Limo rides are not only for those fancy evenings, they can also save your life
There’s plenty of traffic around, but limousines are rare enough that they still have the power to turn heads in Sussex County.
Coastal Point • SAM HARVEY:
Mike Staniewski and Joe Doring, of Coastal Resort Limousine.
However, according to Mike Staniewski at Coastal Resort Limousine, it’s not all about the glamour.
Fine, maybe it’s partly about the glamour, but as Staniewski pointed out, local limos can get clients home from a night at the bar, or down to the service center to pick up their own ride, just as easily as they can take lovestruck students to a prom.
There’s just a little more legroom in a limo.
“I’m here for one reason — to give people a ride when they need one,” he stated. “I want them to call me.
“A lot of people don’t take advantage of us, and it’s a shame — every night, there’s someone getting pulled over and locked up,” Staniewski said. “They should have called me instead.”
Coastal Resort Limo offers local rides from a $10 minimum (or, by way of comparison, a ride from Millville to mid-town Ocean City for $65).
Staniewski said his cars weren’t outrageously oversized — they’re six-passenger affairs, three facing three. He has a five-passenger Town Car, too.
He said he sometimes picked up his son (Daniel) from daycare in one of the big cars, even took the gang out for pizza on occasion — no food in the car though, boys.
The limos have stereos and climate controls in the back, two flat-screen monitors, VHS and DVD players. “You’ve got to keep up with the times,” Staniewski noted.
Originally from Baltimore, Staniewski considered himself a “born hacker” — a term that came down from “hackney,” or “an ordinary horse.”
“I’ve spent most of my life driving cabs,” he pointed out. “I like getting people where they need to go, I like taking people out for entertainment — for me, it’s kind of like a social life mixed in with a business life.”
He drove a taxi in Baltimore, but decided to move when one of the major companies out of Baltimore Washington International (BWI) started putting the squeeze on the little guys.
His father had retired from the Baltimore police, and Staniewski’s parents were planning to relocate to Ocean View, so he decided to follow their lead.
“I thought, hey, there aren’t any cabs around here,” he said.
Staniewski moved to Ocean View in 1988, just around the corner from his parents’ place. His wife-to-be, Barbara, followed along shortly thereafter.
Their son is 11 years old now, preparing to graduate from Lord Baltimore and head to the Southern Delaware School of the Arts (SDSA).
“When I moved here, I thought, ‘I’m going to be a single guy, just a beach bum running a cab,’” he joked. “I guess it didn’t really turn out that way.”
He started Independent Cab in 1989 and ran that for a couple of years, then in Ocean City for eight years. Eventually, Staniewski returned to this area with plans to focus on limousine service.
He started up Coastal Resort Limousine in 2000.
The business has seen its peaks and valleys — he said some of his corporate clientele from the early days had dropped off, and the fleet is smaller than it once was.
However, Staniewski forges on. Even though business is slow at times, he said he considered the services he provides of value to the community.
“People should feel comfortable calling us for any reason,” he said. “We’re here to serve you.” And, of course, limousine service is always a nice addition to any special occasion.
“If you want to go out to dinner with your loved one — we’ll treat you special, add a little elegance to your evening, and it won’t cost you an arm or a leg,” Staniewski said.
Adults can bring along their beverages of choice (unlike a taxicab).
He said people sometimes invited him to join in the merrymaking, but as he pointed out, “That would defeat the whole purpose — the whole reason I’m out here.”
That being said, Staniewski insisted he was no stick in the mud, either. “This is something for the locals — maybe they want to go out and get crazy once in a while.”
However, Staniewski will likely keep his own tie on (or cummerbund, depending on what night it is).
For more information, call Coastal Resort Limousine at 539-4800.