How I Put My Airport Car Service On An SLA

My background is in business strategy and IT consulting.  I'm used to seeing some pretty ridiculous SLAs that are imposed upon suppliers by customers.  Five nines for e-mail?  As one my friends said, many people confuse replying to e-mail with doing work, but they are not the same.  Many big companies make demands upon suppliers that defy logic.

I have long viewed those SLA demands with suspicion, in part because they are often coupled to punitive contract terms that seem to reward customers for finding ways to bring systems down.  That said, I've just had my first experience with SLAs tied to punitive conditions.  And it worked spectacularly, I'm embarrassed to admit.

I travel frequently to and from the airport.  I've got lots of ways to get there and back and I've probably tried about every limo and taxi service in the bay area.  Price and reliability seem somewhat correlated.  Cheaper rates (about $65 from my house to the airport) are associated with low levels of reliability and drivers who always want to be paid in cash.

Higher rates sometimes result in better service, but not always.  Pick-ups are particularly tedious because I live just outside the main service area for SFO.  Apparently, this means any trip to my house should be a meter-and-half rates.  This makes car services cheaper, especially late at night when finding a flexible cab driver is much harder.

I've settled on one driver who has been consistently pretty good.  To make him better, I tried imposing an SLA.  The terms of the SLA were as follows:

1. Driver must be there within 5 minutes of my arrival at the curb.  Driver must take responsibility to tracking my incoming flight.
2. Being between 5 and 10 minutes late results in a $15 reduction in the ride price
3. More than 15 minutes late and the ride is free
4. Driver must have exact change for a cash fare paid in $20 bills and the receipt must be pre-filled in with the correct date and amount or I round down to the nearest $20 or pay by credit card.

Since requesting this SLA, I've had 100% on-time performance.  I no longer get blank receipts that I have to fill out on my own, and I've never had trouble paying with $20s.

Given the tremendous success of this SLA, I'm looking at some new candidates where I can impose service level standards:

• Wireless service
• Children
• Airllines

;)

Taxi Cab, Data Center?  Put an SLA On It. (Photo CC Tim Pearce)