The Florida Intrastate Transportation Alliance

Q & A 

Q - I Reside In Orlando And Need Transportation To & From The Cruise Terminal In Tampa?

A - Good luck in finding a local transportation service that can fullfill your transportation needs. The politically driven transportation commission in Tampa requires all limousine and small bus motor carriers to obtain a certificate of public convenience and necessity prior to entering the county to load passengers. 

Q - I Reside In Tampa And A Small Group Of Us Are Planning A Cruise Out Of Port Canaveral. Can We Arrange Transportation To & From That Port?

A - The closest transportation service for smaller groups with the Port Canaveral permits is located in Hernando & is prohibited from entering Hillsborough to provide chartered transportation under threat of arrest.

Q - What About The Residents Of Smaller Communities Such As Citrus Or Hernando. Can They Arrange Transportation To & From The Orlando or Sanford Airports With Their Local Transportation Service?

A - Forget About It! Orlando also doesn't care about federal or state intrastate transportation laws & requires motor carriers to obtain their permits to load intercounty bound passengers. What one can do is arrange for transport to Orlando with a local service then arrange with a Orlando based service for transportation back home on the return. Just be prepared for sticker shock on the pricing.

Q - Can A Hernando or Citrus County  Senior Citizen With Limited Mobility Requiring An Easy To Enter and Exit Vehicle & Requiring Help In Baggage On The Return Flight Arrange For Moderate Priced Transportation To & From Tampa International?

A - NO! 

In addition to claiming of authority to decide the transportation needs of other counties, the regulatory agency in Hillsborough prohibits intercounty motor carriers from utilizing moderate priced vehicles such as mini-vans, mid priced sedans & hybrids to provide lower cost transportation. The intercounty transportation services are limited to offering their customer base expensive, chauffeured driven sedans and other luxury vehicles to economically protect the Tampa based taxi & limousine industry.

Senior Citizens Traveling On A Budget Have One Of Two Choices Of Prearranged Transportation From Tampa International

Pay The Big Bucks For This Chauffeured Driven Luxury Car

Or Prepare For The "Longer Than What The Flight Took" Ride Home In This

Of Course You Could Always Lay Out $120-150 or More For A Ride Home In A Smelly Tampa Taxicab

Example Of Regulatory Requirements

Tampa

Motor Carrier with a fleet of sedans, stretch limousines & 10-15 passenger buses:

• 2 HCPTC Certificates
• HCPTC Permits for each vehicle
• Business license from cruise terminal*
• Cruise terminal permits for each vehicle*
• TIA permit for each vehicle*
• Yearly mechanical inspection for each vehicle by private business garage 
• Yearly vehicle inspection by HCPTC
• Yearly inspection by garage for each TIA permitted bus

Total for the intercounty motor carrier just to enter Tampa &  load passengers for direct transport to home county:

3 Business Licenses

3 Permits Per Vehicle

3 Vehicle Inspections Per Vehicle

Now tack on the multiple permits in Orlando,

Port Canaveral Permits & all other

local juridictional permits.

 * Chapter 2001-299 prohibits any other governmental entity from imposing fees for the privileges granted by the HCPTC licensing. This provision of law is ignored & no, the local limousine association does not address this violation of law.

The TLPA Pulls Support

of working for a banket definition that all prearranged ground transport from the interstate transportation hubs would be deemed interstate commerce thus being placed under Federal Regulatory to avoid losing control of local regulators who control the competition!

The Limo Scam

You're located in Tampa & need transportation to & from the Orlando Airport. So you let your fingers do the walking or search the web for Tampa limo service that advertises transportation to Orlando. You find a few, call & are quoted outlandish prices.

Here's The Scam!

Pursuant to a June 2007 Orlando VFH Listing, There are no limousine services on Florida's west coast with Orlando permits. What limo companies in Tampa do is hook up with companies in Orlando & it's the Orlando company that actually provides the return transportation & vice-versa with Orlando to Tampa transfers.

By engaging in such business practices, limo companies protect their own turf from competition & create a monopoly on intercounty transportation whereas the consumer is forced to pay whatever rates these companies want to charge.

Consumers Left Unprotected

Such arrangements leave the consumer with little recourse if the company providing the return transfer fails to perform & they suffer financial injury. In addition, as the arrangements involve the selling of prearranged travel as defined under law, the limo companies themselves may be in violation of the law for selling travel without licensure & performance  bonding  as required  under  Florida  Law as  a Seller of Travel.