How Taxi Cab Company Owners Balance Work and Personal Life

There are no days off when you own a taxi cab company. Every night, when Nash Pillsbury, co-owner with wife Lynnea Pillsbury of Ride Taxi in the Vail Valley goes to sleep at night, his phone is on do not disturb mode. But his drivers know that if they call back within 2 minutes, it’ll ring and Nash will answer.

“Owning a cab company is a 365 day per year, 24/7 job. There is never a moment when you put your head on the pillow at night and stop thinking about what’s going on out on the road. I’m prepared at any given moment to wake up. There are no breaks,” Nash said.

For most taxi cab company owners, vehicles break down & drivers call out sick or quit without prior notice. In order to keep operating 24/7, 365 days a year – you need an insurance company that is ready to service your policy at a moment’s notice.

Owning & operating a taxi company is no easy task and it can be difficult to know all the steps to successfully open your doors. Luckily, ABI has been insuring taxi cabs nationwide for over 30 years. As the industry evolves, so have we.

Ride Taxi has been a client of American Business Insurance for almost 3 years now, and they utilize our online portal every day. “We marvel at the portal and love being able to review our vehicle & driver changes any time of the day or night,” Nash said.

Nash & his wife Lynnea, who both share a passion for snowboarding, feel that it makes them relatable to the local clientele & their own drivers – boosting employee morale. “We are so fortunate to live here and see our home mountain Beaver Creek out the window of our dispatch office. It’s so easy to get caught up in the daily grind and not look at the beauty around you,” Lynnea said.

“In the winter, when things get stressful at the taxi dispatch office, I tell Nash to go out and ride, blow off some steam,” Lynnea said about her husband.

Ride Taxi, whose owner’s main business motto is to “support local,” fell into the taxi industry 18 years ago when he moved to the Vail Valley after leaving college to snowboard full time. He was on the mountain every day and working a job as a valet where business was slow. After finishing his boarding run one day, he called a local taxi cab company to ask about becoming a driver.  The owner told him to come in for an interview so he showed up in his snowboarding gear and was hired on the spot.

After 10+ years of being a taxi driver for someone else, Nash saw a severe need for a new, local taxi cab company who serviced the valley. At the time, there was one large taxi company who serviced the valley.

“I worked for that cab company for over 10 years, and they made a lot of changes throughout the years that did not benefit the local population. I wanted to do things differently, and keep customer service at the forefront every step of the way,” Nash said.

Lynnea, who has a background in Journalism, obtained her MBA in 2009. Merging her business background with Nash’s taxi cab experience, they were able to successfully win authority from the CO PUC in 2015 and open their doors to the public that same year. They started with 5 taxi cabs and are now up to operating 20 taxi’s during their peak winter seasons.

Like in many cities & states across the country, starting a taxi company is no easy feat. Rules & regulations for taxi companies vary from city to city and state to state, but Nash & Lynnea were well equipped to petition to the Colorado Public Utility Commission (governing agency that each transportation company must have approval from in order to operate) on why the Vail Valley needed another company in town.

The process to become approved wasn’t easy and was lengthy. “We had a petition with thousands of signatures from locals for a better, more reliable taxi company,” Nash said.

“After the hearing in front of judge and other local taxi company, I turned to my wife and said ‘did we just crush that?’ and she said ‘I think so!”

As transportation modes across the country evolve and change, Nash & Lynnea are constantly looking to stay at the forefront of technology and giving their clients that instant gratification that everyone is seeking these days. They’ve implemented app-based booking for taxi rides and have relationships with local businesses such as hotels, bars & restaurants who use them regularly and refer the tourist business in the winter months.

“In general, we never look back on our business and say ‘this is all perfect.’ We are constantly working on improving our business to be more productive, run smoother and allow Ride Taxi to grow at a steady, comfortable pace,” Lynnea said.

Just like most husband/wife teams that are in business together, and especially in an industry as demanding as the taxi business where owners don’t really ever have true time off, it’s important to make time for yourself and each other.

“We are both extremely lucky to both have sets of parents that married early and are still together. We’ve been fortunate enough to see how things should be done and handled in a marriage. How to get through the stress of running a taxi business that is open 365 days per year, 24 hours a day. Keeping that at the forefront of things and taking care of each other and not just the business is essential to Ride Taxi’s success,” Nash said.

Nash & Lynnea are not the only couple who chose to start a business that allows them flexibility to have time for their hobbies & other passions in life. As an agency, American Business Insurance has been insuring like-minded people for 30 years and currently insures over 40,000 vehicles nationwide. Like Nash & Lynnea, they chose ABI for not only our expertise in the industry but for the value we bring to servicing their policy throughout the year.

Benefits of Taxi Cab Insurance from ABI:

• Customizable to your policy needs
• Certificate & Auto ID Card issuance available in minutes
• Online access to make vehicle & driver changes your policy 24/7
• Over 35+ years of experience
• 40,000 vehicles insured
• Competitive pricing

Visit us now on the web to request a quote: www.abiweb.com

States we are licensed to write taxi insurance in: Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky,  Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Wyoming.