Idea for Business

[happybooker1]

Let me state RIGHT OFF I don't have a business like this I'm full time employed right now. But when I retire in a few years I'm thinking of this. I won't even say where I live except close to a port city. There is no public transportation to the port. Options are taxis, limo service, rent a car one-way or ship shuttles.

 

Would there be a market for a private individual offering to pick up people when their flight comes in, taking them to a restaurant and/or a sightseeing location, museum, etc. And driving them to board their ship? Or conversely, picking them up when they disembark their cruise, taking them wherever they'd like to go for a few hours, and then delivering them to their flight home?

 

Kinda like the people in foreign port cities do when you book a tour but I have no destination in mind. Mainly thinking of people that disembark at 8:00am and have a flight that doesn't leave till 5 pm or so. And then they're wondering what to do with their luggage.

[Kamloops50]

Let me state RIGHT OFF I don't have a business like this I'm full time employed right now. But when I retire in a few years I'm thinking of this. I won't even say where I live except close to a port city. There is no public transportation to the port. Options are taxis, limo service, rent a car one-way or ship shuttles.

 

Would there be a market for a private individual offering to pick up people when their flight comes in, taking them to a restaurant and/or a sightseeing location, museum, etc. And driving them to board their ship? Or conversely, picking them up when they disembark their cruise, taking them wherever they'd like to go for a few hours, and then delivering them to their flight home?

 

Kinda like the people in foreign port cities do when you book a tour but I have no destination in mind. Mainly thinking of people that disembark at 8:00am and have a flight that doesn't leave till 5 pm or so. And then they're wondering what to do with their luggage.

 

Probably but there are companies providing this service.

[Shekim]

Let me state RIGHT OFF I don't have a business like this I'm full time employed right now. But when I retire in a few years I'm thinking of this. I won't even say where I live except close to a port city. There is no public transportation to the port. Options are taxis, limo service, rent a car one-way or ship shuttles.

 

Would there be a market for a private individual offering to pick up people when their flight comes in, taking them to a restaurant and/or a sightseeing location, museum, etc. And driving them to board their ship? Or conversely, picking them up when they disembark their cruise, taking them wherever they'd like to go for a few hours, and then delivering them to their flight home?

 

Kinda like the people in foreign port cities do when you book a tour but I have no destination in mind. Mainly thinking of people that disembark at 8:00am and have a flight that doesn't leave till 5 pm or so. And then they're wondering what to do with their luggage.

I live much closer to that port you are talking about; very close to the closet airport and about 50 min from the big airport. I've been saying this same thing for years. Not so much about the money it's about helping my fellow cruisers. I hear some of the agony over transportation and it breaks my heart. If I could I would!

[tallyho8]

The problem is you would either have to be licensed and insured or operating under the table. In most places it is very expensive to get a license to operate out of an airport plus commercial insurance is quite expensive. Once you start paying license fees, insurance, advertising and taxes you will find little profit hauling around a couple in a car.

 

Then you decide to get a 14 passenger van, but then the 7 couples want to do 7 different things which means you must make a set itinerary which makes it much more difficult to get a van load.

 

Or you can operate under the table with no licenses or commercial insurance and risk losing everything you have in case of an accident.

[cruiselvr04]

The DH and I talk about this almost every cruise we take. We get off the ship and have a flight that does not leave until say 5 or 6 pm. What to do so you do not sit at the airport waiting. If someone does this now I have not heard of it. Renting a car is a hassle and costs sometimes $60 or more for a few hours. For a little more it would be great to have a service pick you up and take you somewhere leaving your luggage safe. I do not know if you could make it profitable since if you charged too much folks would not do it. We can not afford to hire a limo for several hours for instance. In Texas you have the long distance to factor in to Houston for flights.