The movement of people from one point or location to another is something that will never stop. People move for a variety of reasons that include economic, leisure, visitation among several others.
Vital to such movements are public transport systems.
Starting A Passenger Transportation Business
This movement of persons creates tremendous investment opportunities for transporters. Are you interested in starting a passenger transportation business? If you are, you’ll find this article interesting.
Read on to discover ways to start your passenger transport service.
Creating Your Business Plan
Your plan is central to achieving your goal of starting a successful transportation service. Not only does it give clarity to your plans, but it also answers pressing questions that expose your readiness, or otherwise to operate such a business.
Key aspects of your operations should be included in your plan.
Important questions that will need to be answered include the number of vehicles you intend to start with, the process of obtaining such vehicles (buying or leasing them), the cost involved; identifying the ideal customer as well as the range of services you intend to offer.
Additional questions that need answering relate to challenges you expect to face, routes you intend to service, short, medium, and long-term goals as well as how well you intend to market your business among other things.
Choice Of A Business Model
To start your passenger transportation business, you’ll need to figure out your preferred model of business.
To do this, you’ll need a good understanding of the transport industry. Now, to better understand what this entails, we’ll need to further explain what transport business entails.
It is much more than the most common types of transport systems such as taxes, buses, and airport shuttles among others. It also includes limousine services, delivery or courier services, cruises, ferryboats as well as ride-sharing services among others.
Having this understanding broadens your horizon and allows you to choose a model that best fits your needs.
Purchasing Your Vehicle(s)
The purchase of vehicles for a transport business will gulp a significant portion of your startup capital. In doing this, several options are available. You can either decide to purchase used vehicles or new ones. This depends on how much capital you have.
Also, you can lease vehicles for your business. Leasing will cost you much less than buying one outright.
For a transport business, we recommend either buying a new vehicle(s) or leasing. Buying used cars may end up costing you more due to the cost of repairs resulting from frequent breakdowns.
Also, such cars may not serve you the length of time earlier envisaged. As such, you’ll have wasted resources with little to no positive impact on your business.
Choosing A Business Name
The choice of a business name should be done with all diligence. This is because the name you choose will say a lot about the business. In other words, the image created by your preferred name will influence how profitable and successful the business becomes.
There are several tips for choosing the right name for your transport business. These include avoiding hard-to-spell names, not limiting or restricting future expansion by the name you choose as well as conducting a thorough online search for name availability.
Other tips include getting the “.com” domain name, choosing one that conveys meaning, conducting a trademark search, conducting a Secretary of State name search, getting some feedback on the name as well as assessing if your preferred name is catchy (it should be).
Legal Structure
The legal structure you choose for your passenger transport business should be one that gives or confers the most benefits for your operations. Now, there are multiple options when it comes to the legal structure. The most common include Doing Business As (DBA) sole proprietorship, partnership, limited liability company (LLC), and corporation.
Choosing a suitable structure for your business depends on your understanding of the benefits they confer. It is best to seek legal help and interpretation of each type of structure. Depending on what you want for your business, you’re given the best advice on what business entity will best serve your needs.
Registration And Licensing
Business registration and licensing is an essential part of the process of starting a passenger transport business. In registering your business, you must apply for a tax ID number in addition to obtaining a commercial transportation or business license.
If you’re confused about the specific registration and licensing for your passenger transportation business, you should check with the Department of Motor Vehicles within your state. Each state has its specific registration and licensing requirements for passenger transportation businesses.
In obtaining the necessary licensing and permits for your transportation business, they’re likely to include taxi licenses, passenger liability insurance, and vehicle-specific permits among other things. Also important is the need to have a thorough understanding of operational regulations, taxes, and restrictions for your preferred type of transport business.
Hiring Your Drivers
When starting new, you may be your business’ sole driver. This is a temporary arrangement until the business grows to require additional drivers. When hiring your drivers, a lot of care should be taken to ensure a thorough background check is carried out.
As part of the legal requirements, you want to find out if such persons are fit to handle or operate your vehicle(s).
You want to check or test for substance abuse as well as their driving records. Also important is the need to ensure they have a commercial driver’s insurance.
Performing a thorough background check on your drivers helps in no small measure to establish a thriving business with a culture of professionalism and excellence.
Marketing
For your passenger transport business to attract patronage, you’ll need to effectively market such business using far-reaching strategies and tools. You must first have a functional website for this business. Consider also using paid ads on electronic and print media to further spread the word about your operations.
The help of experienced marketers will go a long way in crafting the right message and image for your transport business.
Starting a successful passenger transportation business begins with the steps outlined in this article. All of them are essential for success and must be carefully implemented to obtain the desired outcome.