[Nfbmo] The bus Saga Continues.

DanFlasar at aol.com DanFlasar at aol.com
Mon Feb 18 17:41:19 UTC 2013


I agree - see  you all there.
 
 
 
In a message dated 2/18/2013 9:32:25 A.M. Central Standard Time,  
gwunder at earthlink.net writes:

Dear  friends:

The wheels on the bus go round and round, and it looks like  that's what
we're doing on this issue.  Several of you have written to  me off list to
suggest that I stop this thread.  I have some sympathy  for that, but then 
IC
posts which follow where the people asking that it  stop make their own
contributions.

I think we want active discussion  on this list, but I would suggest that 
the
discussion we have here has gone  far beyond talking about buses and bus
schedules.  If we're going to  change the subject, let's do it in the 
subject
line.

For those of  you who are new to the list, you should know that David 
Andrews
is the  moderator of all NFB lists.  This includes the list for the  
National
Federation of the Blind of Missouri.  Shelia Wright is the  specific
moderator for this list.  If you have thoughts or problems  about what is on
the list, let her know.  I urge you to treat Dave  with gentleness and
kindness.  He has monitored these list for more  than 20 years, and I 
suspect
it is not an overstatement to say that he has  seen 100,000 messages.  His
job is to see that things remain civil,  that people are not pushed away by
what they see here, that topics have a  good airing, but don't go on so long
that people unsubscribe because they  are simply tired of them.  What he 
does
is tiring work: not the kind  one ever gets a reward for doing.  Seldom does
anyone tell him thank  you for the fact that he moderates this list and
probably almost 100  more.

I hope to see many of you in Jefferson City for the seminar on  Tuesday and
Wednesday.  All of us have opinions, and the Jefferson  City seminar is the
way we get to act on them.  Rehabilitation  services for the blind is at
significant risk of not being funded at levels  that we have become
accustomed to seeing.  They will not get money  from the blind pension fund
this year, and for the first time in a long  time we will be asking for
general revenue.  It is important that we  have a right to vote with a 
secret
ballot in all elections, not just the  federal ones.  Our blind children 
need
to be getting good braille  skills, and we need to see that there is still 
an
avenue to pursue  grievances if we are discriminated against in employment.
Let's take some  of this bus energy and deliver it to the  legislature.

Warmly,

Gary



-----Original  Message-----
From: Nfbmo [mailto:nfbmo-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of  James Moynihan
Sent: Monday, February 18, 2013 9:18 AM
To: NFB of  Missouri Mailing List
Subject: Re: [Nfbmo] The bus Saga  Continues.

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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