All Things Travel: Marcoux Transportation Group Keeps Moving With Expansion
BOSTON (CBS) – The Marcoux Transportation Group of Waltham has shifted into overdrive with three acquisitions and a startup in New England in the past three years.
Its latest move, announced about a month ago, merges Boston Coach of Everett with Dav El Chauffeured Transportation Network of Chelsea to form the largest driver limo and sedan business in the United States.
The new combined company, to be named Boston Coach, will have more than 1,700 vehicles on the road and employ 3,000 people as the corporate headquarters expands in Everett over the next 90 days. Boston Coach will then have 12 offices stretching across the country.
In another significant move, Marcoux Transportation brought the door-to-door Super Shuttle high-occupancy vans to Logan Airport and is expanding that service to all cities and towns within Route 128.
Scott Solombrino, who built Dav El into a major national limo company in the past 25 years, will lead the new combined company.
"We have taken No. 2 and No. 3 in the industry and made them No. 1," said Solombrino in a recent interview at the new Everett headquarters. "The service of Dav El has been combined with the technical know-how of Boston Coach."
Last year Marcoux engineered a deal to purchase Boston Coach from Fidelity Investments and more acquisitions are planned.
"We are big buyers of good brands," added Solombrino.
Solombrino started his company in 1978 when he was a student at Suffolk University. The North Shore resident has been active in the Global Business Travel Association. He currently serves as president of its Allied Member Leadership Council that includes airlines and national travel companies.
The GBTA will bring its annual national conference back to Boston in the summer of 2017. This year it will be held in Los Angeles.
The Marcoux Transportation Group also includes Harrison Global and Regal Limousine of New Hampshire.
The limo industry was hit hard in the recent recession with cutbacks in corporate travel requiring consolidation in the industry, according to Solombrino. The business has come back strongly in the past 12 months.
One of the companies that is part of Boston Coach is Best of Boston, the region's largest event-planning company. You can also expect growth in that part of the business.
Scott Solombrino is a man in motion who starts his day at 5 a.m. reading five newspapers.
Bob Weiss reports on business travel on Mondays at 5:55 a.m. on WBZ NewsRadio 1030.
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