by Ed Naile
What’s that old saying about the fastest way to become a millionaire? It goes something like this…first you take $800,000.00 dollars, then you….
Or you could get the State of New Hampshire to buy you FOUR half a million dollar busses, then have taxpayers lease you 16 more at no charge, pay your insurance, buy your fuel, cover your employee costs, let you use public parking lots, pay for your advertising etc. so you could provide bus service to Boston. THAT would be a good way to make a few bucks.
Then what do we do about those pesky competitors – the little guys. Hmmmmmmm.
How about we let them use the publicly funded park and ride lots, BUT theses poor slobs have to pay a $5.00 fee to hop on a bus other than “Boston Express” – your new company. That would be the new creation of the long time NH bus company C&J. So according to this new public-private venture, no matter who tries to compete with Boston Express/NH they will instantly be saddled with a “boarding fee.”
The “J” in C&J stands for Jim Jalbert and my sources tell me (drum-roll please) that Mr. Jalbert is on the “Citizens Advisory Transportation Committee” described on one state web site as:
“New Hampshire Long Range Transportation Plan,” created by the 24-member committee–made up of state and local officials, business leaders, housing advocates, environmental groups and community organizations–pulls together several recommendations largely emphasizing the concept that transportation and land use are inextricably linked.”
The New Hampshire Charitable Trust is a big player in this “citizens committee” and is helping the state with its ten year highway plan which has always made me a bit uncomfortable. I mean, why do we need big-money moonbats meddling in transportation issues? Can’t they just write a check for something and stay out of “planning.”
Let me do a rundown on the public/private/federally-funded/Larry/Moe/and Shemp deal so far:
We, the State of NH, take about $8 million of the $8 billion Federal budget for keeping our air clean.
Then we use taxpayer money to cobble together a three year taxpayer-funded scheme to provide a service that is already in place privately.
We put together a bid, rigged so no other transportation company can effectively win it.
Not bad. In the end, non-subsidized competitors will either be gone or financially damaged. And it was so Monopoleasy
Welcome to Lynchachusetts.