CAPE
AND PROVIDENCE EXPRESS BUS SERVICE
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We have now completed 3 months of the Cape and Providence
Express Bus Service, CapeX, and find that it is time for us
to make hard decisions about the future of this service. The
ridership has been about what we had anticipated and has come
from a variety of markets. We have had Cape Cod business and
social travelers as well as visitors coming to Cape Cod. We
have transferred many players for the Cape Cod Baseball League
and some servicemen returning home. Our travelers have been
fairly equal between Amtrak and T F Green Airport. Overall,
the need for this direct service has been proven by the hundreds
of travelers we have moved over the past three months.
We began this adventure in May of 2006 with the dream and
belief that this service was vital to Cape Cod. We went to
every state representative who would listen to us as well
as the State Executive Office of Transportation and the Cape
Cod Commission in the hope that we could receive some financial
assistance to get this project off the ground. We felt that
since the other major established bus routes from Cape Cod
receive state assistance then this route should also qualify.
In October 2007, after hitting every dead end, we made the
decision to try CapeX on our own.
After two years of planning we thought we had looked at every
possible angle that could affect the success of this project.
We were wrong. The one item we had never considered was the
increase in fuel costs. In October the average cost for a
gallon of gasoline was $2.85 and diesel was $3.10. Now its
exciting if you can find gas below $4.15 and diesel is close
to $5.00 per gallon!
As you can imagine, as an industry that is reliant upon fuel
these prices are hitting us very hard. We knew that it would
take time to build CapeX ridership and had expected to operate
at a loss for the first few months. But the increase in fuel
costs and no relief in site has forced us to make the decision
that we can no longer operate CapeX.
Please believe that this decision has been a difficult one
and we are heartbroken that we have to take these steps. CapeX
is something that we believe in and we have no doubts that
this service is vital to Cape Codders and our visitors. But
we have to be practical about our responsibility to the 25
employees that work for Cape Destinations. We can no longer
absorb the daily losses of operating CapeX. Therefore, our
last day of service will be July 13, 2008.
Let your views be heard!
Although we can no longer independently support CapeX service,
we strongly believe that direct service between Cape Cod and
Providence is needed. If you also believe this is vital to
Cape Cod contact your local representatives and encourage
them to support this service. If you have taken CapeX, share
your story!
Senator
Robert O'Leary
Senator
Therese Murray
Representative
Demetrius Atsalis
Representative
Mathew Patrick
Representative
Jeffrey Perry
Representative
Cleon Turner
Representative
Sarah Peake
Representative
Eric Turkington
In closing, we would like to thank everyone who has supported
CapeX. We would especially like to thank our drivers who were
willing to take this CapeX ride with us. We still believe
that this service could succeed and hope that some day it
will become a part of Cape Cod. We are saddened that factors
beyond our control have forced us to make this decision.
Kind Regards to all,
Peggy Garrahan & Jay Kavanaugh
CLICK
HERE TO READ RECENT ARTICLE ON CAPECODTODAY.COM :
Local company can't operate bus service to Green Airport:
CapeX was growing but diesel increased $2 a gallon in seven
months
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