The real issue

As I understand this, the real issue is that Roger and some of the other merchants perhaps were upset at not knowing that the C&TS might not make their projections.
I feel we need to cut the railroad some slack here, cause the factors which caused this downturn were (a)beyond their control, and (b)should have been known by merchants without seeing any ridership numbers.
Basically I am refering to the Gas Price increases and the Hurricanes in the Gulf States. These were the two main factors for drop in ridership during that time. I think if you look at the numbers they probably went back up for the Fall colors, like they normally do.
I guess I feel that there is not sense trying to blame somebody(in this case the railroad), for something they could not control, or even know was happening, until it was too late to do anything about it anyway.
As for marketing, thats the Commission, not the operator as I understand it. The Commission cut back on advertising, when the gas and hurricanes hit. The Commission holds the purse strings, not the RGRPC.
Am not taking sides here, but feel that this issue is a bit overblown.
If the merchants feel they need to have ridership numbers daily, or weekly, then perhaps they should propose that they will chip in a little something as Rick suggested, since it will take a certain amount of time for an employee to put extract these figures, and perhaps put them into a form thats useful for the merchants.
While knowing these numbers is nice, I don't feel its the end-all for judging how business is going to be next week, or next month. What if there is another disaster, fire, or whatever. Merchants, like the railroad, have to be ready for anything and roll with the bunches. Watching the news like everyone else can be as important as getting the numbers of riders in judging what might happen.
My suggestion is that merchants need to plan better to make their businesses run more efficiently BEYOND what the railroad generates for them, and be less dependant on the railroad so that slack times don't hurt them as much. That may not be easy, but I would consider it essential if I owned a business that partially depended on the visitors to another business. As Tom Stewart suggested the community needs to get moving, and do something to support itself, and attract people beyond what the Railroad brings in to the community. Diversity is key in any business.
Just my 4.83 cents worth!!! " />
Greg Scholl