Atterio Norman is the owner and operator of "America’s Best $10 Shuttle,” a discount taxi service designed to help fill the gap between public transport and taxis.
Norman has always had a need to stay busy, but health problems have sometimes gotten in the way. He went to college in Lincoln, Nebraska, to study chemistry, but Crohn’s disease made it difficult to finish his degree. After returning to Columbia, he needed to make a living, and a cleaning business and later a daycare became his daily grind.
“I need to be doing things,” he said. “I think I got that ADHD.”
His businesses were doing fine, but like before, his health got in the way. He persisted, like he had before. He eventually closed the cleaning and daycare businesses.
Norman remembered going to the hospital emergency room, being astonished at the prices and imagining what would happen if people in lesser circumstances needed to go to the hospital. Ambulances and taxis are expensive, and Columbia bus routes don’t cover a majority of the city, Norman said. He wanted to offer an alternative: a transport option that could reach out to communities without public transportation, one that didn’t cost nearly as much as a taxi ride.
The answer was a seven-seat dark blue minivan that would take Columbians around town for a $10 flat rate. Day or night, he’s on call when someone needs a ride.
“My days are kind of sporadic,” he said. “The times I’d get them are wacky. There’s no algorithm.”
An average day is one to two rides, but there isn’t usually a rhyme or rhythm to his weeks. In the downtime, he runs the marketing side of the business, does car maintenance and researches new improvements or expansion options. He’s hoping to get a short school bus to take more passengers, along with having handicapped-accessible vehicles.
He wants to make improvements and teach himself how to grow the business. On occasion, his health has gotten in the way, but he continues to progress. Since starting his business, he’s brought on one more driver to help serve more costumers and fill the gap when he needs to take care of himself.
Now roughly two years into the business, Norman says he enjoys his job.
“Being a taxi driver I should have a degree in time killing,” he joked — but his workload and drive to constantly improve says otherwise. His favorite part of the job is “getting to know people’s stories.”
