[Nfbmo] The bus Saga Continues.

James Moynihan jamesmmoynihan at gmail.com
Mon Feb 18 15:18:08 UTC 2013


Dan

Free market capitalism is the way to go. That is what made America great.

Cordially,

Jim Moynihan

----- Original Message ----- 
From: <DanFlasar at aol.com>
To: <nfbmo at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, February 15, 2013 3:38 PM
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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