| Jaime Castillo: Car rental industry backs off promise to try to ...
After previously threatening to spend $1 million to fight the upcoming venue-tax election, the car rental industry has decided to sit it out after all. "We're not going to fight, in any kind of public sense, the referendum," said Patrick Farrell, a St. Louis-based Enterprise Rent-A-Car spokesman who commented Monday on behalf of a coalition of national rental car tax opponents. The news is a major boost to the efforts of Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff, who is leading an establishment push to extend the tax on hotel rooms and car rentals that was used to build the AT&T Center. If approved by voters on May 10, the $415 million package of four referendums would pay for various public projects. They would include amateur sports fields, a performing arts center, river enhancements and future improvements at the AT&T Center.
Koniferedi chases So Kon Po trip
FORMER national sevens rep Simeli Koniferedi has declared he is fit and ready for national duties in Hong Kong. Koniferedi displayed superb fitness level and tough defensive work when he led his Gaunavou One team to a $1000 victory over Police Suva (21-12) during the Coastal Rental Cars Conua 7s on Friday at Lawaqa Park. Koniferedi was part of the national squad that thumped New Zealand 31-0 last year in Wellington and went on to win the San Diego 7s His footwork was as sharp as razor often catching the opposition off balance. Koniferedi said he had been training at the sand dunes for the last three weeks. "I am ready to put my body on the line for my country in Hong Kong and that is why I have been sacrificing a lot to win back my place in the team" Koniferedi said.
It’s official: Rockford lands Ireland flights
Twice-weekly flights between Rockford and Shannon, Ireland, will start June 26, according to Kenny Tours. The Maryland-based company signed a deal Thursday with North American Airlines to fly the route through Aug. 31, said Bob Nay, Kenny Tours' director of sales and marketing. The flights will be Thursdays and Sundays. Round-trip airfares start at $888, including taxes and airport fees. Six-night motor coach tours, including airfare and hotels, start at $1,489. Six-night bed-and-breakfast stays, including airfare and car rental, start at $1,489. The seasonal model is similar to Chicago Rockford International Airport's other international route, Apple Vacations' weekly flights to Cancun, Mexico, in the winter. But the Ireland flights will be on Boeing 757s with almost 200 seats, which would be the largest plane used on a regularly scheduled passenger route from Rockford.
Local Gas Station Charging Over $4 Per Gallon Near OIA
ORLANDO, Fla. -- There was a break for the holidays, but gas prices are ready to rise again. One local gas station, though, is already charging customers much more than others. RAW INTERVIEW: Manager Defends $4.49 Per Gallon Customers at the independent gas station near the Orlando International Airport are paying $4.49 a gallon. Some of the customers don't know the price they're paying until it's too late. There are no large signs showing the prices at the station. Most customers are tourists returning rental cars before catching flights at Orlando International Airport. Not all believe it's an honorable way to conduct business. "It's not fair. It's definitely price gouging during the holiday season," said tourist Les Lazarus. Even at $4.49 a gallon for regular, most of the pumps were busy at Suncoast Energys on Friday morning.
Enterprise teams with VeraSun for E85 rental car branch
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. - Enterprise Rent-A-Car and VeraSun Energy Corp. have announced that a Sioux Falls rental car branch will rent vehicles that run on a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. St. Louis-based Enterprise has launched similar branches in Washington, Cincinnati and other parts of the country. The Taylor family of companies, which includes Enterprise, National Car Rental and Alamo Rent A Car, rents some 73,000 flexible fuel cars and trucks which can run on E85 or standard unleaded gasoline. Brookings-based VeraSun is one of the nation's top ethanol producers. The companies are holding an inaugural fueling of the new fleet on Monday. .
Edmund Tijerina: Public hearing might be a good show
There's a pretty good chance that this morning's public hearing at Commissioners Court could be entertaining. Commissioners will hear a couple of presentations from groups that want a chunk of cash from the pile of money that would come from extending the county's tax on hotel rooms and rental cars. One presentation will come from the Briscoe Western Art Museum, and the other will come from the Alameda National Center for Latino Arts and Culture for the Alameda Theater. Then the public hearing on the venue tax takes place. You gotta figure that with an estimated $400 million potentially at stake with the tax, things could heat up. If you're interested, catch the hearings on a live webcast on the county's site: www.co.bexar.tx.us.
Renting 'green'? Not so easy
We're not going to be able to save the world," says Andy Taylor, Enterprise's chief executive, "but we think we can have an effect on the space where we play every day as a business. And we think that's what our customers and especially our employees want us to do." But - and you knew there would be a "but" - Enterprise can only do so much. Its customers, and those of sister brands Alamo and National, aren't guaranteed a hybrid rental car because there aren't enough of them for the company to buy. Most of its flex-fuel cars never run on ethanol because E85 filling stations are scarce. And fewer than one in 10 customers so far are paying the extra $1.25 per rental to offset their carbon emissions. Green is a popular theme in the rental car business these days. Hertz, for instance, markets its "Green Collection" and offers hybrids at 50 U.S.
A beginner's guide to Universal Orlando
Rental cars: $178-$306 including taxes for a week in mid-May, depending on which company you rent from.
Airport shuttles will deliver you to hotels along International Drive for $15/person one-way or $25/person round-trip. Taxis from the airport to International Drive range $33-$39 one-way. The I-Ride Trolley can take you from any of the International Drive hotels to Universal: $1 for single-ride tickets; $9 for a seven-day pass. Kids 12 and younger ride free when accompanied by an adult. Or, you can stay at one of the hotels on Universal property and ride the free boat to the parks.
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