From a single Lincoln Town Car at SFO in 1986 to a 200-destination chauffeur network spanning 40 years and three eras of the limo industry.
Charles Princeton founds Airport Commuter and is issued CPUC TCP# 9225 by the California Public Utilities Commission. The 3-digit number identifies one of the oldest continuously-operating limousine companies in California; permits issued today are 5-6 digits.
Same year, we put what we believe was the first Lincoln Town Car on the road serving SFO. Until then, every Bay Area limo company ran long stretch sedans. Charles helped redefine what "airport car service" meant in the SF Bay Area.
When the Lincoln Livery Edition Town Car came out from Ford specifically for the chauffeur market, we were the first in Northern California to put a fleet of eight on the road. We've been first to invest in new executive ground-transportation platforms in our market ever since.
We hired several drivers in 1992 who are still driving for Airport Commuter today — 33+ years of continuous tenure. Plus several from 2011. This isn't a coincidence. We hire as W-2 employees (not gig contractors), pay benefits and payroll taxes, and pay the highest wages in the industry. Result: lowest driver turnover rate in our market.
For more on our driver standards, see The Airport Commuter Standard.
In 1994 we put together a joint venture with San Francisco International Airport and ran limo reservation booths inside SFO baggage claim — right next to the airport's own information counters. Travelers could walk off their flight and book a limo on the spot.
You couldn't get that kind of direct-to-traveler airport presence at SFO today no matter what you paid for it. The booths ran successfully through the early 2000s. Still part of how we know SFO's baggage-claim and pickup-zone protocols better than anyone else.
We launched our vetted worldwide affiliate network — the same network we use today, just broader. Each affiliate is an established local limo company with their own employee drivers, full local licensing, and at least 10 years of operating history. We re-validate partners annually.
Today: 200+ destinations — 22 US metros, 30 international destinations, plus 140 SF Bay Area cities served directly from our South San Francisco fleet. See all 200+ destinations »
At our peak we operated more than 78 cars and employed 18 office staff in our South San Francisco headquarters. SFO/OAK/SJC airport transfers, executive accounts, wedding and event work, wine country tours, multi-day chauffeur, and group transportation up to motor coach.
Long-term corporate accounts established in this era include Fortune 500 companies whose executives still ride with us today: Coca-Cola, Delta Air Lines, UPS, Southern Company, Invesco, Mercer.
When Lincoln launched the Livery MKT in 2012, we did it again — twelve cars, first in Northern California. Same playbook as 1986: be first to adopt the new platform that's purpose-built for executive ground transportation.
Uber Black, Lyft Lux, and the gig economy reshape city transportation in the 2010s. Many limo companies pivot to TNC partnerships, dynamic pricing, and contractor-driver models.
We do not. We keep our W-2 employee model, our flat-rate pricing, our 24/7 human dispatch, and our 30-minute free wait time. The customers who valued service quality over price stayed with us. Some of our 1990s and 2000s clients are still booking with us in the 2020s.
The 2020-2021 travel collapse hit limo companies hard, especially those dependent on conference and corporate travel. We deliberately scaled to a leaner, more focused operation rather than going dark or selling off the fleet at distressed prices.
Our long-tenure drivers stayed on. Our long-term corporate accounts came back. We emerged in 2022 with a smaller fleet but the same standards — and the founder back in the office most days, where he started.
200+ destinations. 22 US metros (Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Las Vegas, LA, Miami, Napa, New Orleans, NYC, Newark, Oakland, Orlando, Philadelphia, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, San Diego, San Jose, Washington DC), 30 international cities (Amsterdam, Athens, Barcelona, Berlin, Brussels, Cannes, Dubai, Florence, Frankfurt, Geneva, Hong Kong, London, Madrid, Milan, Montreal, Moscow, Munich, Nice, Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Rome, Shanghai, Singapore, Stockholm, Sydney, Tokyo, Toronto, Vancouver, Vienna, Zurich), plus 140 SF Bay Area cities.
FAA flight tracking on every airport pickup. 24/7 human dispatch. CPUC TCP# 9225 still active, on its annual renewal. $5M commercial liability. W-2 driver employees in the SF Bay Area, vetted affiliates everywhere else.
Same phone number for 40 years: +1-650-876-1777.
Most limo companies in the SF Bay Area today were founded after 2010. A handful go back to the 2000s. A very few go back to the 1990s. Companies operating continuously since 1986 with the original founder still active are rare.
We don't talk about it because it sounds like bragging. But when an executive book us in 2026 with the same standards we used in 1986, with drivers we hired in 1992, with affiliates we've worked with since the early 2000s — that 40-year continuity is the actual product.
Read more about our quality program in The Airport Commuter Standard, or hear directly from the founder in A Word from the President.
Same phone number. Same dispatchers. Same drivers (literally — some have been here since 1992). Same flat rates. Same standards.