LeeAnn's Lament

We Are All Screwed

On Friday I attended a presentation on the Massachusetts Health Insurance Reform Law.  Presented by The Commonwealth Connector and sponsored by the Retailers Association of MA, NFIB, the the Chambers of the Canal Region, Mashpee and Falmouth I left the two hour meeting with one thought, we are all screwed.

I venture to guess the other attendees, a cross section of business owners and individuals, left with the same impression.   

One business owner recieved applause from the whole audience when she succinctly observed how this new law would impact her business.  She stated, "I am not going to be in business to pay health insurance."  Her younger, healthier employees who had declined the option of obtaining insurance through the business in the past, in preference to higher paychecks,  were now "flocking" to her requesting to sign on.  As a result she is watching her $3,000 a month 50% health insurance contribution rise to $9,000 a month. 

As for my husband and I, this new law will place yet another financial burden on our already strained finances.  I have started to look for ways to reduce our monthly expenses.  There is the $40 we could save on cable by switching to Basic.  Granted I will miss the SciFi Channel, but what good would it be if our electricity was turned off?  Do we really need a land phone line and two cell phones?  No more long distance calls, email will do.  I cross my fingers hoping my 10+ year old car will continue to run.  Sure the tires are wearing out, but these will have to wait to be replaced.  My husband has already made a great effort to reduce our gas bill by bicycling into work.  Of course, I do not have this option and still no option to utilize the revered Breeze and Flex buses.    (You can't get there from here)

There is radio commercial playing right now advertising a fast food breakfast sandwich.  The voice-overs tell you the great reasons why you should indulge in this "delicacy".  One reason the commercial gives, "Because three dollars is nothing."  News flash Burger King, MacDonalds and all those other American institutions over-consumption, $3 is something!  It's a tank of gas.  It's a gallon of milk.  It's fresh fruits and vegetables that will have a more positive effect  upon your health and well-being that one lard soaked, lamp-heated, dried out slab of  cr@p.  But since the masses buy into this consumer brainwashing and make junk food a  staple of their diets, I have come up with $7 a day in health tax to cover their burden on the healthcare industy.

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You really you can?t get there from here

So Bill Doherty asks, “who says you can’t get there from here?”
Getting from "here" to "there" is not a "Breeze"

Your answer is, “I cannot.” 

Last weekend I started noticing the Breeze and Flex buses be-bopping along Routes 28 and 137 in beautiful downtown East Harwich.  I became intrigued with the idea of taking the bus to my place of employment on Route 28 at Route 134 in West Dennis. 

With great expectations I searched the Breeze and Flex websites for schedules. 

The schedule started out promising; the Flex bus has a stop at the East Harwich Stop n’ Shop, a mere 1½ miles from my house, an easy bike ride.  It travels onto the Harwich Chamber of Commerce on Rt. 28.  Buses leave from S n’ S at 8:00 AM and 8:30 AM.

An hour's wait between buses 

I next went to the Breeze site, fully expecting to find a convenient connecting bus.  Well, there was a bus scheduled, but it is far from convenient.  The Breeze bus is schedule to go by the Harwich Chamber at 9:20 AM.  This means I would have to wait anywhere from a half hour to a full hour for the final bus that would deliver me to work, 40 minutes late.  Sure I could adjust my schedule and take the earlier buses, which would put me at my office at 7:40 AM.  And, being into work 1 hour and 20 minutes early could score me major points with the boss-man.  

Your experience may have confirmed the demographic analysis of potential rider-ship, but what it confirms to me is that these taxpayer-funded follies do nothing to reduce the congestion on the roads of Cape Cod, a stated primary goal of the Cape Cod Transit Task Force.

Based on your anecdotal survey it has only served to remove cyclists (the more traditional mode of transportation for summer workers), people who otherwise would be driving if given the opportunity and a sorry bastard whose wife can’t be bothered.  I will give you one point for the four revelers headed to P-Town.  Fewer drunks on the road are a benefit to everyone.

I did email the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority about my disappointment with the coordinated schedules of the Flex and Breeze buses.  A portion of the canned response I received from Paula Ainsworth is here:

“The Breeze is the Cape Cod Regional Transit Authority's year-round service. Every effort was made to make the connections to the Flex as convenient as possible.  Unfortunately, we are not able to provide half hour service on the Breeze because of funding constraints”

This statement does not address my primary complaint about the Breeze schedule.  As is, the Breeze does not offer scheduled service that would allow someone to arrive in time for a 9:00 AM workday.

How long will the public support bad planning?
 
So, I will continue to commute the 26-mile round-trip to and from West Dennis.  Thankfully my ten year-old Honda still gets 37 miles to the gallon.  

I would like to know, for how much longer will the tax-payers continue to fund a transit system that does not serve the primary population of Cape Cod and does not directly address the increasing congestion of the Cape’s roadways?

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