You can start your own business, running your own mobile shuttle service relatively inexpensively, if you already have a van or SUV to cut down on start up costs. You could also use a sedan, or mid size car, but we don’t recommend using to small of a car, unless of course, if gas prices continue to stay sky high, then disregard that. By all means hook up a side car to a motorcycle and be the cheapest guy in town, if you have to, whatever ever it takes to get the business up and running! Not really, but you get the idea.
For this type of business you would really want to make sure you had all your bases covered, as far as passenger insurance, and local permits, and so forth. This is a business that can make you good money, if you handle it, and build it up right.
After making sure you have a safe automobile to use, it is time to start your business. It is also nice to have a passenger van, because you can fit more “paying passengers” into a van. Most of the time, passengers travel lots with lots of luggage. You will need a van, or sport utility vehicle to fit all the luggage and in together. If you can set up your own pick up places on a regular basis, and have a regular schedule to certain destinations like, airports, thyme parks, tourist attractions, etc., then you can pick up more than one paying passenger, since the more passengers you take, the more money you will make. It still takes you about the same amount of gas, and same amount of time driving, so the trick is to have more passengers for each destination you drive to.
A lot of cities and towns have “car pool” or “park and ride” parking lots, along freeways, and entrance and exit ramps, to make it easy for commuters to park their autos, and car pool. These are excellent places to organize some pick up points. You could have several pick up points, and drive your own route around. By the time you get to where you want to go, hopefully your van will be full of paying customers!
Make sure you have nice signs on your automobile, so it’s easy for customers to contact you. Try to have a modern automobile with air conditioning, DVD player, and lots of storage room. Nothing would deter a repeat customer from ever using you again if the trip was a hot trip, in a hot automobile, with no air conditioning. Try to get the best vehicle you can afford, it’s a sign of your business.
Make up some fliers, and pass them out to the various hotels and hot spots around town. You can make this a better business if you can find out niche markets that no one is serving right now. The most common shuttle would be the door to door shuttle, mostly to the airport and back. You can also try various new tactics, to see what brings in the most clients, and makes you the most amount of money, at the same time.
Later, you can increase your fleet and hire a dispatcher, or do it yourself in the beginning. There is not a limit to what you could actually do, if someone puts their mind to it, and figures out what the customer needs. Give the customer what they want, and you could be on your way to owning a nice profitable mobile shuttle service business.
