Car service company launches in South Boston

This winter, Alyssa Rogers heard about a new business in South Boston, where she lives and works. She could hire a limousine and a driver to take her and her guests to Caesars Virginia in Danville and back for a night out.

“It was an all-around great experience,” Rogers says.

No one had to navigate, park or limit their cocktails.

“And you have this very nice vehicle that you’re getting into and out of, and people are looking at you like, ‘Who are these people?’” she says, laughing.

That business, Southern Transfer, hit the road Feb. 1. It offers daily shuttles to the Raleigh-Durham International Airport, as well as luxury town car and limo service to the airport, the Danville casino and the Virginia International Raceway in Alton. Additionally, brides and grooms can hire Southern Transfer to make grand exits from their nuptials. If travelers want a driver for individual itineraries, the company is up for that also.

Southern Transfer President Ernest L. “Nest” Cage, a South Boston native, was surprised by how quickly the business revved up. In February and March, the company completed more than 60 bookings.

The business has four limousines, three town cars and plans to add another town car soon, according to Cage. A U.S. Air Force colonel who lives in Delaware, Cage and his wife, Sonya Cage, also run a business there offering limo service to funeral homes. It is called Dignified Transfer.

Cage had planned to bring a similar business to Virginia, but South Boston Mayor Edward Owens had a different idea.

Owens wanted to see transportation offered to and from the Raleigh airport and to and from key locations in Southern Virginia, according to Cage.

Cage quickly pivoted, creating the Southern Transfer brand. It’s a family affair — Cage’s father, Ernest Cage, is site lead for the South Boston operation.

Door-to-door town car rides to and from the airport have been Southern Transfer’s most popular booking so far.

Shuttles to the airport cost $75 per person each way. Southern Transfer declined to provide pricing for the company’s other services, which vary depending on the vehicle and mileage.

Cage says rural communities are often overlooked by national companies, which creates opportunity.

“It’s really about providing options,” he says.