BusTalk

[metrolinecoach111]

With the economic downturn, and the decline in patronage to casinos being felt across the board, in addition to declining load counts on most neighborhood and even major trunk lines into places such as Atlantic City and the casinos in Connecticut, what is the future, if any, for casino line-run services?

[HwyHaulier]

May I refer you to the classic response from no less than the celebrated, J. P. Morgan, upon being asked what the stock market would do.
He responded, "It will fluctuate!"

http://frontstreetcapital.com/blog/it-will-fluctuate-jp-morgan-when-asked-what-stock-market-would-do

And so, much the same with casino bus operations?

..................Vern..................

[Mr. Linsky]

I agree!

There are certainly many factors that have brought us to where we now find ourselves - it's almost like the 'perfect storm'!

And, it's a great equalizer because absolutely everyone and everything is invloved here!

I think the U.S. economy is going through a long needed correction, and that things will eventually settle down and return to a new normal.

It's just a question of time, and how efficiently and quickly the government can turn us around.

I think a take-off on Roosevelt's Works Project Administration will be a great start to put the hundreds of thousands now out of work back on their feet again while, at the same time, rebuilding our aging infrastructure.

This won't be an overnight deal and we should prepare ourselves for lean times ahead - and I'm talking a couple of years at least!

We all just have to hang in there!

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, NY

[timecruncher]

Interestingly, with unleaded regular down around $1.60 (more or less here in the Ohio Valley -- I paid $1.489 at Shell the other night), ridership on transit hasn't dropped very much. Sure, the standees on longer express routes have disappeared, but overall ridership is still far above last year at this time.

** Now to climb up on my soapbox: **

I agree that we're going through a "correction" to an overbuilt economy. There are too many retailers, too many auto dealerships and most of all, too many people being allowed to get credit for vehicles and homes that they could not afford.

Some of this was due to our government prodding lenders to ease up on standards of credit-worthiness, and some of it was due to simple greed on the part of the banking and real estate industry.

Not to say that lots of infrastructure is in need of repair and updating, but the WPA really didn't work that well. FDR spent money that the government didn't have to 'create' jobs, but since there was little oversight, most of the programs turned into pork and made a few people very wealthy while relatively few jobs were created. The jobs artificially created by the WPA programs did little to stimulate the economy overall.

The New Deal did help to make people feel as if things were looking up though, and its true benefit was that it gave a worn-down populace some hope. It certainly worked much better than simply sending everyone a check for $600 to spend on whatever as the current Congress did.

It is widely believed that the US economy would have recovered from the Great Depression anyway. Thing is, we Americans can look back on mistakes of the past but we don't ever seem to learn from them. I personally blame this on the backwater scum we keep sending to Congress along with a media and press with peculiar skewed agenda to slant the news towards the far left.

Had not WWII come along to really kick-start the economy, the "New Deal" would be seen today as another failed spendathon on the part of the Federal Government.

I just don't think it is the responsibility of government to turn us around. Our economy will correct itself -- probably sooner than later because far too many people like to make money than not. The economy will recover faster if we can somehow convince our government to stay out of our pockets and let us keep some of the money we earn!

** stepping off of the soapbox. Next? **

timecruncher

[Dieseljim]

I do not think that J.P. Morgan had that Ponzi scheme that that one guy is accused of running had in mind. If he found out about such a scheme I am sure he would have the perpatrator keelhauled at the very least. John Pierpont Morgan was a tough, no nonsense businessman/banker who would not tolerate such nonsense. In WRECK OF THE PENN CENTRAL, Mr. Morgan brought the heads of the Pennsylvania and New York Central railroads together to end the hostilities between the two railroads and ON HIS TERMS. I am sure that If Mr. Morgan were around to day to see what has been going on, he would clean up the cesspool on one hell of a hurry. A cesspool is what Wall Street has become in recent years and John Pierpont Morgan would not tolerate this nonsense vor very long, especially if one of his enterprises were involved.

[shortlineMCI]

Shortline has regular Casino line runs and if the pax count goes below and stays below a certain amount they will just combine runs. Nothing major just instead of two runs, they might decide to make one

Does that mean layoffs for the drivers? Not yet. That's way to early to make that decision.

But as for now, usually on the weekends they still have a bus chasing the schedule bus incase the schedule goes over.

[shortlineMCI]