A short parody for all VOOMER Satellite Guys
The Taxi Company That Thought It Could Run a Bus Company... a la "Animal Farm" by Don Landis ©2005 Don Landis
Once upon a time there was a city with taxi's and shuttle Limo services but no bus company. So, the taxi company decided to start a bus service. They invested in a bunch of wholesale busses and offered to sell these busses to people who wanted to come on board. Unfortunately the busses were so expensive only a few who really wanted that bus service could afford to pay the price. The taxi company needed to pay for their investment quickly because the people who rode the taxis were all complaining that the cost of the busses and drivers etc was too much to bear and felt that their taxi fares would increase to cover the bus service cost.
In an effort to appease the taxi riders they decided to offer the busses for a small membership fee in hopes of gaining riders for the fee plus a per trip cost. Well, this actually began to work so the taxi company was on a roll and decided to keep things going with the bus company but set a goal to break even in 6 months even though their own taxi company took 5 years to break even when it all started. The Taxi Company continued to take on new memberships in the buss service, adding riders. There was a minor resentment since many of the original people who came on board had purchased these busses at the high price for the privilege of riding them and now all these new people were riding as well for little investment. However, the ones who bought the busses for the ride were comforted in knowing that the new membership only plus pay as you ride would be the very ones that would guarantee that their original investment would live on.
Unfortunately the 6 months finally was up and the Taxi Company put everyone on notice that the Bus service would be shut down for failing to meet the deadline to turn a profit. They gave then 30 days to come up with a plan.
During the next 30 days, the Bus management made a huge attempt to increase memberships by giving away the busses to anyone for a dollar plus just pay for the rides but when this didn't work they started to give away 3 busses to prospective rider in hopes he may have family members that would ride the other busses and pay for the rides too.
Unfortunately, back at the Taxicab management, they were afraid the Bus company just might succeed with this plan so in a last ditch effort to Kill the Bus service, the Taxi cab management decided to sell the Bus companies maintenance service center to another city, thinking that without the service center, the Busses would breakdown with no maintenance service. There were many rumors that the Buses could get service at other out of the way centers but this would require all the busses to take their passengers by this location everyday and the Bus management felt that with this inconvenience would not only be costly but also lose members who didn't want to go out of their way. A few buss routes didn't even have roads leading to these service centers so they had to get trees cut down to pave the way to these new centers. It didn't seem like this was going to work at all.
Additionally, other amenities were added to each bus to entice new riders but it didn't work fast enough. The Taxi company, who by the way, was run by the Bus company's own son, began to play games in the final days to hinder the success of the Bus company by posting negative advertising on the sides of the busses warning people not to rid the busses because they were soon to break down. The Bus Company managed to get the busses repainted but that took a few days and by that time the cat was out of the bag for all to see what was happening. People would be thinking about riding the buss but would see those signs of warning and just call the taxi. Finally, the Bus company manager surprised everyone by throwing in the towel and gave up. He realized his mistake. He should never have let his own son have control over his bus company dream.
So, the city with a dream has to go back riding the taxi's everywhere or go with the limo service.
The few who didn't understand and had become used to the idea of showing up at the bus stop paying their fare and riding now just saw this sign, "Go find another way to work, we're closed" They wanted an explanation but all they could get from the people who actually owned a few busses was they weren't entitled to explanation since they were just riders and didn't have an investment as they made. Fact is even the riders as well as the employees of the Bus Company didn't know the real reason as to why all this happened.
But the story doesn't end here. Bus service is real and the people want it. The fact that the Taxi Company didn't know how to make it work didn't mean that busses would not return to the city one day soon. To be continued...
The Taxi Company That Thought It Could Run a Bus Company... a la "Animal Farm" by Don Landis ©2005 Don Landis
Once upon a time there was a city with taxi's and shuttle Limo services but no bus company. So, the taxi company decided to start a bus service. They invested in a bunch of wholesale busses and offered to sell these busses to people who wanted to come on board. Unfortunately the busses were so expensive only a few who really wanted that bus service could afford to pay the price. The taxi company needed to pay for their investment quickly because the people who rode the taxis were all complaining that the cost of the busses and drivers etc was too much to bear and felt that their taxi fares would increase to cover the bus service cost.
In an effort to appease the taxi riders they decided to offer the busses for a small membership fee in hopes of gaining riders for the fee plus a per trip cost. Well, this actually began to work so the taxi company was on a roll and decided to keep things going with the bus company but set a goal to break even in 6 months even though their own taxi company took 5 years to break even when it all started. The Taxi Company continued to take on new memberships in the buss service, adding riders. There was a minor resentment since many of the original people who came on board had purchased these busses at the high price for the privilege of riding them and now all these new people were riding as well for little investment. However, the ones who bought the busses for the ride were comforted in knowing that the new membership only plus pay as you ride would be the very ones that would guarantee that their original investment would live on.
Unfortunately the 6 months finally was up and the Taxi Company put everyone on notice that the Bus service would be shut down for failing to meet the deadline to turn a profit. They gave then 30 days to come up with a plan.
During the next 30 days, the Bus management made a huge attempt to increase memberships by giving away the busses to anyone for a dollar plus just pay for the rides but when this didn't work they started to give away 3 busses to prospective rider in hopes he may have family members that would ride the other busses and pay for the rides too.
Unfortunately, back at the Taxicab management, they were afraid the Bus company just might succeed with this plan so in a last ditch effort to Kill the Bus service, the Taxi cab management decided to sell the Bus companies maintenance service center to another city, thinking that without the service center, the Busses would breakdown with no maintenance service. There were many rumors that the Buses could get service at other out of the way centers but this would require all the busses to take their passengers by this location everyday and the Bus management felt that with this inconvenience would not only be costly but also lose members who didn't want to go out of their way. A few buss routes didn't even have roads leading to these service centers so they had to get trees cut down to pave the way to these new centers. It didn't seem like this was going to work at all.
Additionally, other amenities were added to each bus to entice new riders but it didn't work fast enough. The Taxi company, who by the way, was run by the Bus company's own son, began to play games in the final days to hinder the success of the Bus company by posting negative advertising on the sides of the busses warning people not to rid the busses because they were soon to break down. The Bus Company managed to get the busses repainted but that took a few days and by that time the cat was out of the bag for all to see what was happening. People would be thinking about riding the buss but would see those signs of warning and just call the taxi. Finally, the Bus company manager surprised everyone by throwing in the towel and gave up. He realized his mistake. He should never have let his own son have control over his bus company dream.
So, the city with a dream has to go back riding the taxi's everywhere or go with the limo service.
The few who didn't understand and had become used to the idea of showing up at the bus stop paying their fare and riding now just saw this sign, "Go find another way to work, we're closed" They wanted an explanation but all they could get from the people who actually owned a few busses was they weren't entitled to explanation since they were just riders and didn't have an investment as they made. Fact is even the riders as well as the employees of the Bus Company didn't know the real reason as to why all this happened.
But the story doesn't end here. Bus service is real and the people want it. The fact that the Taxi Company didn't know how to make it work didn't mean that busses would not return to the city one day soon. To be continued...
