Chauffeured transportation supplier BLS Co. over the past few years had been branching more into the corporate travel world, but as it faces the Covid-19 pandemic, it's seeing some new types of demand.
The 50-year-old Hicksville, N.Y.-based company, which as of January had about 700 employees working in 12 offices around the United States, traditionally has focused on VIP services, working particularly major Hollywood studios including its largest account, The Walt Disney Co., BLS COO Eric Okon said. More recently, it had been branching out more into corporate travel and meetings and events, building off its experience with those legacy accounts.
When Covid-19 effectively shut down corporate travel, BLS began seeing growing demand for a different form of travel: medium- and long-distance travel, replacing what previously would have been handled by private or commercial aviation.
"If you look at D.C. to New York, with the traditional way of flying, you have to be picked up from home for the airport, and with the new checkpoints with physical distancing, the lines are going to be crazy once things start ramping up, and you have all the touchpoints for potential infection," Okon said. "The price is comparable when you add up the cost of the travel to the airport, and timewise, it's a no-brainer."
That demand has extended into even longer trips, such as the "grandparents express" between Florida and New York, and the company recently quoted a price for a trip between Los Angeles and Ohio, he said. In some cases, BLS provides two drivers who can switch off, so the trip is largely nonstop except for fuel and restroom breaks.
The long-distance trips are not enough to make up for the overall loss in demand, but "we're helping keep some drivers fed," Okon said.
BLS also is working with businesses on getting employees back to work in the absence of business travel, particularly with companies for now looking to avoid public transportation or ride-hailing services, he said. It is working with one financial services company, for example, to rent a large parking lot at which employees can park their own cars and be shuttled to work in a socially distant manner.
Like other chauffeured providers, BLS has adjusted its sanitization protocols to minimize spread of the virus. Chauffeurs have daily health screenings, wear masks and handle luggage only at the request of passengers, and they sanitize their vehicles every time a passenger exits the car. Chauffeurs also use an ionizer filter that plugs into USB ports or cigarette lighters, as installing the filter directly into the car could void their warranty, Okon said. Passengers are encouraged to wear masks and maximize distance from the driver by sitting in behind the passenger seat or in the back row of seats in SUVs. In larger vehicles, such as buses, they can only fill to 40 percent capacity.
While some chauffeured services have eschewed separator panels between drivers and passengers, BLS has elected to use removable ones that attach by Velcro and are custom-designed for each vehicle type so as not to interfere with other safety features, such as side airbags. Okon said those panels likely will be the "first thing to come out of the car" as conditions permit.
One unique step BLS has taken is installing decontamination booths at company offices, supplied by a firm that used to provide bounce houses for parties and now has converted them into decontaminating stations.
"We had a chauffeur come to us and say that he only had two suits and couldn't have them dry-cleaned every day," Okon said. "This way, when their shifts begin, they can walk through it and then walk through it again when their shift ends."