[tabi] Re: Want a problem-free trip? Try the bus
- From: Chip Orange <Corange@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "tabi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx" <tabi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 14 Jan 2015 16:33:12 +0000
Thanks for the recommendation Governor.
How about getting one started up where you are? Seriously, even if you’re not
a techno-geek who wants to run a mailing list, try and find someone who is, and
convince them your area needs such a list. I have always wondered why other
areas don’t start their own? It’s really not much trouble to create a mailing
list, then all of the remaining work to be done is just PR work to get people
to sign up.
Good luck,
Chip
Chip Orange
Florida Public Service Commission
Computer Systems Analyst
850-413-6314
From: tabi-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:tabi-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of
Governor staten
Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2015 10:36 PM
To: tabi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [tabi] Re: Want a problem-free trip? Try the bus
I was once a long time resident there, and do get good info off of this list.
I'll be on here for a while longer.
On 1/13/2015 8:07 PM, Chip and Allie Orange wrote:
This is a Tallahassee-specific list though …
Chip
From: tabi-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:tabi-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
[mailto:tabi-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Governor staten
Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2015 6:19 PM
To: tabi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:tabi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [tabi] Re: Want a problem-free trip? Try the bus
They do. Don't think they are here in Tennessee though.
On 1/13/2015 6:16 PM, Denyece Roberts MSW wrote:
Try the red coach it has plenty of leg room.
From: tabi-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:tabi-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
[mailto:tabi-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Governor staten
Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2015 5:11 PM
To: tabi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:tabi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [tabi] Re: Want a problem-free trip? Try the bus
I have another issue, and that is legroom. I"m a tall guy. Sitting on a bus for
hours on end in small seats isn't fun.
On 1/13/2015 2:52 PM, William Benjamin wrote:
I don’t have a problem with busses: in fact, for the most part I like the new
aminities that busses are offering. What I have a problem with is the
bathrooms. They are the worse, even with a 60 miles per hour wind going by
that could be designed to help the smell. Even tho there is no wind in the
stations, they should be tended to better and that is not a difacult thing to
over come.
William
From: tabi-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:tabi-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
[mailto:tabi-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Chip Orange
Sent: Tuesday, January 13, 2015 8:26 AM
To: tabi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx<mailto:tabi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [tabi] Want a problem-free trip? Try the bus
from yesterday's USA Today:
Want a problem-free trip? Try the bus
Christopher Elliott , Special for USA TODAY 6:02 p.m. EST January 11, 2015
Despite less federal oversight, bus lines generate far fewer consumer
complaints than airlines.(Photo: Frank Espich, Indianapolis Star)
It's difficult to understate the rarity of Shannon Lee's complaint. It's almost
as unusual as the topic of this story: bus travel.
Lee, an accountant from Pasadena, Md., was part of a group traveling to New
York for the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. Her friends, Dan and Jacqueline
Childs, who had each paid Megabus $89 for their round-trip bus fare, were
turned away when they tried to board the motorcoach because there wasn't enough
room.
"They've sent numerous e-mails and made phone calls asking Megabus for a
refund," Lee says. "But so far, nothing."
Bus complaints are almost non-existent, at least compared with airlines. That
doesn't make sense, since when it comes to customer service, buses are lightly
regulated by the federal government. The real reason behind this absence of
passenger discontent may hold the key to making other parts of the travel
industry better and more complaint-free.
I receive only a handful of gripes about bus service every year. They're almost
always resolved lightning-fast. So when I contacted Megabus about Lee's
friends, I wasn't surprised to hear back from company spokesman Sean Hughes
almost immediately.
"We're calling them and offering them a full refund and giving them an
apology," he told me.
The more interesting question is why?
How did the decidedly unglamorous bus industry get so attuned to its customers?
Transporting about 80 million passengers a year while keeping them happy is no
small achievement. It may explain the unprecedented expansion of city-to-city
express carriers. They grew 2.1% in 2014, while the number of flights dropped
3% during the same period, according to new research.
Part of the secret to the industry's success is the "laid back" culture of bus
travel, says Joe Schwieterman, director of DePaul University's Chaddick
Institute, which will release its
study<http://las.depaul.edu/centers-and-institutes/chaddick-institute-for-metropolitan-development/research-and-publications/Pages/default.aspx>
today.
"People can see clearly why delays occur, like traffic or bad weather, so there
is more understanding when things go wrong," he says. Bus travel is cheaper
than other modes of transportation, which affects passenger expectations. You
get exactly what you paid for: scheduled bus carriers have on-time ratings that
exceed 90%, Schwieterman says.
Another thing: If you run a bus company, you can't run away from your
customers. "You know that you have to offer a good product at a fair price,"
says Dan Ronan, a spokesman for the American Bus Association, a trade
association. If you're a passenger on a medium-size bus line, such as C&J,
which offers service between New Hampshire, Boston and New York, it's not
uncommon to see the company's president, Jim Jalbert, in the parking lot.
"If you have a service problem, he's right there, and you can tell him about
it," Ronan says.
Surprisingly, the government isn't forcing buses to do the right thing. The
U.S. Department of Transportation's (DOT) Federal Motor Carrier Safety
Administration, which oversees the motorcoach industry, is primarily focused on
safety issues. In 2013, it conducted almost 40,000 bus inspections and shut
down more than 100 unsafe bus companies. The department issued rules that
required lap and shoulder seat belts for each passenger and driver seat on new
motorcoaches and other large buses. It ordered improvements on the structural
design of large buses, so passengers are better protected in the event of a
rollover crash.
For interstate bus carriers, federal law is largely silent on service
questions, addressing disability access, compensation for lost luggage and
ticket sales. That's a dramatic contrast to the commercial aviation industry,
which is practically stalked by the DOT with rules and regulations. Apart from
the marked differences in service culture between the motorcoach and airline
industries, it's a function of the mode of transportation, experts say.
"It's a bus," says Gabe Klein, a former commissioner for Chicago's Department
of Transportation and an expert on bus travel. "There are less opportunities
for things to go wrong."
Still, a bus, like a plane, transports you from point A to point B. Why do
buses not need the heavy hand of government to tell them what to do? Simple,
industry watchers says. "There's more competition," says Robert Turner, a bus
industry consultant in San Diego. There are hundreds of bus operators in the
USA, compared with three monopolistic airlines, so a bus line can't afford to
offer bad service.
As airlines embrace bizarre five-class configurations that promise to make air
travel even more unbearable for all but a privileged few, many passengers refer
to planes as "buses with wings." That's meant as an insult to airlines, but it
actually offends the bus industry. The newest motorcoaches don't just have
government-mandated seat belts. They also come with bigger seats, onboard
entertainment, wireless Internet connections and galley kitchens where you can
microwave your dinner on the way home.
Buses can offer better customer service than airlines in almost every way.
Competition made them do it. Maybe we need more of that.
How to get better bus service
Complain directly to the company. Most customer-service problems can be
resolved quickly and in real time. Lost baggage is usually found quickly, and
ticket refunds are processed fast. Larger bus lines have websites where they
accept complaints, but it rarely gets to that point.
Reference federal law. Regulations are brief. For example, the DOT guidelines
on ticketing are covered in five short bullet points on one
webpage<http://www.fmcsa.dot.gov/regulations/title49/section/374.305>.
Switch to a competitor. Motorcoach operators are flourishing in the USA, so
there are many competing bus lines that would be happy to have your business.
Don't waste your time with a bus company that doesn't appreciate your patronage
— if you can even find one.
READ MORE: AMTRAK, bus lines more comfortable than
airlines<http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/columnist/mcgee/2014/11/05/amtrak/18471389/>
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