Archive for March 21st, 2011

The carnage begins.

Monday, March 21st, 2011

We haven’t even gotten to the Final Four yet, and the firings have already started:

Reports indicate Bruce Pearl is out at Tennessee.

(Link goes to the HouChron, as their AP wire service story seems more comprehensive than the local newspaper’s current reporting.)

I would argue that he deserves to be fired for that yellow jacket and tie combination alone. In this case, it looks like the issue isn’t his sartorial choices, or his record (145-61 over six seasons) but problems with the NCAA and unauthorized bratwurst.

Posted in Clippings, Firings, Sports | Comments Closed

Going off the rails.

Monday, March 21st, 2011

We have commented previously on the ridership figures for Capital Metro’s light rail trains (summary: pathetic). We have not been commenting further on this because we have not seen new ridership figures.

At least, not until today, when the Statesman informs us that Capital Metro is worried because…the trains are packed. Ridership in December went down to an average of 639 boardings a day, but started to trend back up in January. For the first ten days of March, the average stands at 2,041, according to the Statesman. (However, the article also notes that that ten day period includes three “special service” days.)

So how did CapMetro pull off this feat?

  1. Higher gas prices are driving people to rail.
  2. CapMetro cut prices.
  3. “…the agency combined two Northwest metro area express bus routes in a single bus route that, for some commuters, was less convenient and had the effect of driving some bus riders to MetroRail.“

Also worth noting:

Average daily ridership, if you discount those four days of SXSW hysteria, has gone from roughly 43 riders per train run last year to 50.

Posted in Clippings, Trains | Comments Closed