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Tom Arrighi swore he would never get into his parents’ taxi business, but in 1987 he left his job as director of sales for a New England chemical company to do just that.
“My father was going to sell his company to someone who had a bad reputation, so my brother Michael and I took over the business to see if we could change its direction,” Arrighi says. He created A&A Metro Transportation as the executive transportation division and has since grown to 108 vehicles.
Diversity is key
Arrighi’s fleet consists of minibuses, motorcoaches, sedans and vans. “Your clients need more than to just go back and forth from airports, and you need the ability to do all those other things,” he says. “Our company’s motto is ‘World class, worldwide’ and our goal is to handle clients’ needs wherever they go. We nurtured our original clients who used to use taxis and now use black cars and vans.”
About 55% of Arrighi’s clients are corporate, and the rest include colleges, professional sports teams and associations, and stadiums that host special events. Arrighi regularly attends the LCT Shows and the Taxi, Limousine and Paratransit Association Expo to network and find more opportunities.
What’s the secret?
“The secret to the whole business is expanding your entire customer base and expanding your own market,” Arrighi says. “We looked at our existing market — a college town — and I started talking to colleges about answering all of their transportation needs.”
Arrighi farmed out sedan work until the demand justified the purchase of his own cars and applied the same method with bigger vehicles to handle groups.
In addition to executive chauffeured transportation, Arrighi runs the original taxi company — Bill’s Taxi — and has a division for school and medical transportation. He maximizes the longevity of his vehicles by filtering them through A&A Metro when they’re new and moving them to the medical or taxi fleet when they’re replaced by newer vehicles.