THE FACTS:

Business name: Shuttle Tran

Business Age: 24 years How long have you owned it? Since 1988

Owner(s) name(s) and official title(s): Vivian Rudeseal

Business location: 17 East Camelia Rd. NE Rome

If not original location and change is recent: How long here? 20 years

Where was the business previously? Shorter Avenue

How many employees? We have 8 drivers

Web site: www.shuttletran.net

Hours (if open to the public): 8 a.m. until 8 p.m. seven days a week

Email Address: Shuttletran@aol.com



1. Who is answering the questions? Isaac Rudeseal



2. What is the primary purpose of your business? To provide transportation between cities in Northwest Georgia and the Atlanta airport. Probably 80 percent of what we do is airport, 5 percent is stuff to other places in Atlanta and back and the remaining 15 percent is related to motor coach operations.



3. What is the business background of the owners? Mostly retail sales.



4. Why did you start (or purchase) this particular business? We bought it as an opportunity to do two things, continue the service for the community because the original owner was preparing to shut it down. Secondly it was to provide what we thought at the time was part time employment for Vivian.



5. What makes your business unique? It is the only scheduled service that operates between the Atlanta airport and Rome on a routine basis. We have five trips scheduled daily. We also do special trips any time at higher rates. We have five trips scheduled daily at what we call shuttle rates and then we have special trips at higher rates at any time.



6. What do you enjoy most about your chosen profession? The ability to be in apposition to make your decisions without somebody else making them for you. Of course you are not always right but we’re right more often than not and that’s why we’re still in business.



7. What has been the biggest or most interesting challenge to overcome as a small business owner? Dealing with economic downturns, for example Eastern Airlines when it went under, 9-11 when the planes quit flying completely and for the last several years now the terrible expense of insurance and fuel. The insurance skyrocketed after 9-11. That was the first really big hit. We went from $6,000 a year to $30,000 for insurance premiums. The biggest challenge is overcoming problems that were not self-generated but are there and you have to deal with them.



8. Is there anything else you’d like to share with our readers? We are the primary provider of motor coach services to the casinos in Mississippi from the north-west Georgia area. We do other tours but that is the primary function of our motor coach operation. Look for better things in the future. We expect the economy to turn around next year and where we’re running five trips to the airport each day we expect to add at least one more trip because we are planning to increase our volume by working for frequently in the Kennesaw-Acworth market.