THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, October 22, 1995 TAG: 9510220062
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY CATHERINE KOZAK, CORRESPONDENT
DATELINE: MANTEO LENGTH: Medium: 63 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 depends on the working condition of your vehicle, or the good graces of your friends.
Absent that, there are 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 tailored for the area: a low-cost, ride-share 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 the idea is like 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 early in exchange for the convenience, he added.
The company has three eight-to-12-passenger vans in his fleet and six drivers besides Zdanski and his wife (company vice president and part-time driver). Zdanski says he's as occupied now as during the tourist season, probably because 95 percent of his customers are local.
Frustration about transportation difficulties in the area 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 didn't provide enough income.
``One of us had to get a real job, or we had to do something else,'' he said.
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 provides transportation for the county social services agency and adults with disabilities in Manteo.
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.
Zdanski said he has 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.'' by CNB