Mile,
I see nothing "childish" about facing the facts.
What is "childish" is repetetive cheering for incompetence.
You cannot fairly compare last year and this year. Remember that last year, the train ran very sporadically during the first weeks of the season. That could account for a ten-percent increase this year. The much-touted marketing program did not increase ridership at all.
While I too appreciate most of the efforts that have been made, I DO NOT appreciate the fact that one individual tried to do it all by himself, ignoring any and all who could have helped.
In my book, the RGRPC gets a big fat zero for turning all the marketing and computer functions over to an individual whose inflated ego prevents him from seeing the flaws in his own thinking. A little teamwork would have gone a long way.
I said in Spring of 2000, that trhe non-profit RGRPC was the last best hope for the railroad, and I still say so. But I had no idea that the RGRPC would so quickly develop a bunker mentality.
Something has got to give.