Survival Arts

As a former employee of a Greyhound subsidiary, as a mechanic for two years (and the only non-union shop in the whole company) I have a bit more knowledge of what is going on with that company, which has essentially become a rolling husk of its former self thanks to both union extortion and management looting. Fung Wah, being a new company, likely isn't weighed down by all the financial and organizational baggage, but I gotta say that $10 NYC to Boston IS fiscally impossible, it's not even the cost of gas.

Those buses are 47 passenger vehicles. At 100% capacity, they generate $470 per trip at $10 per ticket. With deisel fuel at $1.50/gallon or so, that is about 30 gallons of fuel to move a 50,000 lb vehicle at 6 mpg (I happen to know how efficient these engines are, this is an optimistic figure), 180 miles maximum range.

According to Mapquest, the shortest distance between NYC and Boston is:
Total Est. Time: 3 hours, 42 minutes
Total Est. Distance: 217.61 miles

So, unless your Fung Wah buses are practicing a bit of Buddhist long walking, you are going to come to a screeching stop 37 miles short of your destination for your $10 ticket, and this is ignoring paying the bus driver, the mechanics, the fuelers and cleaners, the ticket agent, the baggage handlers, management, plus whoever owns the facilities at both ends, the garage where the bus is serviced and maintained, and whoever owns/finances the bus itself.

It is rather clear that Fung Wah is doing the service equivalent of dumping, likely financed by Red Army capital, intent on driving Greyhound under, at which point they'll jack prices back up.

Vermont Transit, the Greyhound subsidiary I worked for, was the only profitable unit in the company. Our mechanics averaged only $13/hr while the union mechs ate Greyhound STARTED at $18/hr, and this disparity continued throughout the company. Our tickets are still higher. White River Junction, VT to Hartford, CT (about equivalent to the NYC to Boston run) is $60 in the off-season.

Mike Lorrey posts an interesting followup to my original post, but partially ruins it with this little gem:

"It is rather clear that Fung Wah is doing the service equivalent of dumping, likely financed by Red Army capital, intent on driving Greyhound under, at which point they'll jack prices back up."

I have no problem with the concept of "dumping", which is a pretty risky proposition in a free market, but you're going to have to back up that "likely financed by Red Army capital" subordinate clause. Back that statement up with facts, Mike.

Also , their not "[my] your Fung Wah buses", they're the owner's busses. You do have a habit I've seen in certain forums over the last few years of letting collectivist rhetoric creep into your arguments.

Sorry about that. Its not meant collectively, its reference is the fact that you were talking about them.

Don't know about the 'collectivist rhetoric'. When I share an interest (whether it is a right, a bias, an opinion, a cultural point of view, a citizenship, etc) with others, the proper grammatical reference to the common interest is that it is 'ours'.

Like some aircraft have been described as piles of parts flying in close formation, while we each have our own individual functions, purposes, intents, etc, our common goal (like living in freedom) is getting into the air, and staying there, whether or not farmers take pot shots at us where ever we fly.

For some to claim that we, the plane, got shot at because we chose to fly is unacceptable and unconsionable.

Mike, you avoided answering my question about the "Red Army capital" insinuation. I'm waiting for you to address that point.

The People's Liberation Army is not just the largest manufacturer on the Chinese mainland, it is also the largest chinese investor in the US economy. This is why I said "likely".

Mike, you said this:

"It is rather clear that Fung Wah is doing the service equivalent of dumping, likely financed by Red Army capital..."

You have made a *specific* insinuation against a *specific* company - Fung Wah - but have refused to provide *specific* proof to back up your insinuation that Fung Wah is engaging in a criminal enterprise funded by money from a slave regime. I insist that you back up your words with proof.

I talked to my (Chinese) wife Peggy about this yesterday, and she informs me there are a number of competing bus companies doing the $10 thing between NYC and Boston. Are you going to say that Fung Wah's competitors - because they're Chinese too - are funded by PLA slave money?

I made the insinuation that Fung Wah was 'dumping', i.e. using heavy loss leaders to instigate a price war with Greyhound. That much is obvious and doesn't require any 'backing up' IMHO.

The second clause of the sentence made the guess that it was likely a PLA backed venture. If Fung Wah is pouring heavy amounts of capital into buying buses (so as to avoid the financing/leasing costs that Greyhound is saddled with) plus heavy amounts of capital to pay the operating costs needed to fight a fare war with Greyhound (if they are charging $10 for a trip the competition is charging several times more (and still manages to lose money), then they have a realllllly big bank account somewhere.

Since it is a fact, as I previously stated, that the PLA is the single largest chinese investor in the US economy, that fact alone is sufficient backing to say that they "likely", i.e. probability says its them, are the finaciers of the Fung Wah venture to some degree.

I did NOT say they WERE backed by the PLA, I said "likely". Two entirely different things. I'd be interested to find out if my guess was accurate or not, but really don't feel like buying stock (even if it's available) to get a prospectus or annual report to find out.