Comments on: Obama’s DOT is out of touch with America

By: Jeff

Jeff — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 21:14:21 +0000

Greyhound is to “bus” as Kleenex is to “tissue.”

By: Jacobean

Jacobean — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 21:34:31 +0000

LaHood is out of touch due to the particular bus company he mentioned? That's a little bit silly. Being knowledgeable about transportation issues doesn't require knowing the name of every single bus company running between DC and NYC.

Obama's Transportation policy may be somewhat neglected given the current political climate, but naive? Hardly. In just 10 months, Obama's DOT has established a livability initiative that acknowledges the important connection between transportation and land use. http://www.dot.gov/affairs/2009/dot18509.htm Thats a bigger step in the right direction than any previous administration has taken.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 21:04:04 +0000

Methinks thou dost protest too much. As you said, it was an off the cuff comment, and it gives no indication to how knowledgeable LaHood is about transportation. And your article about opposing a gas tax increase is from April, so I present to you An Article Where Ray LaHood Says We Should Raise The Gas Tax, from, like, two weeks ago. And since you say only the rich will be able to afford high-speed rail, have an article where describing how the costs of the first new high-speed rail line have increased to 83% Of The Cost Of An Airplane Ticket.

I don't care if Ray LaHood has no particular interest in transportation. He's done a damn fine job so far advocating for a more well-rounded transportation policy.

By: DVA

DVA — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 02:44:32 +0000

Or maybe he realizes that Greyhound owns Bolt Bus, and has matched the $20 price point with its main-brand station-to-station buses on that route anyway.

(I live in DC and used to live in New York, and travel between the two frequently. I've barely noticed a difference between the bus options other than their stops' locations.)

By: Stephen Smith

Stephen Smith — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 02:39:59 +0000

…er, I guess LaHood is from Illinois (Peoria, specifically), but not Chicago.

By: Stephen Smith

Stephen Smith — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 02:34:15 +0000

It seems a bit off-the-cuff to have been so calculated. And if he really thought it over, he'd probably realize that just saying “take the bus” is a lot better than “take a Greyhound bus,” given that the DOT isn't supposed to be playing favorites. It seems more likely that he just truly believed that Amtrak and Greyhound were the best two options to get from New York to Washington. Which of course makes perfect sense if you're a career politician from Chicago with no special interest in transportation.

By: Rob

Rob — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 01:38:27 +0000

Is it possible Lahood used Greyhound as the example because its a national brand that most people are familiar with? Not even every Daily Show viewer knows what a “chinatown bus” is. Otherwise, I pretty much agree with the general review of DOT's leaders.