Wednesday, October 27, 2004
Throw this guy off the ferry before it's too late.
The local tabloid runs a little story about how the cross New York harbor ferry service, New York Waterway, "the only regional transportation service that isn't subsidized by the government", is encountering choppy financial waters due to high fuel oil prices and the resumption of competition from (highly subsidized) cross-harbor train service that had been suspended since 9/11.
It has the typical quotes from people who use and praise the service and wouldn't like to see it fail. Then there's this guy:
"They're making money hand over fist with their exorbitant rates," said Eric Friedman, 31, of Hoboken. "I'll be sorry if they close because it's convenient for me, but people are sick of paying high prices."Translated into English: "If they go broke while making money hand over fist I'll be sorry, because the service that they exorbitantly overcharge for is worth it to me."
It's dangerous giving some people the vote. It was competition to please guys like this that drove politicians to price fix the subway fare back then in the face of that inflation.... Throw this guy overboard before it's too late!
The company ... acknowledged yesterday that it was in talks with "governmental officials"...Never mind. It's already too late.
