Monday, October 7, 2024
CTA president Marc Andre Way
Opinion/ColumnTaxi industry news

2024: Change for the better

by Marc Andre Way

The only constant in business is change.

This is true in all of life. No one gets married and starts a family expecting children to stay toddlers forever; we expect them to grow up, get educated, get married, and start their own families.

No one plants a garden expecting the same plants to yield crops the entire calendar year. We expect plants to grow, to blossom, to bear fruits and then to die. Farmers don’t expect much during the winter, but they are already optimistic about next spring.

In business, the systems we learned in college or as apprentices are guaranteed to evolve, to change, to be overtaken by events and new realities. Interest rates go up and down. Consumer desires surge first in one surprising direction, and then another. We have a choice: we can either change with the times and the find a way to profit by the new realities, or we can be buried by them.

Whether you decide to change with the times or cling to the past, one thing is certain: SOMEONE is going to notice the opportunities being created by change, and look for a way to make money by addressing the new changing needs.

The question, then, is not whether or not there will be change. The question is, will the business taking advantage of new opportunities be yours, or someone else’s?

Over the past few years, it seems Canada’s Taxi industry has seen more change than in the decades before. Lots of it has been uncomfortable and often seemed unfair.

But looking around, I can’t help but notice that some Taxi companies are hustling and actually increasing their share of the business, while others are stagnating. Some have disappeared. Congratulations to those that are growing and improving!

We have a lot to learn from you.

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Marc Andre Way is the President of the Canadian Taxi Association and CEO of Coventry Connections.