Local entrepreneur takes on Uber

Local chauffeur service launches BlinkCar app with high hopes|

Gary Buffo has been watching the rise of Uber, Lyft and other ride-sharing services with considerable interest.

The president of Petaluma-based Pure Luxury transportation services, he believes companies like Uber - which use smartphone technology to activate a pick-up - are forcing more traditional taxi and chauffeur services like his to adapt.

“I knew that transportation was going to change eventually, and technology would be built into it,” Buffo said on Tuesday. People are expecting to request rides with an app, he said, and “We need to give customers what they want.”

So he and his wife, Jennifer, the company’s vice president, hired a tech firm to develop an answer to this challenge - and after three long years overcoming the many technical and logistical issues, they are ready with that answer: BlinkCar.

And Petalumans, it turns out, are getting first crack at it.

BlinkCar, which launches today, begins with an app that can be downloaded through blinkcar.com. Once installed, customers log in by providing their name, email, phone number and credit card number.

The app does the rest, mapping the destination on Google Maps, calling a driver based on the request, providing the cost of the ride up front and letting the customer know which driver will arrive and when. The cost for an “economy sedan” should compare with traditional taxi rates.

“Petaluma is the test market,” Buffo said. “If it works here, then we’ll be expanding to other cities throughout Sonoma County.” Napa Valley is also in their sights - and if things really go well, Buffo plans to license the new technology to any of their 383 contracted affiliates around the world.

The Buffos believe BlinkCar will succeed where others, even Uber, will fail. That’s because the ride-sharing business model relies on “untrained drivers, using their personal cars, which is a big no-no in the State of California,” Buffo said.

By contrast, Pure Luxury knows the legal side of the business well, having operated a transportation service for more than 23 years. Over that time the Buffos grew their fleet from a single car to dozens of buses, limos, vans, SUVs and black Lincoln sedans, with company bases in Petaluma, Napa Valley and Foster City.

Uber may have grabbed a lot of attention, and billions in cash, on the way to dominating the world of ride-sharing. But according to Buffo, that business model is fatally flawed.

“It’s inevitable, they’re going to implode,” he said. The reason is that companies like Uber “have no infrastructure. They have no idea what it takes, what we go through.”

That includes training, licensing, insurance, vehicle maintenance and countless other responsibilities. Unlike an Uber driver, he said, a chauffeur from BlinkCar is accountable, professional, legal and fully paid for his or her time. The work that goes into that level of service is something Uber never considered, he said.

In a way, the Buffos made a similar mistake, assuming the technology aspect would be easy. It wasn’t - and there are still a few bugs to work out with the BlinkCar system. But the app’s interface is straightforward, and the cars and their drivers are ready to go.

For Buffo, that puts Pure Luxury and BlinkCar in an exciting position, as there are no other professional transportation companies with an app like this.

“We’re the only guys that are this far ahead,” he said.

(Contact Don Frances at don.frances@arguscourier.com)

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