Now
Fair
77°
High
88°
Low
73°
Full Forecast

Jobs

Cars

Homes

Rentals

Alerts

Subscribe
Home > Business
Bookmark Us   •   Make Us Your Homepage

New van service authorized for Lancaster County

Comments 6 comment(s)  
E-mail Story E-mail Story
Print Story Print Story
Share  Share
Text Size: 
Tools Sponsor

By RICHARD PIERSOL/Lincoln Journal Star

Tuesday, Sep 19, 2006 - 04:48:28 pm CDT

People in Lancaster County and Lincoln will have another choice of public transportation in the lane between taxicabs and limousines, thanks to a change of heart by the Nebraska Public Service Commission.

On reconsideration, the commissioners gave Chris Stokes and his OMALiNK company authority to drive people from one point to another in vans, but not sedans,  within Lancaster County.

Called “open service,” that will give people the chance not to wait too long for a taxicab, as witnesses told the commission they did all too often, and offers a local travel option short of a limousine service that charges by the hour. 

That service is likely to cost more than a taxi would, Stokes said, and he expects to file rates based on zone to zone travel, rather than strictly by mileage, with the commission, probably within a month.

“Then I gotta start buying vehicles,” said Stokes, who was jubilant with the commission’s decision.

“I”m just excited,” he said.  “It’s a big victory for the people of Lincoln.”   

He said taking the case to the commission cost him $15,000,  but now Omalink will now have multiple levels of service.  

Earlier, it won the commission’s approval, to offer limousine service by the hour within Lancaster County and to other points in Nebraska.  The commission reaffirmed that decision Tuesday, over the objections of VIP Limousine, Omaha Limousine and A-1 Limousine.      Stokes says he plans to buy a couple of late-model, six- to eight-passenger Lincoln Town Cars,  in black, for that service. 

Omalink also  offers service in vans from Lincoln to the Omaha airport.    Stokes told the commission in May that the company had lost about $196,000 since it started service in 2003.

“What I’m really excited about, we could drive around Lincoln picking people up to take them to the Omaha airport, but we couldn’t pick people up to take them to the Lincoln airport,” Stokes said.   “It was really frustrating.

The reconsidered decision by the commission didn’t give Stokes everything he wanted.

OMALiNK didn’t get authority to use town cars or sedans, just vans, to offer open class service, for example, from downtown to the Lincoln Airport.      He wanted to offer that kind of “executive transportation.”  

Stokes also gave up part of his application for authority to transport special needs clients of the state Department of Health and Human Services.

 Alvin Schroll, of Prince of the Road, and Lannie Roblee, owner of Midwest Specialty Services, had opposed that part of the application.

The local taxi company, Servant Cab, owner of Yellow Cab and Capital Cab,  also objected to OMALiNK’s application and defended the quality of its own service. 

Kirby Young, co-owner with his brother Vance Young, of Servant Cab, had no comment on the decision.  His attorney, Jack Shultz, could not be reached for comment.

Reach Richard Piersol at 473-7241 or at dpiersol@journalstar.com


$1 Sunday Delivery - Subscribe Today!
Business > Back to Top of Story

Post Your Comment

Standards and Rules
All posts to JournalStar.com are subject to our Terms and Standards.
Your posted comment will appear after it has been approved.
Frequently asked questions about story commenting.
(optional)
   
Hide Comments Hide Comments   Newest First Newest First  
Randy wrote on September 19, 2006 3:48 pm:
" This should never have even been an issue. Here we are complaining about the lack of public transportation, parking downtown, excessive traffic, etc, yet a private business providing transportantion has to be approved? "

 finally... wrote on September 19, 2006 3:53 pm:
" About time the cab company had some competition...maybe they'll clean up their act a bit now...we're a city of almost 300,000. We need to have a cab company that looks more like Denver/Omaha than Fremont (no offense to Fremont of course). "

 Cheers! wrote on September 19, 2006 8:12 pm:
" Choice and competition are vital. This is a start for transportation options, citizens hope for success of all carriers and growth of the industry! Thanks to a change of heart by the Nebraska Public Service Commission. Citizens however were granted only a part of a business plan, maybe the future will allow the full plan to become a reality. "

 Hack wrote on September 19, 2006 9:19 pm:
" Did you know the "real" competitor in this situation your very own city of Lincoln's Startran organization? If your low income, you can ride all you want with Startran for Five Bucks (not per ride-PER MONTH !) Lets get rid of the government competition with private enterprize ! They also give their drivers a health insurance and retirement plan. Not to mention holiday pay , overtime pay , disability insurance and on and on and on. Let's see the Public Service Comission address that issue. Let's start talking about a living wage plan here. After all, if your going mandate government regulation, then lets see them address the labor issues as well! "

 Angry consumer wrote on September 20, 2006 8:33 am:
" This was a crime against OMALiNK and any other small business that wants to provide transportation services. It is also a crime against consumers. I just do not understand why we can only have one or two operators in town. Multiple times I wanted to hire Limo service and of course the two main players charge too much. I found a third service with a lower price and a newer limo, however I would have had to be picked up or dropped off outside the county, what a joke! Hey NPSC why don’t you go play monopoly somewhere else. We need competition and choice in Lancaster County! "

 wrong wrote on September 20, 2006 9:43 am:
" If you're thinking startran is the problem, you're barking up the wrong tree. This is a point-to-point service, while startran is route-based. They don't even compare. Besides, what is wrong with low-income people getting to ride the bus for $5? Should they instead be forced to pay $15 each way (or more) for a cab ride to the same place on their limited budget? Sure it takes away a little business from the cabs, but that's not what this article is about at all. The business that Omalink and the cab companies are really going after are business travelers and people who might need a ride once in a while to get somewhere (such as their car is in the shop that day or they don't want to leave it at the airport). I'm glad the PSC finally saw the error of their ways and allowed some competition. Now if they'd just open up the limo service the same way. I've been in the same position as "angry consumer" and found a great outfit out of Syracuse. Thankfully, I could use them because the event was out-of-county. The price was much less than that quoted by the Lincoln company, and the limo driver was as nice as could be (as compared to my one experience with the Lincoln company). Open up the competition...it's not the PSC's job to protect the companies from competition with each other, just the consumer. "

Ads by Yahoo!

More Stories In Business