GTC NOLA, LLCGreen Taxi NOLANOLA Car Share

GTC NOLA’s mission is to providesafe, comfortable, courteous,affordable and ecologically-responsible transportation thatreduces the environmental impactof automobility while making NewOrleans a more appealing place tolive, visit and do business.

Mission

To become one of New Orleans’most visible and successful greenbusinesses – one that will drivechange in the transportationindustry and beyond.

Vision

Background

The New Orleans Strategic HospitalityTaskforce in January identifiedimproved taxi service among its toppriorities. The New OrleansMetropolitan Convention and VisitorsBureau has cited the city’ssubstandard taxi service as the No. 1complaint from visiting tourists.Despite New Orleans’ status as a first-class tourist and conventiondestination and the tremendous rolethe hospitality sector plays in thecity’s economic vitality, the CrescentCity falls behind many others in thisone attribute that is a keycomponent of helping to shape avisitor’s experience.

Unlike most major cities, New Orleans has no hybrid or

alternative-fuel taxis.

Many taxis do not provide for credit card payment. The average vehiclethat makes up the city taxi fleet is 11.4 years old, though there aretaxis in service that are soon to cross the 30-year mark. With no agerestrictions in place, it is possible New Orleans has become a dumpingground for vehicles no longer allowed to function as taxis in cities withmore stringent regulations. Vehicles operated in other cities forced intoretirement after reaching age or mileage limits can operate without anyproblem in New Orleans.

Passengers aren’t the only ones affected by this city’s poorly-equippedtaxis. The lack of taxi driver safety measures is starkly – and tragically –apparent in the three taxicab driver murders the city has witnessed in thepast seven months.

The majority of New Orleans taxisare old and poorly maintained.

Many cities require cabs to be retired from service after a setnumber of years. New Orleans does not impose any agerestrictions on its taxis.

Driver safety is another major consideration.

There is a growing pushnationally for improved fueleconomy and reducedemissions from taxis,historically among the topcontributors to city airpollution levels. This change isreflected in calls for newemissions standards andspecial allowances for cabsrun on hybrid gasoline-electrictechnology and otheralternative fuel sources. As aresult, cities across thecountry now boast green cabcompanies. Even Charleston,South Carolina, population107,000, has its own hybrid-based taxi service. Cities areencouraging the movementtoward greener groundtransportation optionsthrough such measures asgrants offered taxi drivers tohasten the switch to cleaner-burning vehicles, head-of-the-line airport privileges foralternative-fuel cabs andregulations that outlinespecific pollution-reductiontargets.

The Ford Crown Victoria, long thestandard used in taxi fleets, gets anaverage 16 miles per gallon in thecity, as opposed to the Toyota Priuswhich achieves 51 miles per gallon.

Cab drivers like the increasedearnings that come with driv ing agreen taxi. The hybrid taxi drivercan earn an additional $125 perweek in fuel sav ings.

New York City cab driver Gerard Cherizol says gas costs $25 a day less in his FordEscape hybrid taxi.

Current events shouldbe incentive enoughfor this city to adaptto national and globaltrends favoringenvironmentalstewardship. Shifts inthe traveler’ssensibility will requirethat we keep pace toremain competitive.Informed travelersincreasingly aredemandingaccommodations thatare ecologicallysensitive and aretaking into accountsuch factors as thecarbon footprint ofvacation plans. Eventplanners areconsideringenvironmentalsustainability efforts inevaluating prospectivecities for theirsuitability to hostgatherings large andsmall.

Stephen Perry, president and CEO of the NOMCVB,says one of the most frequent questions he fields fromconvention planners determining whether they wantto come to the city is what type of green initiativesare in place.

Source: New Orleans CityBusiness, August 4, 2010

Green is the future

Adding eco-oriented transportation would benefit the tourismindustry, helping to attract both conventioneers and the casualtourist alike. The burgeoning eco-consciousness spreading acrossall segments of American society is already firmly rooted amongthe nation’s younger members, a travel constituency the NewOrleans Strategic Hospitality Taskforce has identified as especiallyat risk. Adding to this city’s ecologically-friendly amenities canalso help to attract and retain the young, educated, idealistic andhighly-mobile set, an important new residential base for NewOrleans since Hurricane Katrina and a group keenly aware of thetransportation modes available in a given city.

Eco-conscious travelers trying toreduce their carbon footprint canuse Climate Passport kiosks at SanFrancisco International Airport tocalculate the carbon emissions oftheir flight and buy certified carbonoffsets.

We’re Driving Change

Our Solutions

Green Taxi NOLA will introduce the city’s first fleet of energy-efficient cabs.The fleet will consist entirely of new vehicles -- primarily Toyota Priushybrids and gas-sipping Ford Transit Connect taxis -- equipped with all ofthe latest technology available to the industry. Most importantly, each cabwill be driven by the most professional drivers available.

GTC NOLA LLC is a locally-owned, sustainabletransportation firm that will revolutionize ground

transportation in New Orleans

We plan to simultaneously launch New Orleans’ first car share program,NOLA Car Share. Car shares allow people who don’t own a car to rentone for as little as an hour. We consider such a program an ideal fit forNew Orleans, especially for residents living in the city’s denser,walkable neighborhoods where a car may come in handy on occasionbut where car ownership can be an unnecessary hassle. Car sharescarry the added benefits of helping to reduce parking congestion andencouraging alternative modes of transportation.

New York City Ford Transit Connect taxi San Francisco Toyota Prius taxi

Green Taxi NOLA

Our fleet will average a minimum 35 miles per gallon.

Cabs will be equipped with GPS, cameras and emergency lights.

Alternative-fuel vehicles will insulate customers from gas priceincreases, resulting in lower costs per ride as fuel prices rise.

Ambassadors* will undergo extensive training.

Credit card payment and Internet and smart phone booking will bestandard amenities.

*All drivers will be referred to as Ambassadors. They will be serving New Orleans and acting as ambassadors to this great city.

As of this year, 57 percent of SanFrancisco’s taxi fleet is comprised of

alternative-fuel vehicles. These green taxishave reduced gas consumption by 2.9million gallons per year and lowered

greenhouse gas emissions by 35,000 tonsannually, according to the city.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom stands next to ahybrid taxi, praising progress in his city’s green taxiprogram.

NOLA Car Share

Carsharing offers urban residents automobility without carownership. It allows members to use cars for as little as an hourand appeals to those who may not need a car every day.

Car shares:

• Make it easier to live car-free in the city. One analysis suggestseach shared vehicle takes 9 to 13 personal vehicles off the road.

• Can eliminate car payments, insurance, gas and parking costs.

• Reduce parking congestion, increase public transportationridership and decrease air pollution levels in a city.

Research suggests up to 29 percent ofNorth American car share participantsgave up a car when they joined. Statistics courtesy Susan Shaheen, Ph.D.,UC Berkley

Philly Car Share reserved parking in downtown Philadelphia

THINK GREENTHINK CLEANTHINK NOLA

GTC NOLA, LLCAlan B. Fisher, Founder

771 S. Prieur St.New Orleans, LA 70113

504.528.9200gtcnola@me.com

For more than 25 years, GTC NOLA Founder and CEO Alan Fisher operated London Livery Ltd., the limousine company he founded in NewOrleans in 1980 and later expanded to Atlanta. Until the New Orleans fleet was flooded in Hurricane Katrina, London Livery was a premier

provider of upscale ground transportation in the South. It was the largest supplier of ground transportation to the 1996 Olympics andserved as the official provider to major events including the 1984 Louisiana World Exposition, the 1987 New Orleans papal visit and the

1988 Republican National Convention. Fisher is also an avid outdoorsman, conservation photographer and naturalist who has dedicatedsignificant time to the rescue, rehabilitation and release of threatened species in the tropical forests of Central and South America.