Cheap trip: Riding the Megabus.

The Megabus is an intercity bus service that offers fairs as low as one dollar to select major cites such as New York, Chicago, Cincinnati and Pittsburgh to name a few.
Last week on Saturday I decided to ride the Megabus myself to see what type of bus service Mega Bus provides.
The first thing I did was long to there website www.megabus.com and discovered that I was able to purchase a round trip to Pittsburgh for just 4.50.
On Saturday of the next week,I greeted the Megabus at the corner of high and nationwide were the Megabus stop is located with the Megebus logo.
After the bus driver verified my reservation number I would board a well maintained intercity bus that was single story for this trip.
After waiting about 20 more minutes for more passengers, the bus left the first stop and made a brief  stop at the Ohio Union for additional more passenger.
After picking up the last passenger the bus would take Interstate 670 to Interstate 270 to Interstate 70  towards Wheeling W.V.
After a brief 20min rest and meal stop at a truck stop just east of the city of Zanesville the bus would then continue towards Wheeling where the bus took a bypass freeway to continue to Washington PA.
At Washington Pa the bus would get on I79 to Pittsburgh PA.
After the bus rode past the outskirts of Pittsburgh, the bus entered the Fort Pitt tunnel then the Fort Pitt  bridge which lead the bus to downtown Pittsburgh.
The bus would finally stop at the David Lawrence Convention Center under neath a tunnel where other meg abuses would stop connecting passenger to bus headed to other cities to  such as New York City, Washington DC, and even Cleavland.
While I walked through Pittsburgh I would observe a vibrant downtown that still maintains it retail and restaurants.
As the video will show, Pittsburgh's downtown would leave me questioning the current redevelopment of downtown Columbus, and the current lack of retail components.
After locating and examining the Amtrak station, I would then briefly examine the ornate Pennsylvanian which is an former train station that has been converted in to luxury apartments, I would head back to the convention center to wait for the bus back to Columbus OH.
After a slight delay a double decker bus arrived to begin the return trip to Columbus.
The return trip was similar to the trip to Pittsburgh however at the meal stop two riders would fail to observe the 20minute rest time.
There failed observation would cause the bust to arrive back to Columbus about 20 minutes late since the driver would return to pick up the unobservant riders.
Despite the Slight delays that was also caused by the Pittsburgh Pirates double header that day and the intermittent WiFi on the buses, I found the trip on the Mega Bus to be a reasonable experience.
The main feature of ridding the mega bus was the very low price of $4.50 for a round trip out of town, which is just 50cent more than an all day pass on the local bus line here in Columbus.
For that price All the buses were relatively clean, the drivers were service oriented, and the fellow riders were not the usual riff-raff that can mar a bus trip.
Another point to observe is that even at the regular prices that can be as much a 12 dollars each way (like on holidays like memorial day last month), with the current price of fuel maintaining the high price of three dollars or more dollars a gallon, the Megabus is a valid way to travel affordablaly.

Click on the bottom to see more on the video:

The Ohio Education Assocation Anti SB5 Ralley

Last week there was a rallery that was promoted by the Ohio Education Assocation to voice opostition to senate bill 5 which wouyld eliminate colloctive bargining rights for pubilc workers.

At the rally besides school teachers there was also representatives from many different unions such as the teamsters, the steelworkers, police , and firefighters unions.

The rally was heald on the eastside of the state house where the columbus media was not present.

On the west part of the state house is where the Columbus media was present and where the rally was more subdued.

Bellow is a documentary I made of the event:

Killing 3C Rail: 25000 jobs and Counting Mr. Kasich

During the election of 2010 on of John Kasich campaign pledges was to kill the 3C Rail which was part of the federal government stimulus package.

Kasich claimed that the program would be a waste of money and nobody would ride the train.

However when I talk to central Ohioans such Todd Michaels during last summer he would state “ Even though I own a car I would ride the train for one to avoid high parking fees in Cleveland during Browns games.”

Another point that the train would also relive is the traffic congestion that almost any driver in central Ohio is getting more and more wary of.

I figure the most important point that 3C Rail would have provided would have been jobs.  Jobs that would always stay here in Ohio and could never get outsourced due to corporate greed or cheap overseas labor.

The first thing that building the rail would have done would have put the thousands of construction workers to work (approximately 26,000jobs).(Dayton City Paper 1)    Even though the majority of the jobs would have been temporary they would have led to a trickle down stimulus package.

Those temporary workers would have to eat which would give more business to restaurants, coffee houses, and grocery stores.

Those temporary workers also will eventually need clothes, shoes, and tools. That would be money for retailers such as Wal-Mart, Payless and Home Depot just to mention a few beneficiaries.

A final point of stimulus would be Ohio’s shattered real-estate market that put the state in its bad situation.  Those Construction workers need a place to sleep and that worker could be a viable pool of renters for apartments and rental homes.

Even After the project was done there would be about 8.000 jobs  permanent jobs left providing a sustainable income for the employees and their families.

Those employees can them buy those vacant homes that many relaters complain about not being able to sell, and buy cars that many car dealers complain about not being able to sell.

Besides jobs 3C rail would also provide safe and inexpensive transportation for workers, students, and travelers.   

It would provide an incentive for younger Ohioans and College graduates to want to stay in Ohio who favor the service by 74% (Dayton City News 1).

A final point is that 3C rail would lead to the revitalization of many of Ohio’s cities and may reduce the urban sprawl that many mayor and trying to reverse.

In closing Mr. Kasich needs to make a mental Note that he just killed 25,000 jobs.  And I hope Kasich realize that most indigents on the streets have an old saying, “a job is a job.”

I hope he realize that sometimes Ideals can sometimes get in the way of your goals as well.

When I was reading the bible in the book of exoduses there was a part when god denied the children of Israel the promise land because they believed that they could not take Israel.   Consequences of this belief caused the Hebrews to wait 40 years to reach the promise land and continued to wonder looking for the promise land.

That is what I feel Kasich and his people are doing to the state of Ohio by not using money that is already there to build this rail system.

So thank you Mr. Kasich for Killing 25,000 jobs, prosperity and dreams.   Keep it up and I may run against you in 2014.

Yes Columbus There is a Bus to Polaris, and Delaware Too.

When it comes to riding the public bus to the Polaris Fashion Center there tends to be two urban myths.

One Urban myth is that there is no bus that goes to Polaris which can be disputed by the fact that bus sends two buses to the area.

Both The 29 Polaris express bus and the 1 Cleveland Avenue Bus do get COTA riders to the area; however the stops for both bus lines are a long distance from the mall itself.

That leads to the second urban myth that many bus riders in Columbus believed that the only regular bus to Polaris is the number 1 Cleveland Avenue bus.

Even though the bus dose get to the Ohio health Center  at Africa road and Polaris park way,  The walk to Polaris can add a half hour to an hour to the commute, since the mall is two miles away.

Another way to get to Polaris Fashion Place by bus that won’t involve a long walk and also offers a bit more accessibility to Delaware County is the DATA Bus.

A typical DAT bus that is used on the Fixed Routes

DATA is Short For Delaware Area Transit Agency which and ,  According to Ginny Berry DATA’s Marketing and Community Relations Specialist ,” DATA is a rule transit agency that provides transportation for the residents of Delaware with both fixed routes and via its on demand service.”

DATA’s main service is to provide affordable on demand rides for anybody in Delaware County since 1998.

However for about 10 years ago DATA started operating the green route which provides commuters a connection between Delaware and Columbus, as well as access to malls and shopping centers between the two cities such as the Polaris Fashion Place.

Besides the green route Data Also currently operate a red and blue route which gives residents access to Delaware based business, as well as DATA’s main Business which is its on demand service.

The busses are small airport-style shuttle busses; however they offer ample interior room, wheel chair access, and bike racks.

A typical seat on the DATA bus

To catch the DATA Green Line to Delaware, the first step is to catch the 2 North High Street Bus from downtown Columbus to the Crosswoods Park and Ride which also serves as a stop for the DATA Bus.

Using a COTA transfer you can get on board and enjoy the door to door service to Polaris Fashion Place, as well as other shopping centers in Delaware County.

After Visiting Polaris then you discovers that DATA has developed away for commuters to avoid the traffic on US 23, by using access roads that connects area business such as Wal-Mart, Building Trades Institute, and Kroger with Downtown Delaware.

The green line ends and Begins in downtown Delaware at the Delaware County public library main branch.

At that Stop you can connect with the red and blue line which can take you to the different parts of Delaware.

Larry 40(drivers don’t give last names at Data however they do give operator numbers) one of the drivers for DATA states,” He gets New riders every day.”

Larry also States that DATA is popular with students at Ohio Wesleyan University who use the bus not only to get to the mall but to also connect with COTA buses to get them to the Airport.

Two Ohio Wesleyan Students who wouldn’t give their names would disembark the Data Bus to transfer to a COTA bus to go to Port Columbus International Airport to fly back to Chicago for the Holiday Break.

A first time rider who would give only give first name of Sheinqua would state that when she called COTA to get a ride to a job interview in the Polaris area she was referred to the DATA Bus.

Sheniqua who was riding the DATA bus for the first time stated she never heard of the DATA bus until she called COTA.

A regular rider named Terry Powell who lives in the city of Delaware would state that DATA bus would take transfers and bus passes from COTA.

As the commuters boarded the bus, Larry 40 the driver would accept the transfers from COTA and offer additional transfers for the other routes in Delaware.

DATA stop at the Polaris Fashion Center Food Court.

As the first bus stop was the Polaris Fashion Place which as seen in the above photo is up to the food Court Entrance.

After a brief ride on Polaris Parkway the bus would turn in to a side street that would lead to the Lewis center Wal-Mart bus stop.

The bus would stop at a few housing complexes and would then stop at the Kroger Market Place in Orange Township.

Finally the Bus would take the commuters in to the City of Delaware with stops at Delaware community Plaza and Ohio Wesleyan University Campus (aka OWU).

The final Stop on the green line and the main transfer point for the DATA Bus is the Delaware Main Public library at the corner of winter and Henry Street.

The DATA bus Transfer Point at the Delaware Public Library.

On the return trip that would occur about two hours later the commuters would not only include two students who attend OWU but also the bust would pick up a trade school student who lives in Columbus.

The only problem that can be observed with this service is the limited Hours of the service compared to COTA.

DATA operates from 6am to 7pm Monday through Friday and dose not Operate on holidays or weekends.

When asked, Denny Schooley operation manager of DATA stated that DATA is currently looking in to the expansion of evening and weekend hours
.

Schooley continued “However DATA still has to observe it’s on demand priority and it limited resources.”

Another Issue is that the fixed routes mainly cover Polaris, Lewis center and Delaware.

Berry Also stated that DATA once tried to establish a route to Sunbury that proved unsuccessful.

Berry would state that DATA dose cover other parts of Delaware County Such As Powell and Sunbury via it’s on demand service.

Berry would also show data showing how ridership on the DATA bus has been rising this current year.

Berry stated that in the future DATA is looking to expand to evening service and weekends and a new bus stop at The Columbus State Community College Delaware campus, as well as other local business.


TO SEE DATA IN ACTION FEEL FREE TO WATCH THIS MINI DOCUMENTARY:

I like to give Special thanks to: Polaris  Fashion Place for caring fliers for DATA bus and  COTA (central Ohio Transit Authority ) for some insight on DATA bus. Ginny Berry and Denny Schooley at DATA for giving me total insight and showing me around DATA's Operations.  I like to Also thank Larry operator 40 for a safe drive and introduction to the DATA bus.  Finally I like to that the Delaware Area Transit Agency for providing this service for the citizens of not only Delaware County, But also Visitors to the County such as me.

More Information On the DATA bus can be obtained on their website:

www.ridedata.com

A Drive Around Northeast Ohio Revels Landmark Treasures.

Two weeks ago I took a day trip driving up to northeastern Ohio around the Akron Canton and Cleveland area.

Driving is what I do to keep me calm especially near the hard charging finals season in college.

During my drive I would discovered that northeastern Ohio has a lot to offer to day travelers.

Just driving through Canton would reveal at least two national land marks alone. 

The first of the land marks is the William McKinley Monument and presidential library. 

The next attraction that can be observed is NFL Hall of Fame.

In Akron there are the parts of the Ohio Erie canal landmarks, and National Inventors hall of fame.

Finally in Cleveland I would see the many sports and night life options that reminds me despite the many amenities and progress Columbus has made, Cleveland still is Ohio’s premiere city.

Not to Crack on Columbus, But Cleveland dose have better public transit options and even though it don’t matter in the winter, they do have a beach.

Other land marks to see in Cleveland are the world famous “Rock and Roll Hall of Fame”, quicken Arena, progressive field and Cleveland Stadium.

After I refueled in the charming suburb of Lakewood Oh which is to downtown Cleveland I reluctantly decided to return back home for the day.

After my brief drive through northeastern Ohio I felt I didn’t see enough of this area of Ohio.

So in the spring I intend to go and spend at least three day in the area and take more pictures.

For now I guess I will enjoy the memory of my short day trip

 If you want to see more of my trip check out this video I made. 

Hello hello hello, The Strike Out Creed

Welcome to my new blog " Strike Out With Harry Payne."

In this blog I will explore many topics has always puzzled me in the past.

An example is why people who oppose abortion have no trouble wishing the see people who are already living die, such as solders, indigents and criminals.

I will explore in depth why millionaires and billionaires who have more money that most retires have in their retirement plans feel their taxes are too high and they don't have enough.

I will also examine the real reason health care cost so much and offer some ideas to make it more affordable.

Along with the print articles I will have some videos from my you-tube channel showing my on and off online documentary show "Harry Payne Presents"  which serves as video evidence of many of my arguments.

So If you like reading blogs that ask questions that the mainstream press is afraid to ask and may be get Ideas on how to fix the problem, please feel free to continue reading and viewing.