[Nfbmo] The bus Saga Continues.
DanFlasar at aol.com
DanFlasar at aol.com
Sat Feb 16 06:13:11 UTC 2013
... or worse!
In a message dated 2/15/2013 11:42:12 P.M. Central Standard Time,
b.schulz at sbcglobal.net writes:
hi,
if you want an example of a monopoly, a familiar state agency which uses a
certain vendor 90% of the time, has put other vendors out of business, and
sent one back to his original state is a monopoly!
Bryan Schulz
----- Original Message -----
From: <DanFlasar at aol.com>
To: <nfbmo at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, February 15, 2013 11:26 PM
Subject: Re: [Nfbmo] The bus Saga Continues.
> Strictly speaking, a municipal or state or federal public service is not
> a monopoly since these are not for-profit organizations. If all the
> airlines combined into one big private or publicly (in the sense of
stock
> availability) -ownership, then that would be a monopoly. Or if
Comcast
> finally
> owns all the cable networks, then they would be monopoly.
Classically,
> a
> monopoly restricts competition. A government-managed utility or
transit
> system is a different category. The big difference - we have a way to
> change or modify a government utility - we have no way to do so with a
> private
> company.
> And yes, this all gets very complicated and far from clear.
> Dan
>
>
> In a message dated 2/15/2013 5:18:59 P.M. Central Standard Time,
> dickmorris at netzero.net writes:
>
> 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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