The Price of “Air” - Septa’s Big Chance - And Come Fly With $$$$
This is what you might call the “travel edition.”
For the second time in three months, I am back on the campaign for “free air” at gasoline stations in the area. Now I know this sounds like a trivial pursuit, but tires with the right amount of air are safer and more fuel efficient. Pennysylvania, New Jersey and Delaware legislatures must pass legislation banning service stations from charging you for air.
I MEAN, ISN’T IT ENOUGH TO PAY OVER 4 BUCKS A GALLON.? IN ADDITION TO THAT, YOU ARE GETTING HOSED BY SERVICE STATIONS REQUIRING A BUCK OR MORE TO FILL UP YOUR TIRES WITH “AIR.” LAST I HEARD AIR WAS FREE TO BREATHE IN AMERICA. WHY DO WE HAVE TO PAY FOR IT TO PUMP UP OUR TIRES?
Yeah, I know, this is not as hot as Health Care and Taxes as an issue. But this is a public safety matter.
Demand free air!
Moving on to mass transit….
SEPTA has a fantastic opportunity. Regional Rail trains are packed these days, what with high gas prices disabling so many family budgets. This is the time when Septa should be letting everyone know what a great criss-cross rail system we have, along with surface linesIn addition to promotion, Septa needs to brighten up the cars with some paint, and a more cheery atmosphere. This time-period could be the moment that mass transit has been waiting for. Reinforcing that message is very critical.
On to the airlines. To make up for the high cost of fuel, some airlines are charging to check bags, imposing other fees, and in one case charging $2.00 for soft drinks. This is what I can’t figure out. If US Airways wants to charge for extras like soft drinks, why not bulld the cost into the fare? People hate to fork over two dollars for a cola , a glass and some ice? The news about the $2.00 soft drink is disheartening to travelers. My advice, pack your own sandwiches, and buy your drinks before you board. No waiting. No hassle. No money on board.
BROADCAST NOTE: Don Tollefson is leaving Channel 29. People come and go rapidly in the broadcast business, but Tollefson has been around a long time. I first worked with Don back in 1976. He’s a class act who knows his sports. I wish him well and hope to see him on local TV again.
larry, I moved out of Philly almost 9 years ago,I now live in a rural area,and I can not tell you how much I miss SEPTA.Just to get around here you must have a car,plans now have to be made,to go to as many places that we need too,food,library,drugstore,etc.so we only have to take the car out once ,get done and come home.We take SEPTA for granted,it is so great to be able to go from one end of the city to the other.
Be grateful that you have mass transit
and enjoy the ride.
Ah, Larry, you and your crusade for free air. Dream the impossible dream, Larry. Who buys the air compressors? Do you realize that most station owners are only making pennies per gallon on gas? Yet you would force them to buy and maintain air compressors without the opportunity to recoup their costs. Silly. I hear Barack Obama opposes these kinds of cheap stunts.
SEPTA is not going to win fans by throwing some paint on trains. That’s ludicrous. They need to work on service fundamentals, Larry. A friendly attitude will win many more repeat riders than a little bit of paint on trains that are otherwise filthy and smelly. Try riding the Market/Frankford El from City Hall to 69th Street every day. Paint isn’t going to do it.
You can’t figure out why U.S. Airways doesn’t charge more for fares and then give you a “free” drink? Have you been sniffing glue? What about people who don’t want a drink or don’t want to check bags? Why should they have to pay more for a fare? The answer is that they shouldn’t. I like the fact that airlines are keeping fares low and are allowing travelers to decide how much extra to spend. Maybe they should just put vending machines on the planes and get rid of the flight attendants, who are basically surly and useless anyway.
Larry, what’s the inside story on why Fox29 didn’t renew Don and Huddleston’s contracts? Are they too smart for their jobs? What are your inside contacts saying about this? And about Larry Mendte. Is Fox going to land that doofus?
Hey, here’s a thought. Maybe SEPTA should raise fares and provide free drinks and air on all routes. Whatdoyathink, Larry?
Larry why dont you move to a communist government where free ait is provided and the government issues edicts and price guidlines for everthing that is consumed. I think your call for free air is a stunt to get responses. Why not demand that the workers who cut your lawn clean the gutters for free because they charge so much for the grasscutting, or have those bastards black top the driveway, after all they mark it up with their equiptment. You’ve got a screw loose on the free air!
Don Tollefson came to my high school in 1970s, he was a tool who flirted weirdly with high school girls well below his age, a creepy man who has been put out to pasture- thank God!
Larry, on the free air point, I suggest you research the effects of interchange fees on gas stations. Those fees are the fixed percentage fee that credit card companies charge gas stations that accept credit cards for payment. As gas has topped $4 per gallon, interchange fees have wiped out all profits made by many gas station owners on gas sales (typically about a ten cent markup per gallon, but now eroded by interchange fees).
Check out the situation for the little guy before you start making silly policy suggestions. Either that, or go work for Snarlin’ Arlen and his campaign against the NFL. That’s some mighty fine governing.
Larry, how often do you have to put air in your tires? A couple times a year? How much does that cost you? Enough with the free air…
Airlines should be charging for carrying on bags, not checking bags. The morons that carry on bags and waste time trying to find a spot in the overhead space. Charge those people…
Is this the beginning of the rerun season ?
This call for “free air” is a populist stunt that has no legs and that makes no sense. That other, other, other Jim guy is right. At most you’re going to put air in your tires once or twice a year. I don’t think $2 is too great a burden for the common man.
Gentleman,
Larry is playing us, traffic to the site is down and he realized the free air thing several weeks back got qa lot of posts, and general traffic, which adds value to the site should he want to sell or merge to another site. The free air thing is a nebish Jewish grandmother stunt, and this type of Yenta rant is below Larry and he knows it, but yet he is getting our goat, so perhaps we should ignore him. Has anyone seen JR, he was a Russert hater, but JR its okay to come back now, Tim is dead and the rainbow has risen.
Oh, and by the way, I’m proudly Irish but was embarrased by the out pouring of Irish reporters; Shriver, Williams. Barnakle,Buchanan, Mathews,O’reilly, Hannity etc. Enough with the Jews controlling the media! These people may work for Jews, but Irish Catholics are having their own impact, and I was both proud and a little embarrased at the level of Irish Catholic influence in the media, probably the way Jews sometime feel about their disprotionate influence in the media, but I must tell you Larry, it feels really good!
Uh, George, that’s almost as anti-Semitic as a certain “free air” advocate thinks Jimmy Carter is.
1- Air is free. Compressors are not. And the power to run them is very expensive but necessary. Try filling the tire by opening the valve stem to outside air!
2- George, you seem to be making the case that the media isn’t a Jewish monolith. Too many Irish guys in there.
Leo, sorry about my anti-Irish rant. But while feeling pride, I did say to myself, how much influnence do Irish Catholics have in the media? God forbid the same Tim Russet homage was given to a Jew, we’d be hearing about it for months. Larry, you know what I’m talking about, somehow the smiling Irish Catholic front gets a pass, but bottom line is we’re not getting our news from a diverse group.
Hey Larry, when I stated Caroline Kennedy’s endorsement of Obama was a big deal months ago, you dismissed it as not having much effect. Well, she’s the one who is currently recommending VP candidates to Obama, so she is a big damn deal endoresment, and none of your local tools are on her short list!
Larry’s List of VP Shame:
Ridge: stone faced loser
Biden: Plagerist, closet homo
Rendell: Bombasitic smart mouth loose cannon, with lose stool in his pants.
Spector: too old, not a larry pick, but a senator he is smitten with for no good reason, other than their love of gavildafish on Passover.
Caroline, we hardly knew yee, but please tell us how the Irish will dictate the inevitable black presidency, becasue we know the home boy is not quite ready for prime time. Boston Irish will pull his puppet strings in the first term, and a bunch of Irish news hacks will celebrate his grandour on NBC! So let it written, so let be done!
hello Larry,
barry h obama is doing another john kerry imitation, FLIP-FLOP FLIP-FLOP FLIP-FLOP,as predicted.
jr, and here I thought you’d be happy that Clinton is going on the campaign trail with him.
You do a disservice to Barack by comparing his decision to continue to raise funds through successful grassroots efforts to the smear ads against Kerry. It’s apples and oranges, not that you’d understand that. McSame is running scared. Have you seen his feeble ads here in PA in which he tries to dissociate himself from Bush? And do you realize that he can’t lob “flip-flop” accusations at anyone after opposing Bush’s tax cuts before he was for them?
Go get yourself some free air.
hello leo,
no matter how you spin it FLIP-FLOP is FLIP -FLOP.
Larry,why is barry h obama kicking muslims off of his stage?if Hillary or mccain did that the media would go crazy.
Larry,if you have your car on a maintenance schedule with a service station (or dealer) the need for free air from the gas stations are very rare,I make sure my Lexus is well cared for.
Larry,on Tim Russert,I said I watched his show until he slanted with passion to obama in the primaries,he sounds like a good person in real life.
Looks like jr missed his dose again. The froth is back.
If Larry is playing us with the “free air” as George suggests, why doesn’t he restoke the vehement HRC-Obama debate. That was good for weeks. Get your oil changed at Jiffy Lube and they’ll keep your tires at proper inflation… Or is this free air thing a metaphor for some shortcoming in Larry’s life. Two words… Viva Viagra.
HRC on tour with Barry tomorrow. That should be a hoot. What every happened to all that Dream Ticket nonsense?
JR, not for nothing, we are all impressed you are driving a Lexus. I had you pegged as a Rambler guy.
Barry was right to keep Muslims wearing turbans or veils off the stage behind him. It would have only served the purposes of those trying to portray him as a fanatical terrorist or religious extremist. Both HRC and Conservatives had been sending emails out warning people about the “real Barrick Hussein Obama”.
McCain should hire a bunch of woman to wear Burkas and follow Obama on the campaign trail and try to get in every photo shoot. Obama handlers will look like haters if they try to block them again.
JR rolls in a Lexus! I bet that’s what Larry drives and I bet he doesnt even know how to put air in a tire, nor does he own a tire pressure guage.
Larry has gotten rid of his Mercedes and only rolls in SEPTA these days. Further making his crusade for free air that much more bizarre. He’s got a ticket to ride…
Larry has become an “Air Head” with a jones for lots of free air. Maybe he can entice Al Gore to lead his crusade.