In The News

Tooling around Florida with A-Action Transportation

One summer weekend in 1997 we were having dinner at Arturo’s Restaurant, talking about our plans to move to Marco later that year.

At a nearby table we noticed two women having dinner, one of them on the phone a lot. A little eavesdropping revealed that Kathy Gorman was quietly dispatching taxis with her cell phone. Just another example, we thought, of what a laid back, casual place Marco was.

Peter Van Veen

This year Kathy, her right-hand man Peter Van Veen, and their staff are observing 15 years at what now is A-Action Transportation. We took the occasion to ask Kathy and Peter for some stories about taking Marco folks and others from A-to-B for so many years.

Peter: “When I first started, most of the trips involved local bars like Septembers, Sandbar and Mustang Sally’s. We’d only get an airport run every four or five days. Now for us it’s primarily airports and long trips. We like it that way. I’d say half our business to and from the Marriott.

“The longest trip ever for A-Action was to Atlanta. For me, it was to Fort Pierce up Florida’s east coast.”

Kathy: “Once at the Fort Myers airport the passenger got out, said the fare was too high and wouldn’t pay. I said ‘OK, see ya.’ He said, ‘I need my bags in the trunk.‘ I said, ‘No payment, no luggage.’ He paid.”

Peter: “Celebrities? A few, yeah. We carry some big-time businessmen who live here. We occasionally carry the Prime Minister of Georgia (the country) who has a home on Marco. But he travels under another name.

“One evening when I answered a call from the Marriott for a ride to the Island Cafe, the couple looked familiar but I couldn’t place them. When I said that, the man said, ‘I’m James Carville, Clinton’s campaign manager and this is my wife Mary Maitlin, Bush’s campaign manager.’ They were very nice.”

Kathy: “At the Publix one day the woman passenger got out, carrying wine she’d bought at Walgreens and said she’d be right back. ‘You can leave your wine in the car while you shop,’ I said. ‘No, that’s OK,’ she said and went into the store. Never came back. I called police, they found her house where she’d left her kids alone, by the way and got the money for me.”

Now that’s service.

We asked whether passengers often leave valuables in the cars.

Peter: “The most common things left are cell phones and we always see they’re returned to the owners.”

Kathy: “He’s right. Sometimes the phone rings from the back seat, its owner hoping someone will answer and return it.”

We experienced A-Action going the extra mile, so to speak. We arrived at the Fort Myers Airport for a two-leg flight to Poland, but realized at the check-in counter one of us didn’t have her passport.

We phoned Peter, well on his way back to Marco. He found the passport in the back seat of the car and hurried back to the airport in time for us to make the flight. That’s service.

Peter and Kathy agree that A-Action is successful mostly because of the quality of customer service they offer.

Another time we’ll tell Peter’s tale of driving the Terminator and Maria Shriver, their baby and the infant’s nurse all over New England. Meantime, happy anniversary A-Action Transportation. Call: 394-4400.