THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 22, 1995 TAG: 9510190192
SECTION: CAROLINA COAST PAGE: 05 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CATHERINE KOZAK, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: Medium: 92 lines
Don't have a car on the Outer Banks? You're in trouble.
At least, you used to be.
It's no secret to those who live here year-round that transportation is wholly dependent on the working condition of your vehicle, or the good graces of your friends.
Absent that, there are always cabs or hitchhiking. Mass transit doesn't exist on the Outer Banks.
With the pioneering attitude typical of Outer Banks business owners, Cristan Zdanski thinks he's found a solution tailor-made for this area: a low-cost, share-ride transportation system that's as basic as runs to Norfolk International Airport or as individualized as shuttling teenagers to the movies.
``Basically, it's a glorified car pool,'' he said of The Connection, his new Manteo-based passenger van transportation service. ``The concept is like police and fire protection - if everybody pays a little bit, then nobody is stuck footing the whole bill.''
Zdanski, 32, explained that despite the similarity to taxis or limousines, the idea is really closer to purchasing an airplane ticket.
``You're not renting the vehicle, you're buying a seat,'' he said, adding that travel costs are usually one-third the rate of taxi service.
And last month's addition of the airport run apparently answered a community need: 19 out of 32 days have been booked to Norfolk, up to four runs a day.
Although rates are cheaper with at least 48-hour notice, Zdanski said he usually works out whatever the passenger needs. Most customers are flexible and willing to be quite early in exchange for the convenience, he added.
With three eight-to-12-passenger vans in his fleet and six drivers employed besides himself and his wife (company vice president and part-time driver), the business is keeping Zdanski busy. He says he's every bit as occupied now as during the tourist season, probably because his customers are ``95 percent local.''
It was local frustration about transportation difficulties in the area that gave Zdanski the impetus to launch The Connection in March.
That and the need to eat.
At the time, his wife, Ginny, a designer of sport fishing yachts, was suddenly unemployed. Zdanski found that his contract delivery service provided inadequate income.
``One of us had to get a real job, or we had to do something else,'' he said.
His curiosity had been piqued after reading of a unique child-transport service in another state. While seeking input on the idea, he discovered local transportation services were geared more to the needs and wallets of tourists than residents.
Since the company's first ``contract rider,'' a widow who needed transportation to work, passengers have regularly included commercial fishermen in Wanchese, kids, people whose cars are in the shop, even wedding parties that need to be shuttled from church to reception to hotel. The business also does some transportation for the county social services agency and disabled adults in Manteo.
Half-off deals are offered to riders who purchase monthly contracts, Zdanski said. But even last-minute passengers can afford transportation, he added. The service offers rides within Manteo for $2 each way, from Manteo to Nags Head for $7, or from Kill Devil Hills to Kitty Hawk for $5.
Although business has been as busy lately as it was in mid-June, Zdanski said he's been cautious about allowing things to grow too fast.
``This is the type of business that you can create a monster in June, but feeding the monster in January becomes a problem,'' he said. ``You can invest a lot of money in it.''
Yet he's open to growth as inspiration strikes or need arises.
Some possibilities for the future, Zdanski said, may include buying blocks of tickets to the ballet or symphony and providing transportation to the events, and offering discount rates for group transportation to holiday office parties.
He added that if work shortages continue at the rate of recent years, he anticipates the service will contract to transport summer workers on and off the barrier islands.
``We started this with the intent of bringing affordable transportation to the entire county,'' Zdanski said. ``We're in it for the long haul, and we plan to expand.
``It's going to be a slow, steady growth.'' MEMO: For more information on The Connection, call 473-2777.
ILLUSTRATION: Photo by CATHERINE KOZAK
Cristan Zdanski, 32, says his shared ride service, The Connection,
is ``a glorified car pool.''
by CNB