Conn. taxi co. chief selected to lead Taxicab, Limousine & Paratransit Assoc.

Bill Scalzi, the president of Metro Taxi in New Haven, was named president of the Taxicab, Limousine & Paratransit Association (TLPA). He was sworn in during the association's annual convention held in Phoenix on November 2.

Started in 1917, the TLPA, world’s oldest and largest trade association of the for-hire vehicle industry, was founded by John Hertz, who later went on to found Hertz Rental Car.

As president, Scalzi will have the distinct honor of shepherding the trade association through its 100th year of operation. The association’s presidents are elected from within its 1,000 members — comprised of small, medium and large transportation fleets — to serve a one-year term.

Scalzi bought Metro Taxi in New Haven when he was just 29 years old, starting with 15 cars. Today, Metro Taxi has 160 taxis, making it the largest fleet in Connecticut. During decades of growth, Scalzi brought natural gas vehicles into his fleet, opened the state’s first public CNG filling stations, and advocated tirelessly to change state law so that he could include wheelchair accessible taxis in his fleet. More than half of his company’s vehicles are now wheelchair accessible, one of the largest such fleets in the country.