[Nfbmo] The bus Saga Continues.
Dick Morris
dickmorris at netzero.net
Fri Feb 15 23:16:47 UTC 2013
Hi, Dan,
As far as I know, most bus companies are monopolies. Even back in the day,
although the Delaware Coach Company was privately owned, it had a franchise
to run all bus service in Wilmington, Delaware. Another company had the
franchise to run buses out where I lived. And of course, you couldn't
transfer between bus lines (sigh). So even back then, bus service was a
monopoly. Of course now Delaware has a transit authority: there was a
three-month drivers' strike in 1967 (I don't recall the issue), and a year
after it was settled, Delaware Coach pulled out, and the city created a
transit authority which eventually became DART First State.
I think you'd have to go back to the early streetcar era to find a situation
in which multiple companies ran transit services in a particular city. I
don't know if there's a book that covers bus transit deregulation in the way
that Hard Landing did for airlines.
I guess it's obvious that transit and transit marketing are two of my
favorite subjects. And it's probably also obvious that I should let this
subject die until there's more action in Springfield.
Dick
--------------------------------------------------
From: <DanFlasar at aol.com>
Sent: Friday, February 15, 2013 3:38 PM
To: <nfbmo at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [Nfbmo] The bus Saga Continues.
So much for the idea that the Free Market solves all problems.
Without intervention by the will of the people (ie, our government),
free market capitalism leads inexorably to monopoly - which is why
government has had to intervene so continuously over the years - which
leads to too
much regulation which leads to too much deregulation which leads to...
You'd think we'd remember this.
Dan
In a message dated 2/15/2013 3:25:42 P.M. Central Standard Time,
dickmorris at netzero.net writes:
Matt and Gary,
At least Springfield and Columbia have bus stations in town! Matt, I don't
know about where you are. But here in Tahlequah, the bus depot sits
abandoned; I don't know when the last bus rolled through here, but it was
before I came in 2004. Our closest bus station is Muskogee, about 25 miles
away, and taking a bus from there is like flying out of Springfield, in
that
you'll go to a "hub" city like Tulsa or OKC and change there. And Tulsa is
sixty miles from here.
Isn't deregulation wonderful? Just for grins, if you want an analysis of
what deregulation has done to the airline industry, read Thomas
Petzinger's
Hard Landing. Petzinger writes for the Wall Street Journal, and the book
is
both interesting and readable.
Dick
--------------------------------------------------
From: "Matt Sievert" <matt.sievert at gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, February 15, 2013 3:10 PM
To: "NFB of Missouri Mailing List" <nfbmo at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [Nfbmo] The bus Saga Continues.
Now,
Megabus and the michigan flyer have all been successes.
Matt
-----Original Message-----
From: "Gary Wunder" <gwunder at earthlink.net>
Sender: "Nfbmo" <nfbmo-bounces at nfbnet.org>
Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2013 15:03:59
To: 'NFB of Missouri Mailing List'<nfbmo at nfbnet.org>
Reply-To: NFB of Missouri Mailing List <nfbmo at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [Nfbmo] The bus Saga Continues.
When I sometimes ride the bus I get the impression they will run their
busses until they run no more and then they'll stop serving us all
together.
It is not the service-oriented company I used to ride regularly.
-----Original Message-----
From: Nfbmo [mailto:nfbmo-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Dick Morris
Sent: Friday, February 15, 2013 12:59 PM
To: NFB of Missouri Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Nfbmo] The bus Saga Continues.
Matt, the big problem with Greyhound is that they have had no real
competition ever since they acquired Continental Trailways in the early
90s,
and thereby gutted the Trailways network. It reminds me of the old, before
the breakup, AT&T commercial slogan, "We may be the only phone company in
town, but we try not to act like it." Epic fail on the parts of both AT&T
and Greyhound.
Speaking of lack of competition, think of what air travel will be like once
American and USAir complete their merger.
Dick
--------------------------------------------------
From: "Matt Sievert" <matt.sievert at gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, February 15, 2013 7:40 AM
To: "NFB of Missouri Mailing List" <nfbmo at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [Nfbmo] The bus Saga Continues.
Dick,
Thank you for correcting me. Mrs. Cruise did the best she could with the
bus
system. She even ran multiple buses on the same route during holiday
weekends, because the mall was so backed up. I never used access express,
because I didn't qualify, so I can't speak for that service.
As for Norna Champion. She has a school and a park named after her.
Greyhound is horrible for everyone. For blind people, for servicemen/women
going to Fort Leonard, and everyone in between.
Greyhound drives me to be a more successful person. So I can bypass that
nastyness, by prtivate leased car trips or airline travel.
I will NEVER advocate greyhound to anyone. They really don't care about
their customers.
-----Original Message-----
From: "Dick Morris" <dickmorris at netzero.net>
Sender: "Nfbmo" <nfbmo-bounces at nfbnet.org>
Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2013 03:45:09
To: NFB of Missouri Mailing List<nfbmo at nfbnet.org>
Reply-To: NFB of Missouri Mailing List <nfbmo at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [Nfbmo] The bus Saga Continues.
Matt, her name is Carol Cruise, and she has retired--but she was always
willing to listen to her customers. From what Gary tells me, the buses are
full now, probably thanks to $3 gasoline.
But...you are absolutely right about the "second class citizen" attitude.
Maybe you remember Dr. Norma Champion. I had her in several classes at
Evangel when I got my communications degree back in the dark ages. As a
state senator, well...I was at a Jeff City seminar, I forget which year,
and
of course I met with her to push NFB issues. One was a transit issue, and
her response was that public transit was for "someone like you". I think I
bit my tongue till it bled. She was losing her vision due to macular
degeneration, but I never could get her to see our side of things. Sad but
true.
And which Greyhound station were you referring to? The old one on St. Louis
or the new one on East Kearney? My problems were more with rude Greyhound
drivers than anything else, but the last time I rode the bus, about a year
ago, I had a good experience--except for a bus that was three hours late.
Oh, well...can't have everything.
Dick
--------------------------------------------------
From: "Matt Sievert" <matt.sievert at gmail.com>
Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2013 8:11 PM
To: "NFB of Missouri Mailing List" <nfbmo at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [Nfbmo] The bus Saga Continues.
Sigh,
I am glad I am not in Springfield.
Public Transportation in Springfield, Missouri has always been a
"second-class" citizen issue. "only poor people and the elderly ride the
bus." is what I heard from most folks.
Also seeing empty buses driving around town didn't help any either.
Mary Cruse did a lot to help out the transit issue. I don't know where she
went, but obviously by Gary's, account, things have not improved.
The only thing worse in Springfield, Mo than the public transit system, is
the Greyhound station.
My primary means of transportation in Springfield, Mo was a cab or walking.
Only when I worked at St. John's was the bus useful, that is because the #2
S. National went past the hospital on weekdays, and the #5 went by on
weekends. Besides that, the bus was a headache I did not want.
Matt Sievert
On Thu, Feb 14, 2013 at 9:02 PM, Dick Morris <dickmorris at netzero.net>
wrote:
> Good job, Erin and Gary! I wish I were still in Springfield so I could be
> part of this. You're dooing the right thing in trying to garner
publicity;
> sometimes the only way to get action is to embarrass somebody. Go for
it!
>
> Dick
>
> --------------------------------------------------
> From: "Magoon Erin" <magoone at gary-springfield-mo.net>
> Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2013 6:11 PM
> To: <nfbmo at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: [Nfbmo] The bus Saga Continues.
>
> The Bus Saga Continues.
>
> Gary and I went to the City Council meeting on Monday. He spoke about
the
> fixed route buses and I spoke about Access Express. Access is the
> para-transit door to door service that I'm riding for now because of my
> surgery last October.
>
> It is getting pretty rediculous trying to get a ride on Access. They
will
> only let you schedule a ride up to one week in advance and it's getting
> difficult to do so. They also have a 20 minute window either side of
your
> pick-up to come and get you. I had a pickup at 6:00 pm and they didn't
> have
> the person come on duty who was going to get me until 5:55 so he didn't
> arrive until 6:20.
>
> I had another person drop me off at the wrong entrance to my building in
> my
> apaartment complex. I couldn't get a ride home from my job developer
until
> two hours after the end of my appointment. I couldn't get a ride home
> from
> the gym at all, I could get there but not home. I also called one week
in
> advance of the City Council meeting to schedule my ride. I scheduled it
> for
> 10:30 pm because I didn't know how long the meeting would go and they set
> it
> up. The lady called me back ten minutes later and said she looked at the
> schedule wrong. "It's written in military time and I have trouble
reading
> and understanding it. The latest we can get you is 8:30 not 10:30."
>
> I told the Council most of what I've just told you and they sent the
> following questions to City Utilities telling them they wanted answers
by
> Friday, February 22.
>
> 1. Why did you make the bus route changes?
> 2. Why didn't you have the schedules and maps ready before the changes
> took
> effect?
> 3. Why didn't you hold a public hearing or have public comments before
you
> made the changes?
> 4. Why did the routes change 3 and 4 times after you made the original
> changes?
> 5. Is it true that you didn't want the passengers to know the changes
were
> coming? If so, why not?
> 6. Why are people having so many difficulties scheduling an Access
Express
> ride 6 and 7 days in advance?
>
> I called the City Council yesterday to find out what was the next step,
> that's when I got told those questions were sent to City Utilities and as
> soon as they received a response they'd call me.
>
> Today a reporter from The Springfield Newsleader called. He talked to
> both
> me and Gary about what has been going on. I told him all about Access
and
> that some of the buses arrive downtown five minutes early now because of
> the
> new schedule, and the bus route that was added sits in the Social
Security
> parking lot for 15 minutes. No one has explained why this is.
>
> The paper got a report from City Utilities telling them that the number
of
> riders on Access has increased and that they have 5 buses. I told the
> reporter that several people I have spoken to said they are taking Access
> because of all the route changes.
>
> He said that City Utilities has responded to City Council and said: "We
> should have had the bus maps and schedules available when we made the
> route
> changes, we will hold public hearings in the future for any change we
want
> to make whether it's small or big."
>
> I noticed that they didn't answer any of the questions City Council
asked.
>
> The article is supposed to run in tomorrow's paper. I hope it makes a
> difference.
>
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