Today, May 15, 2012, I had a Letter to Editor published in the Roanoke Times entitled, "Bedford Needs a Taxi Service". http://www.roanoke.com/editorials/letters/wb/308785.
The letter made the case that Bedford, Virginia, a small city between Lynchburg (east) and Roanoke (west), and largest city in Southwest, Virginia, needs a taxi service to increase vacationers coming to Bedford.
Currently persons arriving on the new (July 19, 2011) and wildly popular Smart Way Amtrak Connector Bus from Lynchburg have two unacceptable options:
1) pay $25 to $35 for a taxi from Roanoke or Lynchburg or
2) walk 1 to 3 miles to their accommodations.
After using a taxi from the Visitor center and their lodgings, a visitor could use a taxi to visit the D Day Memorial (a favorite with Veterans, many of whom cannot or will not drive on truck-clogged interstates), other historic sites, and many small shops. Later rides would take them back to their motels or bed and breakfast locations and, finally back to the Bedford Visitor Center for the return trip in the morning on the Smart Way Connector Bus. Locals without cars can also use a taxi to doctor's and other appointments and to reach the Connector bus to take day trips to Roanoke, Blacksburg, Lynchburg, Charlottesville, and Manassas.
Certainly, when Amtrak replaces the bus, people stepping off the train will expect a taxi, or most will bypass Bedford for other places that have taxis.
I have several youtube videos about the Smart Way Connector Bus under the name "trainmandan100". I would like to do a video on Bedford, but I dare not until they have a taxi service.
Biography
I grew up in Pine Ridge, about one mile from the Fairfax Hospital, in Fairfax County, Virginia. In about 1952, I remember traveling on the Washington and Old Dominion (W&OD) Railroad (the "Virginia Creeper") from Falls Church to Roslyn. This train ran from Bluemont to Roslyn and Alexandria, VA, with a branch to Great Falls, which ceased operations earlier. I graduated from Fairfax High School (1963), the College of William and Mary, BS, Biology (1968) and the University of Connecticut, MS, Zoology (1974).
I spent a year (1966-1967) working for the Smithsonian Institution in Venezuela collecting mammals and parasites. I was in the US Army (1969-1971) and spent a year in Japan, outside Toyko. That was first experience with a well run train system and with a ride on their Bullet Train, which traveled at 130 mph at the time. I have worked for the Office of Pesticide Programs at the Environmental Protection Agency for 36 years (1973 to 2009). During that period, I have ridden the Virginia Railway Express (VRE), a Washington/Virginia commuter rail system since its beginning in 1992. Now I am paying more interest in Amtrak and want to stimulate ridership and new service, especially in Virginia. I am a member of the Virginia Association of Railway Patrons (VARP), www.varprail.org, which has been promoting passenger rail in the state for 30 years and a member of Cvillerail, www.Cvillerail.org, which was major reason for the establishment of the new Amtrak Train to Lynchburg, the subject of this blog.
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