St. Charles is a very rural parish. It is almost impossible to walk anywhere unless one is of the athletic type and likes to take care of his chores while getting his exercise. And not too many residents can find the time nor the stamina to walk or jog several miles to get something like a dozen eggs.
But all of that was in the past. Now you can order bus transportation for anywhere you want to go in St. Charles or St. John through the newly opened River Parishes Transit Authority. Of course, you don’t want to do it just for a dozen eggs. But for greater objectives, yes.
There are certain requirements, however. You must order the lift one day in advance and a one-way trip costs $2. That’s usually cheaper than buying gas and easier than fighting traffic. But it does take some advance planning.
This new public transportation system is not expected to bring any major relief to our busy highways. After all, most people can’t usually wait a day to go out and buy that dozen eggs or achieve other objectives for most of their chores. They’ll still have to fight the traffic to Majoria’s or Frank’s. But for older people and those without cars, it should be a blessing.
The service will take you to Louis Armstrong Airport just outside of St. Charles which will be a major benefit for those who have to catch a flight in a day or two. And it also can connect with the St. James Parish transit system and areas upriver if that is where you want to go.
Public transportation has always been a big advantage to the crowded northeast section of the country and big cities elsewhere. And now St. Charles will get what benefits it can provide here. And it should be great for those who can use it.
Stimulus should be quick and brief
President Barack Obama made an enlightened presentation of his stimulus package Monday night. He emphasized that he wanted swift action on it to slow down our runaway unemployment rate.
We hope it will be just that and not an excuse to permanently put more of the business conducted in our country in the hands of government. That certainly would not help our economy in the long run.
We hope the swift action he wants is to cut taxes and rebuild the country’s infrastructure which are proper actions for the government to take in times of stressed economy. He even went so far as to specify repairing dams and levees so “we don’t face another Katrina.”
We don’t need an expansion of government services in other directions which would put us on the path toward socialism. European countries have tried it and many are trying to pull back from a system that has proven to be ineffective.
We hope the action he gets will be swift . . . and also very brief.
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