There's been some noise recently about banks demanding $14 million from METRO to cover loans insured by AIG, causing agency officials to travel to Washington and hold out the hat.Maybe METRO planned for the $14 million problem months ago - that's the amount of additional revenue expected from October's fare increase - but according to an Official Hair Balls Pal, METRO should be worried about a lot more than $14 million. (Want to be an Official Hair Balls Pal? Send us tips!)For starters, METRO is
Speaking of Metro finances, it looks like the people who buy fuel for the buses have locked in a price of $3.55 a gallon until October of next year. The buy was completed in "midsummer," according to an e-mail from agency spokeswoman Raequel Roberts, when diesel averaged close to $5 a gallon. METRO's buy might have seemed like a deal at the time, but diesel prices have dropped to about $2.85 a gallon. "We base our fuel purchase decisions on the need for budget certainty and...it would be folly t
Drivers going home last night along Main Street were treated to the sight of a car that made its way from the lane next to the rail lines, to the rail lines themselves. And stayed there for about four blocks. There was some hollering from pedestrians which apparently had absolutely no effect on the driver and his passenger in the dirty gray (silvery?) van. At first, most people probably assumed that this was a very lost out-of-towner, who didn't notice he was on a rail line. But even the train c
Photo by jglsongsBack when Metro was trying to finalize its huge deal with Parsons Transportation Group, we asked to see all the letters and e-mails between Metro and the Washington Group -- negotiations there had fallen apart in early 2008 -- to possibly shed some light on the hold-up. We're still not sure why the Washington deal soured, because apparently there were no letters or e-mails exchanged between the two companies for the final six months of negotiations. (The last e-mail we got from
The city's bus company shows little inclination to pay up or change its ways, even after it smacks into people like its own employee Clarence Santee Jr.
A Metro vice-president was arrested and charged with sending indecent images to an underage boy, Channel 2 has reported.William Murphy Madison, who deals with infrastructure for the agency, sent at least 10 pornographic images to a Missouri City kid. Unfortunately for Madison, but fortunately for the kid, the victim's mom discovered the images and contacted police.Madison is suspended from his $136,000-a-year job, but we were left to wonder -- doesn't Metro screen its computers? Can staff
