“If I didn t have my friends and family help me out I would have been out of business four months ago,” Calafiore said.
Just how bad has it been? Bill’s Limousine Vice President Kenya McCoy-Myers said the business has gone from 20 to 30 rides per day, to very few.
“People assume when they see limos and party buses that it s a party company but the bread and butter of our business is actually our corporate travel, our travel to and from New York City to the major airports into Boston and things of that nature and that s the business that came to a halt in March of 2020,” McCoy-Myers explained.
By Sam Bonacci
Several Central Massachusetts firms are among the recipients of nearly $4.5 million in grants from MassDevelopment aimed at enhancing the competitiveness of taxi and livery services in the face of the evolving for-hire transportation market.
The 85 grants from the Taxi & Livery Business Support Grant Program will support 104 small businesses operating in the taxi and livery industries and two taxi and livery industry associations (New England Livery Association and The Transportation Alliance), according to the Thursday release from MassDevelopment. The grants will be used to improve competitiveness and enhance safety capabilities, according to MassDevelopment.
Included in those grants are several Central Massachusetts companies: