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Our Accredations
The TerraMoto Story
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The question was "How do we revolutionize the private transportation industry ". We set out to study and examine the different types and why people use them first. You must first know your enemy before you can defeat them. We can safely say that there are three dominant forces in the private sector of the transportation industry. There are taxi's, shuttles, and limousine sedan services. |
| The taxi industry is one of the most prolific and dominating forces in transportation. The advantage they afford is that if you see a taxi you can literally yell at them to stop and they will drive you to your destination. In the beginning and in some places of the world still taxis were driven by ordinary blue collar men providing quality service to the public as best they can to support their families. Limousines sedans had not come about yet because customer service had not become a problem yet. In London today still taxis are clean well kept vehicles driven by consummate and courteous professionals who in order to get their taxi license have to pass a test called "the knowledge". "The Knowledge" is essentially competency examine that tests the subjects knowledge of locations streets and addresses in London. They essentially have to know every street in London by memory or they are not allowed to get their taxi license. Competition and very strict regulation has created a very high level of service quality there. In the United States and the majority of other places in the world taxis have virtually no regulation and competition is fierce. The product of this has been a very poor level of customer service. Taxi companies set up city wide monopolies and lease cars and taxi licenses to anyone with a valid drivers license. The drivers are not tested for area knowledge or held accountable for the treatment of clients. Instead they are turned loose to fight for their fares and fend for themselves. They have to pay for all of the expense of the vehicle's maintenance and repairs which creates the decrepit state that most taxis are in. On top of that the drivers have to pay leasing and licensing fees to money hungry taxi companies. It forces most taxi drivers to live in their cars and treat clients as if they were scraps of food that they have to fight for because, to them they are. It’s an outdated business model not built for the 21st century and the only reason it still exists is because they still provide the ultimate in accessibility. If you see one you can literally hop in it and go. For scheduled pickup and called in request, they fall pitifully short though. To sum up why taxi's are still a dominant force in private transportation is they provide accessibility and asap service. Consumer’s time is their most important commodity and they will except less than stellar service and higher prices if it saves them precious time. |
| The airport shuttle industry developed with advent and prominence of the modern day airport. People started sharing taxis and soon enough someone reasoned that well if people want to share the vehicle then let’s bring a van and charge these people per person and the airport shuttle industry was born. Airport shuttle drivers essentially started like large taxi cabs being able to take on 10+ passengers was a major advantage and picking up passengers at the airport was easy. Soon the drivers of these airport shuttles realized after dropping all their passengers at the various hotel destinations around town that they could set up regular pickup times at these hotels to take the passengers back. Pretty soon you had entire companies that specialized in airport shuttle vans and this was the birth of the airport shuttle industry. The airport shuttle companies share their beginnings with the taxi companies so they used the same business model. Shuttles are leased to drivers by the shuttle company or they can purchase an approved vehicle of their own. The owner operators of these shuttles are responsible for all payments, insurance, fuel, service and repair expenses for the vehicle just like a taxi. On top of all the vehicle expenses the shuttle operator has to pay royalties, licensing, and system fees to the shuttle company. The shuttle driver is in the same situation as the taxi driver. There are not as many shuttle drivers as there are taxi's but they struggle with fierce competition and have to virtually live in their vehicles in order to make their living as well. Not only do they have to compete with other shuttle drivers for their clients but they have try to get as many customers on board their van as possible in order to stay profitable. The problem is all the customers have different schedules and time tables to adhere to and the driver has to try to keep everyone happy, but at the same time, make as many stops and bring on as many passengers as possible with having his passengers riot. Not an easy task and it does not net a high quality of service. Airport shuttles offer a low price point because of the ride share capabilities, but because of the ride share the travel time can be much more extensive than direct transportation. This was fine 20 years ago before everyone carried a cell phone but in the present digital age when business moves at the speed of light, so do the business man, and airport shuttles don't exactly move at the speed of light. Time has been and will continue to grow as a persons most valuable commodity and that is why direct transportation in a manner as efficient and cost effective as possible will be the most valued transportation service today. The reason why customers use an airport shuttle is price point. There is no other reason because an airport shuttle does not offer a high level of service and they most certainly do not save you time. |
| The final sector of the private transportation industry we analyzed was the limousine industry. Limousines really developed even before cars. It started as far back to the horse and carriage days. Ever since there were people of affluence they have have been driven around by chauffeurs. It was then and still today is regarded as a sign of social status to be driven by a chauffeur. The modern day limousine service company has developed into a provider of luxurious sedan and stretch vehicles driven by their well groomed and professional chauffeurs. These companies offer the highest level service available in transportation specializing in entertainment charters and appointment based point to point transfers, airport pickup and drop off services.These companies evolved to serve the affluent and provide them with luxury vehicles driven by professional chauffeurs. This was before the prominence of the modern day airline industry and the travel patterns of the modern day executive. Executives started to use these services out of necessity because they require punctual pick up time standards. The limousine businesses mistook this as sign that executives place a large amount of value in riding in a luxury vehicle. Executives do value a nice clean vehicle in pristine condition but they do not necessitate a very expensive luxury class vehicle. The value of a luxury vehicle is an attribute that carries weight in the entertainment sector of the limousine business, not the corporate transportation sector. What executives value is punctuality, professionalism, ease of billing with the ability to provide receipts and have a billing account on file. Luxury sedan services provide reliability and accountability, but what the lack is, is price point, asap service capabilities and flexibility. Most luxury sedan transportation services cost twice as much as a shuttle and 30% more than taxi's. They also generally require 24 hours notice to accommodate changes and updates to reservations. The success of the modern day airport limousine sedan service is because of the professional level of service they provide. |
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After understanding how each of these dominating forces in transportation evolved and then what caused their success and popularity gave us the criteria we needed to meet in order to revolutionize transportation and bring a concept to market built for the 21st century. The essence of our transportation concept would have contain in it the accessibility and on demand service capabilities of a taxi, a pricing point competitive with airport shuttles and the service quality, reliability, accountability and billing capabilities of a limousine sedan service. We also needed to incorporate all of the elements that we believed successful businesses of this new era should have such as sustainability and the utilization of the latest technology in all facets of our business. Our transportation service would have to have the ability to evolve with and change to the meet needs of our clients in the future as well. |
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We named our concept for modern day private transportation Terramoto. Terra for Terra firma the planet we call home and moto, which means rapid movement. Since we move people across the earth, we thought it fit well and the name carried with it a deeper meaning. We also wanted to create a defining brand image and logo and we settled upon the emblem of a hummingbird silhouette in the form of a T and a capital M set over a circle meant to represent the earth. Why the hummingbird ? Because hummingbirds fly and Terramoto would specialize in executive class airport transportation. Hummingbirds are also very quick just like our service. Hummingbirds are also synonymous with gardens since the feed off of flower nectar and also contribute to pollination. Next on the agenda was the selection of the sedan class vehicle for our fleet. One of the company goals was to leave the lowest environmental impact possible. In order to do that we decided that we it would have to be a hybrid. We looked at all the hybrid vehicles available and after considering factors such as rear passenger seat legroom, bench space, cargo capacity, fuel economy, vehicle purchase price, and public image the toyota prius reigned supreme. For a small sacrifice in legroom and cargo capacity the prius is half the price of a Lincoln Towncar and gets 3 times the gas mileage. The choice was clear. The prius had become the poster child for the clean transportation movement worldwide. We intend to become the poster child for modern day clean executive class transportation. We have expanded that vision to make our entire current fleet ultra low emission and eventually when technology allows to be 100% emission free. To take things a step further we would do something no other transportation service had done yet, and that is to contribute one dollar out of every trip to an organization that plants protected trees in order offset our carbon footprint totally. Infact we net a negative carbon footprint a 1st in transportation. |
| Terramoto has cars standing by 20 hours a day 7 days a week in strategic placements region wide in order to create the availability and ability to respond to any location within 15 minutes or less. When our dispatch and reservations staff quote a vehicle ETA, we guarantee it, unlike taxi services. We also guarantee all pre-booked transportation request pick up times. All vehicles are kept in pristine condition and driven by well groomed and uniformed professional chauffeurs. We offer the ability to place billing credit cards on file and we can send e-confirmations for all reservations as well as e-receipts. Terramoto strives to provide limousine quality service and our corporate pricing is competitive with airport shuttles. |
