BusTalk

Dieseljim

If any of the transit systems were to be privatized, I believe they might do well to take a page out of the Niagara Frontier Transit System, Inc.'s playbook. After taking over the assets of the bankrupt International Railway Company in 1950, the Niagara Frontier Transit System went on to become a profitable company and remaining profitable longer than many other transit companies of similar size. First, NFT had a good management structure in place in the persons of Roswell Thoma (who died in 1962) and Alex Trumble who succeeded him.2. NFT's fleet consisted largely of just two makes of buses: GMC and Macks, which reduced maintenance expenses. The reliability of these buses enhanced the profitability of the company. That is where many of today's transit systems fall flat on their faces; by having fleets of several different makes and a multitude of different model buses, each with its own parts and service requirements. By fleet standardization in one or two makes of buses, employing staff who KNOW THE BUSINESS instead of the political hacks that so many systems use these days, the chances of a privitized transit system becoming profitable is greatly enhanced. I hope that those municipalities considering privitizing their bus systems will consider using the NFT model to guide them. They will be amply rewarded by greater profits from good service to the ridership.

HwyHaulier · Joined: 16 Dec 2007 Posts: 932 Location: Harford County, MD

Dieseljim -

NFT structure very similar to the widely implemented National City Lines ways of doing things...

The present way of running operations, IMHO, is just simply very bad public policy. Many agencies are learning the hard way, the
continuing and ongoing operating deficits are evermore difficult to explain to voters...

As one example, present day whim to whim, fad to fad influences on equipment design are deadly. NCL knew that, and utilized one
"standard plan" design as much as it could...

Another example, reports of twenty (20) percent farebox recovery figures! What! Are the streets paved in gold where these dubious
characters turn in such embarrassments? Better to poll all regular riders, and buy them new Chevies?

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

Dieseljim · Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2009 10:20 am Post subject: Talk of $20.00 a gallon Gas

Yesterday, I heard on the Today Show, some guy talking of gas reaching $20 a gallon in terms of price. Frankly I think that would trigger one hell of a revolution in this country and a very violent one at that. On the other hand it could force people onto every available bus in the city. While increasing ridership may be good, the way to go about it smells about as good as a sweaty camel. National City Lines had a good idea in standardizing the fleet as much as possible. Makes maintenance and parts procurement a lot easier.I rode the NFT quite a bit in the late 1960s early 1970s and thought the service was still reasonably good given the increasingly difficult circumstances under which the company was laboring. Having a relatively standardized fleet of mostly GMC buses, with a few dozen Macks thrown in for good measure, helped the operation and its bottom line considerably. People who get freshly minted MBAs and try to go right into the transit business think they know it all. Try running the Niagara Frontier Transit System or the Buffalo Transit Company, either or both would have been in bankruptcy proceedings before the NFTA could act.

HwyHaulier · Joined: 16 Dec 2007 Posts: 932 Location: Harford County, MD

Dieslejim -

Dieseljim

If marketed properly, the bus could be made attractive enough to get Tom,Dick,Jane and Sally out of their car at a P&R lot and onto a comfortable bus with high back reclining seats, airconditioning, and the ability to do some work while riding. Even with the buses it had, the old NFT had a simple but effective marketing plan that got people to take the bus to and from many destinations in and around Buffalo. A marketing ad could go like this: "Our buses are everything you wish your car was: !. You don't have to buy gas for it.2. You don't have to Park it.3. You don't have to pay tolls. ON the bus all you need do is ENJOY THE RIDE. Empire Trailways used it during 1974, the company's Golden Anniversary year. A marketing campaign does not have to be effective to make bus service attractive, just keep proving the reliability day in and Day out.

HwyHaulier · Joined: 16 Dec 2007 Posts: 932 Location: Harford County, MD

Dieseljim - All -

NFT did a great number of things right. We can't overlook the City population at 580,000 in 1950, and has constantly declined to present 275,000...

Express Bus routes? Works nicely where it works. In any case, much of it results in fixed route services. The trouble being, most all commuters travel
between completely different pairs of points. Complicating it all the more, so much travel is suburb to suburb...

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

Dieseljim · Posted: Sat Jul 25, 2009 4:21 pm Post subject: Suburb to Suburb Bus Routes

Some of the route network in the Buffalo area could be restructured to provide suburb to suburb service, some of which was operated by the Buffalo Transit Company, which was primarily a suburban bus company with some suburb to suburb service as well as the usual suburb to city service. Transit Road on the east side of the Towns of Amherst and Lancaster would be perfect for a north-south Suburb to Suburb route. Such service is where NFTA's Minibuses come in. Routes are known as Metrolink's and new suburb to suburb routes could start out using these small buses and go to a full size bus once demand is built to the point to warrant replacement with fullsize buses. Other intersuburb services could be Orchard Park-East Aurora, Amherst-Tonawanda These are just a few examples that could be done, first with minibuses, then go to the full size bus once demand warrants it.