, CT, has been
named to the Inc. 5000.
“We were very excited to make the
inaugural Inc. 5000 list in 2007, and
are honored to repeat our success in
every succeeding year,” said Charles
Wisniewski, president and CEO. “With
business travel continuing its steady
growth in our region, I’m delighted to
report that we have continued to turn
in a solid performance in 2013.”
Teddy’s revenue grew 25%
between 2009 and 2012, ranking the
company number 4,579 on this year’s
list. Teddy’s is the only chauffeured
ground transportation company in
Connecticut and the Tri-State region
to make the 2013 list.
Founded in 1932, Teddy’s
Transportation System has redefined
“professional transportation solu-
tions” by forging a strategic network
of premium global partnerships and
utilizing innovative technology that
provides corporate purchasers, event
planners and travelers with access to
immediate, real-time information.
www.teddyslimo.com.
This is the second consecutive year
that James River Transportation, a
full-service transportation provider
and event planning organization, has
made the Inc. 5000—ranked this year
at number 4,521 on the list.
“Our success is due to dedicated
employees who are committed to
serving our clients,” said Stephen
Story, president of James River
Transportation. “Our Airport Service,
Transit Service and corporate shuttles
are major contributors to our growth.”
James River Transportation has
facilities in Richmond, Williamsburg
and Norfolk, VA, as well as on-site
operations at Richmond International
Airport and Norfolk International
Airport. Services include motorcoach
and minicoach transportation, airport
transfers, transportation manage-
ment, contract services and conven-
tion shuttles. Additional information
on James River can be found at
www.JamesRiverTrans.com.
The company is a certified member
of the International Motorcoach Group
(IMG). The IMG is an invitation-only
group of the top operators in North
America, dedicated to providing pre-
mier ground transportation through
elevated standards of performance.
www.imgcoach.com.
n n n
GPS INSIGHT TEDDY’S TRANSPORTATION JAMES RIVER TRANSPORTATION
v

INDUSTRY NEWS
Buses Required to Stop at
Pennsylvania Weigh Stations
THE PENNSYLVANIA DEPARTMENT OF
TRANSPORTATION (PennDOT) recently confirmed that
some of their districts are installing the new “All Trucks
& Buses Must Enter Weigh Station” signs on state and
interstate highways. PennDOT requested that all signs
be installed by the end of 2013.
Corporal Rick Koontz confirmed that buses are now
expected to stop at any weigh
station with the new sign.
“Enforcement officers have
been asked by their superiors to visually look for obvi-
ous violations, but have been instructed not to detain
a bus unless obvious problems exist,” Koontz told the
Pennsylvania Bus Association (PBA).
PBA Executive Director Elaine Farrell notes that any
bus with a BA or BN bus tag—which are generally buses
with over 16 passengers, but occasionally include vehi-
cles with 11 to 15 passengers—are affected by this new
regulation and are required to stop at weigh stations
with these new signs.
If any bus driver encounters a problem at a weigh
station, they should contact PBA through their bus com-
pany employer. Corporal Koontz will work with PBA in
further communicating to his enforcement officers any
problems that come up. The PBA can be contacted at
(717) 236-9042, and more information can be found at
www.pabus.org.
n
Go Showtime Receives Award
for Eco-Friendly Fleet
GO SHOWTIME, a member of The GO Group alliance of airport
shuttle companies, has made an effort to become more environmen-
tally responsible—switching to biodiesel fuel for 36 of its 46 minibus-
es, and converting another five to liquid propane. The company also
uses GPS technology for fuel-efficient routing to further reduce carbon
emissions, and promotes recycling in both its office and maintenance
shop.
In recognition of these efforts, The Las Vegas Business Press
recently honored Go Showtime with a “Green Award.”
“Adopting green practices isn’t good only for the environment,”
said Lisa deMarigny, president and CEO of Go Showtime. “It is good
for employee morale and confirms our commitment to the health
and wellness of the Las Vegas tourism market.”
Other members of The
GO Group, which is the largest
airport ground transportation
alliance in the world, have
also switched to alternative
fuels—either compressed
natural gas or propane. GO
Group members transport
some 13 million passengers
to and from 68 airports in the
United States, Mexico, Canada
and Europe annually. For
more information, visit
www.goairportshuttle.com.
n
Planet Halo Introduces Latest Multi-Channel
Video Recorder for the Fleet Industry
PLANET HALO HAS INTRODUCED
its production model PH4 vehicle
recorder, a unique recording device
that incorporates two high-resolution
camera lenses, a GPS module, audio
recorder, G-force inertial sensor, audio
speaker, and mini-DVR with SD card in
a 4”L x 2 ¼”H x
1”D module.
The mounting
bracket for the
device includes input jacks for the
included external cameras, a remote
video monitor, USB connectivity and
power connection.
The PH4, which was designed
specifically for commercial fleet vehi-
cles, captures video over the entire
interior length of the passenger com-
partment, as well as views from the
driver’s perspective toward the front of
the vehicle. External cameras, mount-
ed on the sides of the vehicle, capture
video along the sides and towards the
rear of the vehicle. These weather-
proof, teardrop-shaped external cam-
eras are only two inches long. A rear-
facing camera can be affixed for a
variety of uses, such as a back-up
camera or stop-arm monitor.
The PH4 also includes sophisticat-
ed software which records and com-
piles video data from all four cam-
eras—while also recording continuous
GPS positioning, speed, G-force data,
and programmed or triggered events—
and displays them all on a user-friend-
ly viewer. Using the PH4, management
can track vehicle routes, speeds,
stops and starts, and driver and pas-
senger behavior, while viewing the
actual video events as they occurred
in high-definition color replay.
For more information on the model
P4 vehicle recorder, visit www.plan-
ethalo.com.
n
The PH4 is a complete unified system that offers insurmountable features packed in to one tiny device.
For more on the PH4 vehicle recorder, visit www.planethalo.com/dash-cam/ph4.
“Adopting green practices isn’t
good only for the environment, it
is good for employee morale and
confirms our commitment to the
health and wellness of the Las
Vegas tourism market.”
Lisa deMarigny
President and CEO
Go Showtime
Crisp, clear resolution allows camera images
to be zoomed in on, revealing license plate
numbers and other important details.
v

INDUSTRY NEWS
AM General Acquires Vehicle
Production Group’s Assets
AM GENERAL has reached an agreement with the United
States Department of Energy (DOE) to purchase the DOE’s secured
loan to The Vehicle Production Group. VPG, which closed its doors
in March of this year, was the Miami-
based company that originally devel-
oped and manufactured the acclaimed
MV-1 (featured on our Dec. 2012
cover), the only American-built vehicle
specifically designed from the ground up to meet or exceed the
needs of wheelchair passengers and the guidelines of the
Americans with Disabilities Act. Previously, AM General acted sole-
ly as the vehicle assembler for VPG. Following this transaction, AM
General will own and operate the reborn MV-1 business.
The agreement will result in a new company called Mobility
Ventures, which will acquire the assets of VPG. AM General will
control VPG’s MV-1 business unit, and will resume the assembly of
the MV-1 vehicles at its world-class, 675,000 square-foot
Commercial Assembly Plant in Mishawaka, IN, which is fully tooled
for the MV-1 and ready to resume vehicle assembly. AM General
has also begun planning with the more than 100 suppliers of the
MV-1 to support the accelerated restart of production and sales. It
is anticipated that resumption of MV-1 production and sales will
stimulate the creation of hundreds of new jobs.
While this transaction is being finalized, AM General will contin-
ue to provide service, parts and technical support to the network of
more than 80 MV-1 dealers and distributors throughout the U.S.
and Canada. For more information, visit www.amgeneral.com.
n
Limo Safety Law Passes
in California
LEGISLATION APPROVED by the California State Senate,
requiring limousines operating in California to have emergency
exits, has been signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown.
Senate Majority Leader Ellen M. Corbett of San Leandro draft-
ed the bill after two limousine blazes erupted in the San
Francisco Bay Area earlier this year.
Under SB 109, limousines carrying fewer than 10 passen-
gers are now required to have two push-out windows and two
rear doors, which must be situated on opposite sides of the
vehicle. The bill also requires limousine operators to instruct
passengers on the safety features of the vehicle before
embarking on any trip, beginning in January 2016.
Senator Jerry Hill drafted another bill, SB 338, which would
have expanded annual California Highway Patrol safety inspec-
tions to limousines below the current 10-passenger threshold.
Under SB 338, these inspections
would be performed at a cost of
$75 to the limousine operator.
The 1999 Lincoln Town Car
stretch limo in the San Mateo
Bridge fire was designed to carry
seven passengers, and therefore was not required to be
inspected in any way. However, Gov. Brown vetoed this second
bill, saying the $75 fee was insufficient to cover the CHP’s
inspection costs, and called for an otherwise-identical bill
allowing for better funding.
n

INDUSTRY NEWS
MTG Family of Companies Consolidates to Improve Operations
MODERN TECHNOLOGIES GROUP, the world’s largest supplier
of after-market limousine, Sprinter and bus parts, has relocated its
Midwestern subsidiaries, MastrAir and Elite Seating, to its New
Jersey headquarters. This logistical consolidation, spearheaded by
MTG’s VP of Operations Vince Romeo, was made in an effort to
improve operations within each respective company, and ultimate-
ly deliver better products and services to their customers.
“The future of MTG,” says Romeo, “is in the four key areas that
are most important to our customers: quality, on-time delivery,
service, and price. We are refocusing our efforts to improve those
aspects of our operations.”
MastrAir, which specializes in manufacturing air conditioning sys-
tems for Sprinters, buses, vans and limousines, is working actively
with vendors to tailor their product lines to deliver a higher quality
system and greater customer service. With a more focused array of
products, simplified based upon customer needs, the company
reports renewed confidence in their cost control structure and sales.
As an additional part of the consolidation effort, Elite Seating
has also improved its operations by focusing on the same four key
aspects of customer service. “With our current product offering,
we’ve done the same thing as we’ve done with MastrAir,” says
Romeo. “We’ve improved our quality and reduced our costs, which
has provided us with a strong core of satisfied customers and
repeat business.”
The consolidation of operations to their headquarters has given
MTG and its subsidiaries an unprecedented level of control over
the quality and efficiency of their products and services. With
MastrAir and Elite Seating now under the same roof as their parent
company, the newly restructured MTG family is poised for a future
of continuing industry leadership.
For more information about MTG, MastrAir and Elite Seating,
visit www.mtgparts.com.
n
The future of MTG is in the four key areas
that are most important to our customers:
quality, on-time delivery, service, and price.
We are refocusing our efforts to improve
those aspects of our operations.
“ “

WOMEN IN THE INDUSTRY
LD: Tell us a little bit about American
Limo & Transportation, and your
position there.
Margarita: I’m the VP of affiliate relations
for American Limo & Transportation, so I’m
in charge of all the relationships with the
affiliates and all the corporate business
that comes into Albuquerque and Santa
Fe, as well as special requests. American
Limo & Transportation has been in busi-
ness for 15 years, and we have 22 vehi-
cles, including both retail and corporate
vehicles. We have the Executive Ls—the
last of the Town Cars that Lincoln made—
and we’re looking into what we’re going to
do next. We’re possibly going to make a
switch to Mercedes vehicles, as we want
to change our strategy a bit. Then we have
SUVs—the GMC Denali XL series. We just
purchased a Sprinter, and we have 31-
passenger minicoaches, 15-passenger
vans, party limos, and Hummer stretches.
Our fleet is the most diverse in the
Albuquerque and Santa Fe areas.
LD: As the VP of affiliate relations, how
do you sustain and expand your
affiliate business?
Margarita: Well, sustaining is really the
key. It is very difficult to trust somebody
else with your clients. So for me, taking
care of somebody else’s clients is some-
thing I take very personally. We have affili-
ates like Empire CLS, Limo Link, Gem
Limo and Flyte Tyme. These are people
who trust us, so we have to really make
sure we serve their clients.
Acquiring new clients is a day-to-day
thing. I do things such as making calls in
person, sending emails and e-blasts, and
going through the cards of people I made
contact with at the different shows, like
the Limo Digest Show and LCT in Vegas.
Our company changes—we purchase new
vehicles and so on—so we keep people up
to date on what we’ve got.
As we get more and more affiliate
partners, our referrals go up as well, of
course. And we’re so happy to hear that.
Often times we don’t ask how somebody
found us, but in the conversation they’ll
say “Diamond Limo sent me from Florida,”
for example, and it feels great to hear that
they talk about us.
Not long ago,
Margarita Pleasant
was working as a
salesperson for Yellow
Book when one of her
clients, Steve Garcia of
Lucky Boyz Limos in
Albuquerque, NM, noticed
her skills and thought she
would be a good asset to
his company. He recruited
her, and she became a
driver and salesperson for
the transportation provider.
In just five years, she has
risen to the position of VP
of affiliate relations for
Lucky Boyz’ sister company,
American Limo &
Transportation. We had a
chance to talk with her
about that rise to success,
and the challenges and
triumphs she has experi-
enced along the way.
A PLEASANT JOURNEY

WOMEN IN THE INDUSTRY
LD: What makes American Limo &
Transportation an outstanding compa-
ny, compared to your competition?
Margarita: Good, friendly service. Our
clients are always able to reach some-
one live, rather than leaving a voicemail.
We always look for ways to make our
rides special experiences—such as offer-
ing refreshing towels for those arriving
from the airport. Cold waters are stan-
dard, but sometimes we’ll add chocolate,
or something that has our name on the
packaging, so that people really remem-
ber us. Sometimes, with the affiliates,
we’ll ask questions, such as, “What does
Mr. Ronald like?” so we can add it in a
vehicle at no charge. That’s how we’ve
become known.
The other thing is that we’re the only
company in New Mexico that is able to
offer gate meet-and-greet at the airport.
So we are able to go all the way to the
gate for our affiliates and clients, as well
as providing bodyguarding and services
like that for people who need protection.
LD: Tell us a bit about the challenges
and the successes in your own rise to
where you are in this industry today.
Margarita: I guess I could go back five
years to when I started, and was passing
out cards and driving. At that time, I
never thought I would be responsible for
corporate clients, or our corporate client
list. I can tell you an instance when I
was intimidated—and I will not deny it.
It was when I went to my first Limo
Digest Show in Atlantic City. It was over-
whelming for me to see all these men!
It’s a man’s world! I thought, “holy
smokes, how am I going to overcome
this? What am I going to say?” It’s intimi-
dating to see all these suits around you,
and very few women. But little by little,
the less I thought about that and the
more I realized that these are regular
people, I was able to just focus on what
my job is, and make my name known.
LD: Since you’ve started in this
industry, what has surprised you
most about the business?
Margarita: There have been many
surprises, but one that comes to mind
is that I didn’t know the corporate world
was so alive—that it was possible for
so many people to fly in and out of
town. We’ve been so busy at times,
I’ve thought, “where do these people
come from?” That was a surprise for
me, but now, of course, I only see it as
a great opportunity, and that question
has become, “how can we get them to
call us and not somebody else?”
Also, as I mentioned, it’s a man’s
world. I’ve moved past that fear and
intimidation, but I still feel sometimes
that men don’t listen to women. But,
in the last four years at the shows, I’ve
noticed a lot more women involved in
this industry—a lot of intelligent women
making it, and that’s encouraging. So
it does help to talk to women and see
what they have to say about what
they’ve gone through.
LD: Do you have anything in the works
for the future, or any ideas you’d like to
put into effect in the next few years?
Margarita: As I mentioned, we’re
thinking about redirecting our strategy.
Sometimes it’s not as important to have
so many vehicles as it is to have very
nice vehicles. I’m not sure exactly when
the shift is going to happen, but we are
already focusing on quality over quantity,
with vehicles such as the Mercedes-Benz
products I mentioned before. Our
vehicles are very nice—they’re 2012
Executive Ls—but like I said, we dream
of having MBs, and maybe BMWs,
and offering those exclusively to
certain people.
We also want to keep focusing on
having quality chauffeurs. That’s one
of the challenges. We have really good
guys, and there are also those who come
and go. We focus our efforts on making
sure our guys represent what we want
them to represent, which is the best
quality and the best service.
LD: What training and other practices
have you implemented to ensure that
those chauffeurs are the best they
can be?
Margarita: We meet with them once a
month, or sometimes more depending
on what occurs. They’re like family—
these guys are here every day, and
they wait around the office for runs,
so we want them to feel valuable to the
company. We don’t want them to feel like
they’re just “drivers.” We encourage
them to take our training, which is Tom
Mazza’s training, and to give us their
input on what we can do to improve
things. We’re open to ideas from them
because they’re the ones who are sitting
in those vehicles, facing our clients. So
they’re very important to us, and we
want to hear their voices.
LD: What would you tell other women
who want to thrive in this industry?
Margarita: Don’t get discouraged.
Sometimes we feel like we’re unheard, or
unseen, but everybody can contribute
something. And to woman owners, I’d say
that you have to depend on many people
to support your ideas. You can’t do it
alone—and don’t try, because it’s a team
effort. So always think about your team.
Always remember that you don’t have all
the answers, you don’t know it all, and
you’re going to need to rely on other
people. Don’t try to do it alone.
Vice President of Affiliate Relations
AMERICAN LIMO &
TRANSPORTATION
MARGARITAPLEASANT
(505) 877-7576
www.americanlimosabq.com
Everybody can contribute
something. You have to
depend on many people
to support your ideas.
You can’t do it alone—
and don’t try, because
it’s a team effort.
FOUNDED: 1998
LOCATION: Albuquerque, NM
SERVING: Albuquerque, Sante Fe and
surrounding areas
FLEET: Over 20 limos, SUVs and Town Cars
MANAGEMENT: Steve Garcia, President
Ben Hernandez, Director of Operations
Margarita Pleasant, VP of Affiliate Relations
About AMERICAN LIMO
& TRANSPORTATION

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COVER STORY / Tesla Model S
S FOR SUCCESSGet up to Speed on the Fleet Vehicle of the Future: the Tesla Model S
by Adam Leitenberger
f you haven’t heard of Tesla Motors
by now, it’s time to get up to speed.
The fully electric vehicle revolution
is finally here, and for those in the
luxury ground transportation business, it
means you no longer have to sacrifice luxury
in order to go green.
I

After a decade of catering to a robust
niche market of electric vehicle enthusi-
asts, Tesla has hit the main stage of the
automotive industry with the award-win-
ning Model S, an all-electric luxury sedan
as acclaimed for its efficiency and safety
as it is for its performance and style. Cu-
mulative deliveries in North America
reached 13,000 by the summer, and the
vehicle surpassed the Chevy Volt and the
Nissan Leaf as the continent’s top-selling
plug-in electric car in the first quarter of
the year.
Aside from its highly-praised perform-
ance and remarkable specifications (see
page 28 for a full vehicle review with de-
tailed specs), the Model S reduces the
overall environmental impact of your
fleet, incurs fewer fuel and maintenance
costs, and comes with a tax credit to off-
set your investment. Additionally, the
Model S boasts a five-star safety rating,
state-of-the-art interior technology, and a
stylish, spacious and comfortable ride
that will dazzle your clients. With a laun-
dry list of tangible benefits to be had by
implementing the Model S as a livery ve-
hicle, it is no surprise that an increasing
number are being purchased by opera-
tors across the country.
promotes general public awareness of this
new technological trend. By March of this
year, the number of public charging points
reached more than 16,000 in the U.S.,
and almost 4,000 of those were located
in California, many of which are situated
at the major airports.
As other cities are following suit in terms
of infrastructure and public education,
compounded by Tesla’s versatile charging
technology that allows operators to afford-
ably charge vehicles at their headquarters,
the Model S trend is definitely gaining mo-
mentum nationwide. In July, New York
City’s Farrell Limousine announced their
status as the first east coast service to add
the Model S, and back in January, New
Orleans’ Limousine Livery announced
their plans to implement the vehicle
this fall. Most recently, Music Express
Worldwide Limousine, a company with 40
years in business and corporate
locations in Los Angeles, San Francisco,
Washington, D.C. and New York, has
announced their purchase of six
Model S sedans—the largest fleet
implementation of the vehicle to date.
CEO and President Cheryl Berkman of
Music Express is very excited about the
delivery of the new electric additions to
Angel Worldwide Transportation,
serving Northern California and the
Bay Area, is a pioneer of Model S
deployment, making news earlier this
year as being arguably the first limousine
company in the nation to purchase the
electric luxury sedan for its fleet. Since
implementing the Model S earlier this
year, the company has hailed it as one of
the best vehicles for executive trans-
portation, citing its “high-tech, spacious
and quiet interior” as creating an “inim-
itable experience” for passengers. They
continue to blog avidly about their initial
experiences working with the Model S,
which you can learn more about at
www.angellimo.com.
California operators seem to be
taking the lead with incorporating the
Model S into their fleets. Quicksilver Town-
car Service, also based in the Bay Area,
and Strack Premier Transportation, based
in the Los Angeles area, have also made
news this year with their additions of the
vehicles. This geographic concentration of
early Tesla adopters within the U.S. ground
transportation industry likely stems from
the region’s leadership in updating infra-
structure with charging stations to accom-
modate electric vehicles, which in turn
Tesla Model S / COVER STORY
At the end of the day,
you can’t go wrong with
the best safety rating
of any car ever tested
as a selling point.

COVER STORY / Tesla Model S
26 | LIMO DIGEST | APRIL 2013
Tesla Motors’ goal is to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable transport with a full range
of increasingly affordable electric cars. California-based Tesla designs and manufactures EVs, as
well as EV powertrain components for partners such as Toyota and Mercedes. Tesla has delivered
over 15,000 electric vehicles to customers in 31 countries. Learn more at www.teslamotors.com.
For more photos
of Tesla Motors’ King
of Prussia showroom,
visit www.limodigest.com.
her company’s fleet, and affirms the
Model S as an innovative newcomer to
the executive sedan market that can fill
the big shoes of the discontinued Lincoln
Town Car. “A vehicle that is both luxury
and green is hard to come by,” she says,
but the Model S is “green as green can
be,” while appealing to the high-end taste
of corporate clients at the same time. On
that note, it seems Tesla’s timing could
not have been better, because while lux-
ury and eco-friendliness may have been
mutually exclusive vehicle aspects in the
past, the latter, according to Berkman,
has become a growing demand among
corporate clientele when selecting an ex-
ecutive sedan. The best-of-both-worlds
Model S is able to fill that new market de-
mand beautifully.
At the end of the day, you can’t go
wrong with the best safety rating of any
car ever tested as a selling point. Tesla’s
Model S was awarded five stars in every
single category across the board by the
National Highway Traffic Safety Adminis-
tration. While the NHTSA caps published
ratings at five, the combined rating ex-
ment thanks to internal firewalls built into
the battery pack structure. “For con-
sumers concerned about fire risk,” said
Elon Musk, chairman, product architect
and CEO of Tesla Motors, “there should
be absolutely zero doubt that it is safer to
power a car with a battery than a large
tank of highly flammable liquid.” The fact
remains that the likelihood of a fire is five
times higher in a conventional gasoline
car than in an electric one.
If you, like arguably all livery operators,
are looking for a solution to replace the
Lincoln Town Car, the Model S is a clear
contender for filling the void left
by the retired industry workhorse. If not
for the impeccable roster of features dis-
cussed above, which is sure to exceed
the needs of both you and your clients,
then for the insightful reason Motor Trend
named the Model S its 2013 Car of the
Year: “The mere fact the Tesla Model S
exists at all is a testament to innovation
and entrepreneurship, the very qualities
that once made the American automobile
industry the largest, richest, and most
powerful in the world.”
ceeded five stars and set a new NHTSA
vehicle safety score record. The recent
news of the Model S collision that re-
sulted in a fire should not cast doubt
on this impeccable safety rating.
In a press release announcing the
record-breaking safety score in August, it
was reported that “the Model S lithium-
ion battery did not catch fire
at any time before, during or after the
NHTSA testing,” and at that point in time,
“no production Tesla lithium-ion battery
[had] ever caught fire in the Model S… de-
spite several high speed impacts.”
Furthermore, a more recent release ad-
dressing the accident specifically re-
ported that, according to the road crew
on the scene, a large, curved metal ob-
ject that fell off a semi trailer and impaled
the vehicle from underneath appears to
have been the culprit. In other words, it
was basically a freak accident in which
the owner was “able to exit the highway
as instructed by the onboard alert sys-
tem, bring the car to a stop and depart
the vehicle without injury,” as the fire
never entered the passenger compart-

AT THE WHEEL / Tesla Model S
POWER TRIPT e s l a ’ s M o d e l S i s a R e b o o t o f t h e E x e c u t i v e S e d a n
by Evan McCauley

Tesla Model S / AT THE WHEEL
esla’s Model S is a super-
car in a luxury sedan’s
clothing. If you know any-
thing about this car, you
likely know the numbers: 0-
60 mph in 4.2 almost-silent seconds
(making it one of the fastest sedans
ever built), 416 horsepower, 250
patents plus more pending, 265-mile
range on a full charge, 90 mpg-e on the
highway, $0.06 per mile fueling costs.
That four-second dash to 60 mph
also comes with an oppositely propor-
tionate price tag: $89,900. Yes, the
hyper-performance, top-range 85-kWh
Performance Model S (P85) runs like a
monster… and is priced like one, too
(although much less so than most cars
of similar performance).
But the Tesla Model S is indeed a car
that is relevant to our industry,
because you can have all the prestige,
novelty, image, fuel and maintenance
cost savings, and most of the afore-
mentioned performance of this revolu-
tionary vehicle in your fleet for just
$62,400—or around the same price as
a similarly equipped BMW 5 Series,
Mercedes-Benz E-Class, or Audi A6.
The entry-level 60-kWh Model S—
dubbed the 60—has a base price of
$69,900, and all Teslas, being all-elec-
tric, zero-emissions vehicles, earn their
buyers a $7,500 federal tax credit.
And the 60 will still impress the hell
out of you and your valued clients. It
comes standard with 19-inch wheels,
black textile and synthetic leather inte-
rior, 17-inch touchscreen, seven-speak-
er sound system with AM/FM/HD
radio, mobile connector, and a J1772
charging adapter, which enables charg-
ing at Tesla and public charging sta-
tions. And for those who are always
inspecting those acceleration numbers,
it’ll hit 60 mph in 5.9 seconds.
The 17-inch touchscreen, which is
standard on all Model S variants, is one
of the most impressive points on this
very impressive car. It controls every-
thing from the climate, audio, and nav-
igations systems to physical features of
the vehicle itself, such as lighting,
brake regeneration modes, ride height,
steering feel, and the opening and clos-
ing of the charge port, sunroof, and
front and rear trunks. Your driver and
front-seat passenger can even surf the
web in full, unrestricted freedom.
This system controls so many aspects
of the car’s functions that there are
only two buttons on the entire dash—
controls for the hazard lights and glove
compartment door. But perhaps the
greatest thing about the car’s touch-
screen-controlled digital system is that
improvements for almost the entire car
are like those for your smartphone: just
an over-the-air software update away.
The Model S’ AC induction motor is
tiny—so small that it sits between the
rear wheels. This, plus placement of the
lithium-ion battery packs along the floor
of the vehicle, allows for a lot of impor-
tant benefits. The car’s weight distribu-
tion is an astounding 47 percent
front/53 percent rear—far more even-
keeled than a typical vehicle, which has
the mass of its behemoth gasoline engine
weighing down the front. The center of
gravity on a Model S is just 17.5 inches,
making this car extremely safe and vir-
tually impossible to flip. Because there
are no mechanical parts that need to
pass down the center of the vehicle, the
floor is completely flat, providing three
rear passengers with a level platform on
which to place their feet, or two passen-
gers the ability to stretch one leg over
into the center of the floor. And since
there is no motor up front (or behind the
rear wheels), there is a small trunk
under the hood—perfect for coats, bot-
tles of water, or the driver’s personal
effects—and a massive one under the
rear hatchback lid. Tesla offers an
optional third row of child seats which
flip up out of the rear trunk’s floor, mak-
ing the Model S the first hatchback in
the world to offer third-row seating. But
for our industry, not checking that
option box means even more space for
suitcases—26.3 cubic feet total (58.1
with the seats down), or about as much
as a midsize SUV.
Yet another benefit of electric cars is
the lack of required maintenance.
Without a gasoline or diesel engine,
there are no fluids, no oil to change,
and almost zero engine components
that can break down or require repair
or replacement. Of course, an electric
vehicle has its limits, too. You can’t
send a Model S out for 400 miles a day
and just have your driver refuel it as
needed. It has to come back to your
base for recharging (there are super-
charging stations located throughout
the U.S., as well as public charging sta-
tions, but those are of more interest to
the private consumer than to those in
our industry). However, the 85-kWh
model has a range of 265 miles, and
the 60 will go 206 miles before
recharging—ranges that are more than
sufficient for airport and around-town
runs for your VIP clients. With a stan-
dard 240-volt wall outlet, the Model S
recharges at a rate of 31 miles of range
per hour of charging. Fleet operators
will certainly want to invest in the
High Power Wall Connector and twin
chargers, which will enable their
T
Without a gasoline
or diesel engine,
there are no fluids, no oil
to change, and almost zero
engine components that can
break down or require
repair or replacement.

vehicles to recharge at 62 miles of
range per hour. With this option, a
full-range 60-kWh recharge takes just
3.35 hours, or 4.27 hours for the 85-
kWh variant. All Teslas can also be
charged on a standard 110-volt outlet
in a pinch.
The Model S excels in the safety
arena. As mentioned, the car’s center
of gravity is so low that it provides an
extremely stable platform on which
everything rides. The electric motor’s
instant torque allows for quick maneu-
vers in traffic and while passing.
Stability and anti-lock braking systems
are specifically tuned for the immedi-
ate torque and regenerative braking
characteristics of the Model S’ electric
powertrain. And double octagon extru-
sions in the front and the rear, as well
as a super-strong roof structure, ensure
that your driver and clients are well
protected at all times. Tesla claims the
Model S exceeds federal crash stan-
dards, as it has been impact-tested at
50 mph, while the mandatory standard
is 35 mph.
We drove two Model S SP85+ test
vehicles on two separate occasions (a
60 was not available for testing), and
we were beyond impressed. The car is
smooth as butter, whether strolling
through a parking lot at 10 mph or
instantly and seamlessly (one gear =
no shifting) rocketing to 60 in a few
seconds. Though the car is built for
handling and performance, it is also
surprisingly well-mannered, and we
felt cushioned and coddled by the sus-
pension and the leather seats when
sitting in the back. Although rear
legroom is certainly nothing com-
pared to that of a Town Car, our legs
were comfortably semi-stretched, and
we enjoyed being able to extend them
out into the flat center floor. The All
Glass Panoramic Roof in both of our
test vehicles was among the most
spectacular appointments visible from
the rear seats, and we were amazed by
the near-absence of heat from the sun
intruding into the vehicle on one hot
and sunny day, even though we knew
the roof’s glass was blocking 98 per-
cent of visible light and 81 percent of
heat. When we weren’t admiring that,
we were transfixed by the beautiful
17-inch display being used by the
driver to adjust vehicle settings.
Needless to say, the Model S is a vehi-
cle that impresses its passengers.
With no immediate maintenance
expenses and such low fueling costs,
the Model S is a car that in many
ways pays for itself. Its design is gor-
geous—both elegant and sporting at
the same time—and any client will be
impressed and amazed when they step
out of an airport, hotel or their home
to find this car waiting for them,
whether they know about Tesla or not.
If they do, they’ll be even further
affected, knowing what this car can do
on the road, with so little relative
impact to the environment. This is an
American-made car that everyone
wants to see and be seen in. It’s no
wonder the Tesla Model S is gaining
momentum in the luxury ground
transportation industry, as it allows
companies to save money while going
above and beyond what their clients
expect. In this game, there’s no better
formula than that.
Wheelbase: 116.5 in.
Length x Width x Height: 196.0 x 77.3 x 56.5 in.
Seating Capacity: 5
Headroom, F/R: 38.8/35.3 in.
Legroom, F/R: 42.7/35.4 in.
Shoulder Room, F/R: 57.7/55.0 in.
Hip Room F/R: 55.0/54.7 in.
Cargo Volume, F/R: 5.3/26.3 cu. ft.
Stability/Traction Control: Yes
Airbags: Dual front,
front side,
F/R Curtain,
Front Knee
Warranty (Basic & Powertrain): 4 years/50,000 miles
EPA City/Hightway Fuel Econ: 88/90 mpg-e
Series 60 85 SP85
Acceleration, 0-60 mph (sec): 5.9 5.4 4.2
Horsepower: 302 362 416
Torque (lb.-ft.): 317 325 443
Range (miles): 206 265 265
Base Price (w/tax credit): $62,400 $72,400 $82,400
AT THE WHEEL / Tesla Model S
2014 Tesla Model S by the Numbers
The Tesla Model S is a revolutionary electric car that blends sporty handling and lots of space,
with a range of battery sizes, allowing buyers to choose (and pay for) only the range they need.SUMMARY

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COMPANY PROFILE GLOBAL LIMOUSINE
Anthony Viscusi, president of Global
Limousine, stands with two of his vehi-
cles at the top of the legendary steps
to the Philadelphia Museum of Art, fa-
mous from the film Rocky. Viscusi once
drove Sylvester Stallone exclusively for
three weeks straight.
GLOBAL
DOMINATES
hiladelphia is a city with a rich
history. Founded in 1682 by
William Penn, this former capital
of the U.S. was the country’s
largest and most important city
for decades, the meeting place of the Found-
ing Fathers and, of course, the location
where they signed the Declaration of Inde-
pendence and the U.S. Constitution. The
City of Brotherly was Benjamin Franklin’s
home, the birthplace of the American zoo,
and the site of America’s first World’s
Fair—1876’s Centennial Exposition.
Global Limousine
is Built on a Legacy
of Experience
story and photography
by Evan McCauley

[LEFT] Viscusi in his office at Global Limousine headquarters.
[RIGHT] Global minibuses in the company’s 40,000-square-foot warehouse.
Philadelphia native Anthony Viscusi,
president of the city’s Global Limousine,
is a man with a rich history as well. An-
chored in the luxury ground transporta-
tion industry for over 40 years, Viscusi is
a member of a very small circle of indi-
viduals who have decades of experience
in this business.
That experience started for Viscusi in
the early 1970s, when he was the ac-
countant for “The Mike Douglas Show,” a
nationally syndicated talk show produced
in Philadelphia. In 1972, shortly after
coming on board with the show, he estab-
lished Esquire Limousine Service to serve
the celebrities and guests on the pro-
gram. He drove these stars for years,
gaining an abundance of valuable knowl-
edge in handling VIPs, and learning what
they expect in service.
The show wrapped up its operations
in Philadelphia and moved to L.A. a few
years later, as entertainment enterprises
tend to do. Viscusi went with them, and
in 1978—now with seven limousines but
without the business needed to keep
them running—entered into a contract
with New York’s famed Fugazy Continen-
tal (now Fugazy International) to open
Fugazy of California. But this seemingly
prosperous venture fizzled out within a
few years, and Viscusi started searching
for something new to sink his teeth into.
He found it in 1980, through a news-
paper clipping carrying the announce-
ment that industry veteran David Klein of
the legendary Dav El organization was
looking to open a branch of his trans-
portation operation in Philadelphia. Al-
ready longing to return to his hometown,
Viscusi met with Bill Fugazy in New York
and informed Fugazy that he was leaving
the California operation. Two hours later,
Viscusi was in Klein’s office entering into
an agreement to own and operate the
new franchise of Dav El in Philadelphia.
Viscusi operated his company under
the Dav El name for the next 24 years,
and achieved some important milestones
along the way. His franchise landed a
contract as the exclusive limousine serv-
ice for the Four Seasons Hotel of Philadel-
phia; he opened a branch office of Dav El
in Atlantic City, NJ, and provided in-house
limousine service for Resorts Interna-
tional Hotel and Casino; and he pur-
chased Frederick’s Limousine Service
and expanded his operations into the
Bally’s and Golden Nugget casinos.
Viscusi also founded the Delaware
Valley Limousine Operators Association
(DVLOA) in 1984—which became the
PRLA in 1998—and served as president
of the DVLOA for nine years and presi-
dent of the PRLA for four. He remains ac-
tive with the PRLA today as a board
member, and was elected for another
term in September (see story, page 59).
In 2004, after 24 years running his
operation under the Dav El name, Viscusi
decided it was finally time to establish
his own identity. He ended his business
relations with Dav El and founded Global
Limousine, moving into a location he had
bought a few years earlier in preparation
for this decision—the 40,000-square-foot
historic brick building (originally the
home of Coca-Cola Bottling of Philadel-
phia) where Global and its 48-vehicle
fleet are headquartered today.
All of Viscusi’s decades of experience,
and the wealth of wisdom he gained
from them, are infused into everything
Global Limousine does today—and it
shows. Working with all those celebrities
on “The Mike Douglas Show” in his early
years, Viscusi got a great education on
how a VIP wants to be handled, and he
instills that in every Global driver for their
treatment of every client today. “Not
much of that changes,” he says. “A lot of
other stuff does, but how you treat the
customer and how they want to be
treated stays the same.”
Viscusi and the Global team accom-
plish this with intensive driver training
and constant interaction with the drivers,
as well as monthly meetings. “We just try
to focus on service, service, service,”
says Viscusi. This mindset is apparent in
the appearance of the drivers as well,
who wear custom Global Limousine
ties—silver with a black logo. “As our pas-
sengers are coming down that escalator
at the airport, they’re looking for the sil-
ver tie,” Viscusi comments. And, as part
of Global’s enhanced service, the com-
pany has bilingual chauffeurs, among
whom all European languages are repre-
Anchored in the
luxury ground
transportation
industry for over
40 years, Viscusi
is a member of a
very small circle
of individuals
who have decades
of experience in
this business.

sented, along with Japanese, Viet-
namese, Mandarin and Cantonese.
But Global takes driver education far
beyond basic service training. The com-
pany is one of the few providers any-
where with an in-house defensive driving
program. The program is run by Josh
Hansford, Global’s operations manager,
who teaches these National Safety Coun-
cil courses every six weeks. Aside from a
six-hour class and subsequent test, the
courses include road testing and evalu-
ated drives to airports, hotels and other
pick-up points frequented by Global’s
clients. When they pass the course, the
drivers receive a certificate, not to men-
tion enhanced skills and morale. “I love
working with the chauffeurs and training
them, especially the ones who maybe
haven’t done this before,” says Hansford.
“Teaching them how to be chauffeurs
and seeing their confidence level build is
just great.”
“It’s wonderful to start them there,
because then when we have the chauf-
feur meetings we’re basically repeating
safety and service issues they’ve been
trained on,” says Viscusi. “They can re-
late back to what they were taught in the
classroom.”
Investments into areas like their
driver training program have paid off for
Global. The company is revered for its
service and safety records, and most of
its 48 vehicles are out on jobs at all
times. Global has grown more over the
past ten years than all of Viscusi’s com-
panies, combined, had grown over his 30
previous years in the industry. This is
even more astounding when one consid-
ers that the majority of Global’s business
is obtained through word-of-mouth. “We
do very little advertising for a service
business,” Viscusi says. And, of course,
when a company can succeed the way
Global has, while relying primarily on re-
ferrals, it is testament to the quality of
that company’s service.
Another way Global assures its suc-
cess is through long-standing contracts.
Viscusi says Global is currently “going
heavy in the minibus business,” using
the vehicles for contracts with apartment
buildings, airlines, and parking lots for
shuttle services. “That’s certainly a nice
When a company
can succeed the
way Global has,
while relying
primarily on
referrals, it is
testament to the
quality of that
company’s
service.
[ABOVE] Viscusi with one of the company’s new Lincoln MKTs.
[INSET] Global’s building was originally the home of Coca-Cola
Bottling of Philadelphia.
(Continued on page 37)

About
Global
Limousine
Global Limousine is a pioneer in the Philadelphia limousine industry, providing
limousine, sedan, van, SUV, and minibus service. Global Limousine is constantly
growing and instituting changes to meet the latest market demands.
FOUNDED: 2004
LOCATION: Philadelphia, PA
SERVING: Philadelphia, PA
and the surrounding Tri-State area
FLEET: 48 vehicles, including sedans,
minibuses, SUVs and executive vans
TOLL-FREE: (800) 727-1957
PHONE: (215) 334-7900
WEB: www.GoGlobalLimo.com
[ABOVE] Viscusi and Global vehicles with the Philadelphia skyline, from the top of the steps
at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. [BELOW] A peek at Global’s 48-vehicle fleet in their ex-
pansive warehouse space.
We used to give a
chauffeur a set of keys,
made sure he had a
couple of quarters to
hit the payphone, said
a Hail Mary, and that
was it.
Anthony Viscusi,
President
Global Limousine

GLOBAL LIMOUSINE COMPANY PROFILE
piece of the business,” he says, “be-
cause once we’ve made the deal, all we
have to do is make sure the guy is in the
vehicle every day, and it just runs and
runs.” He adds that written contracts are
rare in this industry, and he’s quite happy
to have several of them—some of which
have been running for decades. “For me,
client retention is what really counts. We
still have corporate clients that I’ve had
since 1980, and that means we’re doing
something right.”
Viscusi also likes the added bonus of
these shuttling contracts, which is that
they put Global’s attractive black vehi-
cles, emblazoned with the company’s
logo and information, in front of the pub-
lic every day. They become rolling bill-
boards, he says, and lead to people
calling Global to do business. So these
contracts, in turn, continually perpetuate
more business.
But Global is careful to avoid relying
on single, large contracts for revenue.
Viscusi has learned to be wary of these
large contracts—single sources that ac-
count for 25 percent or more of his com-
pany’s total revenue, the loss of which
any company may not be able to with-
stand. “I’ve been down that road, where
you’ve got one major client and they ei-
ther close shop or move,” he says. Two
of the companies he’s purchased and
merged into Global were in similar situa-
tions and saw no way out but to sell.
“When I look at a dispatch screen for the
day and I see 100 jobs and 50 different
clients, I’m happy,” he adds.
Most people take technology such as
that dispatch screen for granted these
days, but for someone like Viscusi who’s
been in this game since the early ’70s,
the advantages of technology are some-
thing he appreciates on a daily basis.
Technology has made transportation
businesses a lot easier to run success-
fully than they were 30 or 40 years ago
when, Viscusi says, “We used to give a
chauffeur a set of keys, made sure he
had a couple of quarters to hit the pay-
phone, said a Hail Mary, and that was it.”
Today, Viscusi can keep an eye on
Global’s operations from anywhere, by
watching feeds from the company’s se-
curity cameras, logging into the reserva-
tions system, and tracking the cars’ GPS
systems in the rare instances when he
needs to.
Global uses Voyager reservations
software (which Viscusi says is “just
amazing”), Nextel communications with
their drivers, and a host of other technol-
ogy products, and is also in the process
of creating a reservations app. The com-
pany is active on LinkedIn, Facebook and
Twitter, and receives a fair amount of
new business through those channels.
“Within the last ten years, social media
is something that’s certainly become a
larger part of this business,” says Hans-
ford. Viscusi, with his broader view of our
industry over the past four decades, sees
the benefits of technology on a much
larger scale. “Everywhere there was a
weakness has now been compensated
by technology, on the communications
and reservations side, and certainly on
the accounting end of it,” he says.
Technology will obviously continue to
play an increasing role in Global’s (and
every business’s) operations into the fu-
ture. “It’s so easy to run the business
now, with technology, that I could see my-
self running it for at least another ten
years,” says Viscusi. And although he is
not currently acting on expanding the
hen it was opened in 1855,
the Children’s Hospital of
Philadelphia (CHOP) was
the inaugural medical cen-
ter in the U.S. dedicated to providing care
exclusively for children. Since then, many
pivotal firsts in pediatric medicine were
born at CHOP, and it has been the home
of hundreds of medical discoveries and in-
novations that have advanced pediatric
healthcare and saved the lives of countless
children around the world.
Global Limousine has a tradition of in-
volvement with raising funds for CHOP.
Each year, Philadelphia radio station
WOGL produces a fundraiser for the hos-
pital, for which Global provides rides and
contributes funds. This year, the company
tried something a little different. “We
pledged two dollars for every trip we did in
the prior 30 days,” says Anthony Viscusi,
president of Global Limousine. Through
this pledge, the company was able to raise
an additional $3,700 for the charity, as
another part of their ongoing support
for CHOP.
Through the support of individuals and
companies like Global Limousine, the
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia has
been able to continuously provide the best
care for children and find cures and treat-
ments that save lives worldwide for nearly
160 years. For more information, visit
www.chop.edu.
W
GLOBALCARES
FORTHEKIDS
Serving the Children’s
Hospital of Philadelphia
For me, client
retention is what
really counts. We still
have corporate clients
that I’ve had since 1980,
and that means we’re
doing something right.
Anthony Viscusi,
President
Global Limousine
(Continued from page 34)

For more info on Global Limousine,
visit www.gogloballimo.com.
Global Staff [CLOCKWISE FROM TOP LEFT]: Robert Scoleri, fleet manager; Anthony
Viscusi, president; Christina Albizu, corporate account manager, group reserva-
tions; Joshua Hansford, operations manager; Jeanette Sarne, dispatch.
company, he does have some visions
and loose plans. He’s interested in ex-
panding the company’s strong corporate
base, as well as possibly moving into
other cities. Growth through acquisitions
is also something he considers—some-
thing that was beneficial to the expan-
sion of Global early on, but that the
company hasn’t done in around eight
years. And the purchase of Global’s
40,000-square-foot building 11 years
ago was a move that strategically al-
lowed for the accommodation of a much
larger fleet—up to 80 vehicles. But al-
though these are obvious considerations
for a company enjoying success and sta-
bility the way Global is, Viscusi says one
of the reasons his business is a standout
is that he never wanted it to be a huge
company. “I just want it to be a quality
operation,” he says. “I’ve always really fo-
cused on the quality.” The company will
only grow, he says, if he can assure that
the quality of its service remains at least
as high as it is today.
That, and the longevity of Viscusi’s ex-
perience in operating the business, is
what makes Global Limousine excep-
tional. Again, he points to his roots in the
Dav El organization, and the opportunity
he had to serve the celebrities of the
’70s, as the backbone of his legacy and
his abilities. “That’s where I learned the
skills that we still use today for servicing
the public,” he says. “That was the foun-
dation, because I was behind the wheel
and dealing directly with these clients—
from Sinatra and Sammy to Stallone and
Schwarzenegger—on a day-to-day basis.”
What he learned then, he has sharpened
and refined over 40 years in this indus-
try. And that acumen is clearly evident in
everything—every reservation call, every
business move and every trip—Global
Limousine does today. “We have a his-
tory of service in a city of history,” he
says. With this tradition of excellence,
Global Limousine is a standout in the
world of luxury ground transportation,
and continues to glimmer as a shining
example of what a limousine company
can be.

FEBRUARY 2013 | LIMO DIGEST | 39

TECHNOLOGY / Rogue Apps
ogue apps are a
serious threat to
our industry, but
they have also exposed luxury
transportation to consumers who
otherwise may have never consid-
ered it. The apps have done this
at high prices, proving that
customers are willing to pay a
premium for convenience. If done
intelligently, we can convert this
threat into a series of advantages.
By harnessing advanced technology, and by
using innovative social media marketing, rogue
apps have become a threat that our industry can-
not stop talking about. Users can book trips on
their smartphones anywhere, anytime—and
automated dispatching allows low cost operation.
Rogue apps have used social media to portray our
industry as the bad guy, while painting them-
selves as heroically battling an overly bureau-
cratic industry that hides behind politicians. But
despite their apparent threat, rogue apps may
actually save the livery industry—we can turn
their success in social media, pricing strategy
and technological innovation against them.
HOW TO BEAT ROGUE APPS
AT THEIR OWN GAME by Dan Sutich

Rogue Apps / TECHNOLOGY
Social Media: Strength in Numbers
Rogue apps, particularly Uber, move from city to
city, quietly building their businesses. This divide-and-
conquer tactic has allowed them to fly under the radar
while expanding. When the livery industry finally
noticed, it pushed back the only way it knew how: by
flexing its political muscle. Anticipating this move,
Uber triggered a massive backlash through social media.
How did the livery industry respond? With silence. We
continue to wait for failing political action, but we do
not have to—we can use social media, too.
Social media requires a large audience to be effec-
tive. It may be an insurmountable task to run your own
social media campaign; these efforts will be more suc-
cessful if companies pool their resources. Think of the
famous “Got Milk?” campaign created by the Dairy
Farmers of America. Limousine associations are perfect
places for these types of campaigns to start at both the
regional and national levels.
However, be aware that social media can seriously
backfire. A social media campaign should highlight your
benefits, not your competitor’s faults. While it is accept-
able to use a competitor’s failure as a comparison point,
it should not be the focus. Social media gone awry can
drive consumers away, cast your company in a negative
light and even evangelize consumers in defense of your
competitor. Be prepared for unexpected responses and
act quickly to stop or redirect failing social media
attempts before they spin out of control.
And let’s never forget that we are not the bad guys.
As a collective industry we are very large, but Uber, after
recent investment rounds, has been valued at over $3.5
billion, far outweighing any single company in our
industry. Uber is known to engage in some shady prac-
tices, such as gouging prices by raising rates at their
own discretion during busy times, automatically billing
the consumer and leaving no recourse. I do not, howev-
er, recommend attempting a smear campaign.
A better approach is to highlight our positive attrib-
utes, such as advanced bookings, which Uber does not
allow. We can even extend the advanced booking capa-
bility to book anywhere in the world through affiliate
networks. Advanced booking provides the peace of mind
that the car will be there at the desired time. A savvy
marketer can focus on these and the other differentia-
tions discussed below to demonstrate why your compa-
ny is the superior option.
Rethink Your Existing Pricing
Many consumers view rogue apps as low-priced
alternatives to black cars. Uber’s marketing team intel-
ligently twisted the pricing models of two different
markets by using taxi-style rates in the black car indus-
try. The result? Existing black car consumers perceived
the taxi-style distance/time rates as bargains, while
existing taxi consumers perceived the rates as only a
small premium to upgrade to a better alternative. In
reality, Uber’s rates tend to be competitive or more
expensive. For example, Perfect Limo Service’s all
inclusive rate from my house to JFK Airport is $165;
Uber’s rate is “$179-$238.” Although Uber’s rate
seems like a bargain at only $3.90/mile (Uber’s
rate/mile for the NYC region as of Sept. 2013), its cal-
culation tells a different story.
However, I strongly oppose using price competition
as a selling tool. It is the cause of many problems we
face as operators. Many operators see no alternative, but
Uber teaches us that, for certain consumers, price is not
as important as convenience. It is far easier to use a
rogue app than it is to calculate a rate and call multiple
companies for price quotes—a convenience premium
consumers are happily paying for. In the case of my
house to JFK airport, that premium is 45 percent.
While corporations have become more savvy at nego-
tiating low rates, individuals lack corporate buying
power and are becoming lazier in their purchasing, a
trend that will continue as the economy improves. With
improved customer apps we can catch and exceed rogue
apps’ convenience. In addition to mobile booking, new
dispatching technology will allow us to compete with
their ASAP response times. Combine these changes
with our unique ability to provide future and affiliate
booking, and you have a recipe for a lot of new revenue.
Uber also demonstrates that customers are not only
willing to pay a premium for convenience, but for rapid
service as well. It may be time to consider adding a sur-
charge for ASAPs, explaining to customers that the
growing volume of ASAPs is driving up costs. Rather
than increasing prices for everybody, the surcharge only
increases rates when absolutely necessary.
The other option—completely changing your rates—
is a huge hassle. You need to generate new rate tables
(unless your reservation system can auto-calculate rates),
create new rate policies and train employees to commu-
nicate the new rates. It may be easier to modify how you
frame your rates. Go back to the rate I mentioned earli-
Uber teaches us that, for certain consumers,
price is not as important as convenience.
U B E R C A N S A V E T H E L I M O I N D U S T R Y . . . R E A L L Y .

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