When I first moved to Cheboygan, the Greyhound stopped here and I knew a few people who rode it occasionally. I don't remember when they discontinued the service, probably because nobody made a fuss about it. Some people did make a fuss when the railroad pulled out, but our paper mill was the last freight customer in town and, when it closed, no justification could be found to keep the trains running. Passenger service had been discontinued before I moved here, so I don't know whether or not its passing was lamented. We have had several taxi cab services in Cheboygan, but none of them lasted very long. We have had a shuttle bus service for some years now, I think it's one of those dial-a-ride things. Last I heard, they would take you to nearby towns like Petoskey and Mackinaw City, but I don't think they go as far as Traverse City. They might be persuaded to, though, if enough people wanted to go there. That's the thing, nobody is going to run an empty bus up and down the road day after day. If there is sufficient demand for a service, somebody will provide it. If not, they won't. It's just that simple.
Well, maybe it's not that simple. Since the economy has pulled out of the last recession, we have been hearing business owners complain that they are having trouble finding cheap help anymore. One of the reasons is that those jobs don't pay enough to keep a reliable car on the road, and public transportation is practically non-existent. Funny, though, they can afford to fly in seasonal help from Jamaica and provide cheap housing for them near their businesses, but they are either unable of unwilling to bus people to work from 20 miles away or provide cheap housing for them nearby.
On the other hand, the liberal lament is that one percent of the people in this country have most of the money. It would seem, then, that only one percent of the housing should be high end first class. How can airlines, ball parks, and real estate developers make a living providing services to only one percent of the population?
No comments:
Post a Comment