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Airways Transit is hutt'ier---and better Woo Martinuk Chronicle Staff " is a long-held belief that cor- porate monopolies spell bad news for consumers - that a lack of ,compelition inevitably produces price hikes and a drop in service. The performance of a Kitchener- Waterloo company, Airways Tran- sit, proves that, indeed, there is an exception to every rule. It was Just over three years ago that Airways Transit acquired a local "mooopoly" in its business, providing carrier service from Wa- terloo Region to and from the Toronto international Airport. According to company vice presi- dent Bob Tessier, that move sparked a flurry of public concern, with the media and area travel agencies "worried that with the monopoly, service would diminish. prices would go up - that we'd have a cavalier attitude towards our cus- tomers." In fact, he said, creating the monopoly has produced exactly the opposite result: "We're able to do extra things to improve service because we're carrying that extra passenger per trip which would otherwise be going to the competi- tion." What "extras" does he mean? There's nothing Tessier likes to do more than sit down, run through the changes undertaken since Airways Transit purchased the assets of the local United Trails airport service in November 1900. and quite frankly "brag" a bit. First, there's the fleet itself. Originally. 11 green station wagons “which had seen better days," within one year all vehicles had been replaced with new luxury passenger vans. each costing ap proximately $20,000. Currently Air- ways operates five six-passenger vans, six eight-passenger vans and three luxury limosines out of Kitch- ener-Waterloo. In J anuary, the fleet will be expanded again with the addition of four new vehicles. "We've finally got the neet the way it should be - we're not backing on at all." Tessier said. Air's Transit offers five regu~ lar runs daily to the Toronto Airport " well av door-to-door service. resulting In sometimes as many as monopoLv lupnovss SERVICE Bob Tessier " trips to the airport eactrday Tessier said Airways will accom- modate any customer request for a specific departure time, even if it means there's only one person in the van or there'll be another vehicle leaving K-W only 15 minutes later. "If you want it, you'll get it. It's up to us to come uprwith the other passengers," he said. "It may well be that you are the only passenger in the van, and that on that lonely trip. we could be coming back empty." One of the first major scheduling changes undertaken by Tessier after the 1980 takeover was to offer separate service for Kitchener-Wa- terloo and Cambridge passengers. "Costs would be lower if we did take the K-W passengers in to Cambridge. but it wouidn't be worth it because people wouldn't be happy," Tessier explained. Other internal changes, ranging from increasing staff and improving facilities both at Airways' Kitchener base and the Toronto Airport to better driver education programs, have been instituted with an eye to offering the best service possible. "With the incredible inflation of the last couple years. you would expect the sole operator to really increase prices, but we haven't." he said. After the first year in business, the single fare for door-to-door service had increased by 6.7 per cent; 1982 saw a 6.25 per cent hike, and a fare increase of 4.9 per cent has been set for this year. Tessier projects that the 1984 fare increase will be held to under two per cent. and there may well be no increase at all. But, while Tessier looks with pleasure on all these improvements, it is of the company's pricing history that he is most proud. How is it possible that the com- pany can hold the line on costs, yet undertake an expensive equipment replacement program and expand service? Tessier replied the secret is sim- ply that "because of the good things we're doing, the number of people using the service continues to go up. We're busier because we're better. "Our goal is to get them there, get them there quickly. safely and comfortably and they'll want to come back," he remarked. Tessier estimated that business has increased by at least 10 per cent in each of the three years since the ownership change. Approximately 85 per cent of passengers using the service are area businessmen. and Airways has some 300 regular commercial ac- counts which they deal with on a monthly basis. “Businessmen are travellie? with us like they've never travel! before," he said. Tessier admitted, however, that the past two-and-a-half years have been difficult ones for the company, with Airway's "losing money hand over fist." But, he added, during the last tour months, the company has started to “turn around" and the work is beginning to pay off. While working out of K-W for only the past three years. Tessier is no newcomer to the airport carrier service. In 1908. he and a partner established the Red Car Service in Guelph. "We had a blue car. we painted Red Car Service on the back. and there we went." The company also operates an airport carrier service from Hamilton to the Toronto airport. Long-range plans for Airways Transit include establishing sepa- rate omees tor the Cambridge service. expanding the private limo. sine fleet and increasing the number of trips offered to the airport. But. said Tessier. "We're not in a hurry to get bigger. It's I nice size company and we want to grow with the community." If you are 65 or over and have no employer sponsored pension income. you may not be taking advantage of your $1,000.00 pension income deduction. 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