Stimulus Dollars Buy Greyhound Buses in Missouri
by Bob McCartyI’ve never had the kind of fun enjoyed by passengers in this 1980 Greyhound commercial, but I’m thinking about taking a ride on the commercial bus line soon. Why? Because, as a taxpayer, I’m paying for it.
I came across this news after reading a release on the White House web site that listed the Missouri Department of Transportation as the recipient of $4.9 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (a.k.a., “stimulus”) funds for use in “construction of two facilities and purchase of two intercity vehicles.” Curious as to the specifics of the spending, I placed a phone call to MoDOT and reached spokesperson Jorma Durant.
During the first conversation, he explained that his agency would be spending the money on construction of buildings for two nonprofit transportation agencies — one each in Poplar Bluffs and Macon, Mo. — as well as on the purchase of two Greyhound buses.
Somewhat surprised, I asked him to explain why the MoDOT was buying Greyhound buses. Durant’s reply was open and honest.
“You have a great question,” he said. “You have an amazing question. Why are we dealing with Greyhound bus? Actually, it kind of surprised me as well. And I’m probably not going to have the right answer for you.”
Rather than concoct answers for me on the fly, Durant told me he would dig for more details and call me back. About five minutes later, he did.
During our second conversation, the MoDOT spokesperson confirmed that, in order to meet the federal mandate that 15 percent of ARRA funds provided to states be spent on intercity bus transportation, the State of Missouri will use $945,210 of federal taxpayer monies to reimburse Greyhound Bus Lines for the addition of two new buses to the company’s fleet. In other words, Greyhound is getting a federal subsidy and the Show-Me State is acting as a laundromat of sorts. But I digress.
As for the rest of the $4.9 million, Durant said, the remainder will be spent on construction of facilities for two nonprofit transportation programs in Poplar Bluffs and Macon that exist, primarily, to serve older adults and people with disabilities in multi-county rural areas. In Poplar Bluffs, $1.2 million will be spent to construct a facility for OATS, Inc. In Macon, $2.65 million will go to SMTS, Inc.
If you’re old enough, you might remember the Greyhound slogan, “Leave the driving to us.” Now, you know who “us” really is — the taxpayers.
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87 Comments
Gee why don't they just start paiyng for Oprah's limousines and ho ho's?
Yup Obama was really gonna call'em out for waste… Yup he really does that. Maybe Greyhound will put a fleet of buses in DC to help the congress critters leave once we get to OUR… NOVEMBER to REMEMBER!!!
"Leave the driving to us."
Thats funny.
Remember the old United Airlines slogan? "Fly the friendly skies." I can hardly wait……………
Apparently, with this administration, we are all entitled to womb to the tomb care, complete with public transportation,
Sounds like the perfect slogan for the obama administration.
"Leave the driving to us."
You have no idea!
METRA Rail in Chicago is 55% subsidized by public funds.
UTA in Utah is 86% subsidized.
That means that the fares and ads on the trains and buses don't come close to paying for the ride.
Does anyone know of a public transit system that pays for itself?
All aboard!
That makes me sick! This is why Gov should NEVER provide stimulus/subsidies to ANYTHING! The stupidity is paying Fed taxes, only to have those taxes redistributed to various states! MY fed taxes should be used for defense and interstates hwys. NOTHING more. Let my state taxes be used to fund myown state initiatives.
This administration is STUPID! I want to start a class action lawsuit against this theft and socialism!
Shows you how hip and on it the government is. Who the hell travels by Greyhound bus? I guess SEIU members can be transported around as faux supporters for Obama's run at re-election. Now that's stimulus.
1st post deleted by admin… Don't know why…??????
This is theft! Fed $$$ should NEVER be used to fund any state project… EVER! Fed taxes should be for defense and interstate hwys only. Let State tax SSS be used for state initiatives! Cut Fed taxes!!!
I want to start a class action lawsuit against this theft and socialism!
2 posts deleted by admin… Don't know why…??????
This is theft! Fed $$$ should NEVER be used to fund any state project… EVER! Fed taxes should be for defense and interstate hwys only. Let State tax SSS be used for state initiatives! Cut Fed taxes!!!
I want to start a class action lawsuit against this theft and these social acts!
the word "Socialism" gets deleted by admin!
Ah HA…. The word "S O C I A L I S M " gets your post deleted by admin….
Actually, buses as a category are still used a lot by people who either stopped driving, or cannot afford a car. Providing bus transportation that may (big word, "may") facilitate someone getting to work — and perhaps later buying their own car — strikes me as one of the better uses of porkulous money.
But what about buying Greyhound a pair of buses? Well, I would have preferred that they at least split the cost, but on the other hand I would much prefer greyhound to be managing the assets than the local-county-transit-authority-and-agriculture-outreach-administration.
So I gotta buck the trend and give this one a B grade.
I'd join it with you.
All we need now is a lawyer.
I'm sure there should be one slithering around here somewhere. A Jay Noble Daggett type………
I wonder why?
Socialism.
Marxism
Naw, he'll use the buses to bring in the SEIU and ACORN thugs to protest anyone obstructing any of his polcies ~
I just wrote the same thing lead, before getting to your post ~
I got two words for everything the big "0" (yes it is a zero) dumps money into: UNION WORKERS
Funny. We really need to come up with a catchy little slogan for the current Administration. Something familiar, from the transportation industry. I wonder, did the Titanic, or the Exxon Valdez have any catchy tag lines?
At least he's buying, his buddy Chavez just takes, then again the night is still young.
FWIW, so does "I N C E S T", which is a term I would use to described the government giving out taxpayers dollars in order to increase the size of government which can then give out more taxpayer dollars in order to increase the size of government, which can then….but you get the idea.
Greyhound Bus:……"….and leave the driving to us
Obama's Fed Govt.:…..and leave the spending to us.
When gas goes to 7 bucks a gallon and the airlines are grounded and we don't have any trains, we're all going to be grateful for those flea wagons!
Bo-bo is going to count all the people riding on the buses as "jobs saved" !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Fundamental Transformation – We all get to travel like rock stars – on a bus!
Can we say Wesley Mooch?
SociaIist, SociaIism…
……….." and I'm leavin' on a jet plane, don't know when I'll be back again"………..
Ya know, thats a good math question.
How many twinkies did she have to eat, to get that big, that fast?
Drive'n right up my A$$!
Yep, he's buying…….But we (taxpayer) is doing the "Paying"……..Same as Chavez "taking"….No Difference
Funny, I thought that was what happens when you cross Sean Penn with Rosie O'Donnell?
Once Barack Hussein Obama gets his new poverty guidelines implemented, we will all be under the bus. Remember if you work and can afford a new car or a vacation well, so do the poor folk you support to sit on their behind.
Come on NOVEMBER to REMEMBER!!!
count me in
Obama's slogan: "Leave the thinking to us"
cowboy, check your e-mail, I sent something you will want to see.
Greyhound……"leave the sucking on the government tit to us".
spam filter… S O C I A L I S M contains the word C I A L I S which is a commonly spam-marketed medicine.
A reader tells me that it's Poplar Bluff, Mo., instead of Poplar Bluffs. My mistake.
Excellent! Need a lawyer now.
Were going to need those busses for Obama to throw congress under
Half million for a bus ? ? ?
I was just looking for financial aid for my son and I found this at Recovery.org:
$87,000+ to Art Institutes of Atlanta for 5 work study jobs – $17,400 per job. Work study pays much better today than it did when I was in school.
I like "Bend-over We're Driving"…………..seeing how they're all worshiping at the altar of President Ben Dover.
socialism………………………………dictator……………………worthless asswipe.
I'll see how this goes.
wow…….that's BULLSHIT.
We're being censored by breitbart?
"Bend Over………………………we're driving……………………………we won"
I said to myself WTF when I saw this. Then I thought, maybe they're going to KC. People are pretty pissed off there. And understandably.
breitbart of all people… I know! But, better him than our Government!!!!!! At least he's a private citizen owning this. We're free to rant about everything else tho.
Well can an older person or one with a disability even get up into one of these buses? Don't know if these buses can even meet the Americans with Disabilities Act but whose checking anyway. The story will ony get limited scrutiny.
Not me. I'm going Mad Max.
That's right, its Poplar Bluff. I'm not far from there.
The people in these rural areas don't use greyhound to get to work. Its rural. Buses don't do well on gravel roads, which there's many of down here. They use them to leave town.
By the way, why is our federal government giving money to state governments which then are constructing buildings for nonprofit organizations? My money is funding these nonprofits apparently. What do we know about these organizations? Are they as reputable as ACORN?
BRANIFF, believe it…
If Obama is really going to hire all those bounty hunters to catch crooks, Capitol Hill will be empty!
Replace the lower case "L" with a capital "I" instead and it will post normally, Intense Debate kicks it out because it may have linked to a malware or virus at one time..
ENJOY!?
It does the same to the word Dick-tater…
Isn't that what you get when you cross Obama with a spud?
So does the word "P O R N" … and, I have no doubt, many, many others …
There's no censorship like Robo-censorship !
I wonder if this too is "STIMULUS MONEY"???
The U.S. Department of Education (ED) intends to purchase twenty-seven (27) REMINGTON BRAND MODEL 870 POLICE 12/14P MOD GRWC XS4 KXCS SF. RAMAC #24587 GAUGE: 12 BARREL: 14" – PARKERIZED CHOKE: MODIFIED SIGHTS: GHOST RING REAR WILSON COMBAT; FRONT – XS CONTOUR BEAD SIGHT STOCK: KNOXX REDUCE RECOIL ADJUSTABLE STOCK FORE-END: SPEEDFEED SPORT-SOLID – 14" LOP are designated as the only shotguns authorized for ED based on compatibility with ED existing shotgun inventory, certified armor and combat training and protocol, maintenance, and parts.
https://www.fbo.gov/index?s=opportunity&mode=...
Courtesy of DRUDGE REPORT
In my mind I see a poster of a bus going off a cliff face…..Guess who's driving?
Does New York City still load their homeless onto buses to Florida in the winter?
Well even poor folks need a vacation! Just look at Obama's new and improved poverty guidelines!!!
Dear Sunshine Connie,
So, you want to buy 535 one-way tickets out of town for all the Congress?
No, wait, now I get it: You're gonna make'em BUY THEIR OWN TICKETS! You just wanna give'em directions!
LOL!
John
"care"? Surely, you jest!
"2 posts deleted by admin… Don't know why…?????? "
I'm not sure either, but track if they are new posts or replies to trolls. I have had several of the latter met with "…must be reviewed by the administrator…". All new posts have gone over no problem.
Agreed on the rest of the post. Interstate highways actually fall under national defense if some turd ever challenges you. Lawsuit would go nowhere, as most judges are politicians too lazy to run for election and too smug to face public scrutiny. Two semesters of grad-level Con-Law and dissecting SUCO opinions brought "justices" down to the level of mere human for me. Plenty of thugs, commies and tin-pot dictators wear the black robe.
Ayn Rand wrote a short essay entitled "How to read… and not to write". You may find it amusing.
Yes, because Wesley Mouch will probably be blocked by the "administrator".
Yeah, but I don't like how they drive it or where they're gonna drive it!
Just wondering if this post will go through. Have had several rejected…don't know why.
"Leave the thriving to us….the rest of you poor people pay for it!"
Kind of want to guess what the Brits that operate MegaBus are thinking now. After last night KC, MO school board vote to begin paring the dead wood, which got the libs upset, Gov. Nixon told folks in Jeff City that state revenue is just $700 million short of projections. So while Greyhound is getting two new buses, 2,000 vehicles from the (MO) state fleet will be sold, if Jay has his way.
I've seen the state vehicles around St. Louis area during the weekdays and except for the prison vans, it's only one person inside. Why not carpool back and forth from Jeff City and take three cars off the road for the day.
I guess Obama's MO is getting predictable
[...] » Stimulus Dollars Buy Greyhound Buses in Missouri – Big Government [...]
Greyhound gets a few million dollars a year in subsidies, maybe you should take the train. You own them. Amtrak gets over $2 billion a year.
the State of Missouri will use $945,210 of federal taxpayer monies to reimburse Greyhound Bus Lines for the addition of two new buses to the company’s fleet.
Must be a sweet ride to cost $472,605.00 per bus.
Half a million a bus????
Yes, they really do cost that much, especially since the ADA requires all new buses to have wheelchair lifts. Those lifts cost nearly $50,000 EACH, not including installation costs. The passenger seating alone costs almost $40,000 and the engine is another $20,000.
Yes, they really do cost almost 1/2 million dollars apiece. Yes, they are compliant with the ADA, which drives the price up another $50,000 over the cost of one without a lift.
I'm perplexed here. Greyhound receives very little federal money compared to ScAmtrak or even your local city bus companies and everyone is up in arms over this comparatively small amount? One of my pet peeves with the ADA, for instance, is that almost all city bus companies (privately or publicly held) have received a ton of Federal money to convert their buses or buy new ones. Greyhound, who is constantly being harassed by the folks at ADAPT, receives exactly ZERO dollars to convert or buy.
Oh, and other states like Michigan, for instance, have been purchasing buses for Greyhound and other line-haul companies for years. The agreement with MI states that the buses have to be run on service within the state. Everyone wins. The passengers get decent lift-equipped buses to ride in, and the companies don't have to shell out millions.
[...] » Stimulus Dollars Buy Greyhound Buses in Missouri – Big Government [...]
[...] » Stimulus Dollars Buy Greyhound Buses in Missouri – Big Government [...]
[...] » Stimulus Dollars Buy Greyhound Buses in Missouri – Big Government [...]
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