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Travelers looking for a posh ride between Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport and scores of local hotels will soon be able to climb aboard brand new Mercedes Sprinter vehicles, thanks to the pending relaunch of an airport shuttle service.
The Atlanta City Council on Nov. 17 awarded a five-year exclusive shuttle contract to Carey Airport Shuttle LLC, a recently formed partnership led by Mike Dangerfield, who also owns the Atlanta branch of Carey limousine service.
The new service will start March 1.
"We think enough time has passed since 9/11 and airline traffic is up a little bit, so we think now is a good time to be doing this," Dangerfield said.
Two years ago, Coach USA, which held the previous airport shuttle contract, pulled out because the business wasn't profitable and traffic had plummeted afterthe 2001 terrorist attacks.
Since then, a conglomerate of eight transportation companies has taken passengers between the airport and hotels.
But that patchwork system was rife with problems - some passengers would wait 30 minutes or more for a shuttle to pick them up at their hotels, and occasionally unauthorized taxicabs or other shuttle services would take business from legitimate shuttle providers.
"This is one of our disappointing areas," said Ben DeCosta, general manager of...