A question only a newbie would ask

On Mon, 16 Aug 2004 03:03:05 GMT, "Jay Honeck"
wrote:

We have bike racks on all of our buses here in the Tampa Bay Area.
I use them frequently, and despite the Mercedes Diesel parked in my
carport, I consider my bicycle my main means of transportation
within Tarpon Springs and Pinellas County.

That's wonderful, Bob. I'm glad they're being used *somewhere*...

Hell, I hope that when I'm 68 I can still walk upstairs, let alone ride a
bike 68 miles!

Our bus drivers never touch the bikes, one
must view a 10-15 minute training video, pay for a photo ID card, and
display it to the bus driver each time that the bike rack is used.

Wow. I can just imagine the bureaucracy that's been set up to administer
THAT little program. Who's paying those folks' salaries?

I doubt it's the bicyclists. (Or do you pay an extra fare for your bike?)

What comments do you have about the mandatory wheelchair lifts that we
also have on all of our busses?

We have them, too, and I find them to be completely absurd. They cost
taxpayers enough so that we quite literally could have purchased a special
handicapped-accessible van, and staffed it with a full-time driver -- and
STILL been money ahead.

Best of all, were a special van purchased we wouldn't be inconveniencing and
delaying those few who DO use mass-transit. How many quit riding the bus
because of these kinds of delays? More than will admit it, I suspect.

I have found that as I age, I become
much more considerate and understanding of the needs of others.

I have found that as I age I become less and less tolerant of people
demanding "rights" that simply don't exist.

I have taken bikes on buses and I fly. I would venture a guess that
most of the general population would consider my "rights" as a pilot
and the associated tax burden to be significantly more of an issue
than taking bikes on public transportation. As pilots, I think it may
be wise to avoid making this a major issue
Rich Russell