West Chester's Rainbow Ends Cab Service; Limo Service Continues

WEST CHESTER, PA — Though limousine service will continue, beloved local institution Rainbow Limousine is ending its cab service, they said in an emotional announcement.

Rainbow's cab division served thousands of local clients, primarily senior citizens. In ending their cab service, the company laid off 18 employees. Fortunately, their limousine service is able to continue.

In a statement, owner Gibbs Tolsdorf said the company was driven to downsize by the state government, which he says did not adequately reimburse them for longer trips involving multiple senior citizens to the Philadelphia Airport.

"The state cheated us," he said. "The state cheated you."

A legal stipulation called "shared ride services" allows the state to use funds from the Pennsylvania Lottery to pay for portions of senior citizen trips to the airport. However, Tolsdorf said the state refused to provide a sufficient stipend for airport trips, calling those trips "a luxury." Tolsdorf argued for the better part of a decade that this was not the case, but to no avail.

"In the end, they’re just politicians who can only talk about budgets," he said. "They don’t talk about people."

Tolsdorf bought the company in 2003 and he said that many of the people he had to let go this week had been with him since the start.

"Some of those people that helped turn it around 15 years ago were laid off today," he said. "And I had to be the one to deliver the news. It was heartbreaking. I did not maintain my composure. There were tears, and hugs, and handshakes, but not one ounce of anger. There was just a lot of love, and some painful silences."

The company has three new sedans, a new Suburban, and a retrofitted website. They are confident their limousine service can continue to flourish.

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