Stop the bus

The silly idea of mass transit on our tiny island is rearing its head again. The huge waste of money that would result from big buses careening around the island belching black ash and diesel fumes would be shameful. A mental image of near empty buses picking up an occasional straggling passenger waiting in the rain comes to mind.

Even in large cities with big populations, the mass transit systems usually lose huge amounts of money and have to be subsidized by the taxpayers. The idea of having that type of time scheduled, large capacity transportation actually work here on Saipan is an impossible dream, or rather nightmare that will cost us dearly if enacted.

It should be pointed out that we had a perfectly workable “mass transit” system operating here until a few weeks ago. It was working so well that you could go anywhere on the island, at a time of your own choosing, for a paltry $3. We had access to good, reliable transportation without the huge costs associated with government run boondoggles. In fact, it cost taxpayers here or in the U.S. nothing at all. So what did we do to help that working transportation system along? Arrested the producers.

I’m referring to the meterless “illegal” taxi industry that has blossomed here on Saipan providing reliable and near instantaneous pick up and delivery of people to where they wanted to go. Not only was this system affordable even to the lowest paid workers on the island but by running the business efficiently, it was quite profitable to the operators of such taxies. They bought and paid for brand new, fuel efficient cars and used an on the go mobile telephone dispatch system that would be the envy of big taxi companies anywhere. All for three bucks a ride.

The private sector can do this job a lot more efficiently, environmentally cleaner and a heck of a lot cheaper than some rambling, top-heavy government bureaucracy can. I suggest we let them do what they do best; provide us all with cheap reliable transportation when we want it. Let them alone and let them do the job. They benefit and we benefit, so what is wrong with that?

The sticking point seems to be that the government does not get it’s cut if done the way it was in the past. There is a simple remedy for that. I recommend a moderate increase of the fee to $4 a ride. We still pay the taxi man $3 for a comfortable air-conditioned ride, but we also pay the CNMI Treasury $1 per ride. Now everyone should be happy. The taxis keep operating and provide us with a necessary and useful service, and the government collects money for…um, being able to.

The last thing we need are big empty busses roaring around the island adding to pollution and using lots of fuel at the taxpayers expense.

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[B] A lotta regatta[/B]

Well the 33rd running of the Saipan Laguna Regatta is in the books. It is the sailboat race held annually in the Lagoon and is the longest continuously running sporting event in the Marianas (some say all of Micronesia). Hobie Cat sailors gather each year to duke it out and see who has the best skills and the most capable strategy to win the most points during several heat races held over two days.

This year the team of Tony Sterns and Janet McCullough won the coveted “Brass Bat” 1st prize given and took possession at the awards banquet held at Porky’s Beach Bar in Garapan Sunday evening. Tony and Janet have won several times consecutively and seem to be the team to beat in next year’s Regatta as well.

Ron Smith and Ted Parker amassed enough points to place second while Lino Olopai and Amada Rabauliman finished third. Fourth place went to the husband-and-wife team of Tyce and Angie Mister. These winners and all the competitors finished the 2 day event with smiles on their faces.

To see photos of this year’s race, the Managaha picnic and the awards banquet go to www.otryc.org where photo galleries from the last several races are cached. You can also find other information about the Over the Reef Yacht Club, sponsor of the annual event at that web site or contact the club’s Commodore, Ron Smith, via the website for membership or scheduling information. The club holds weekend “fun sails” off Oleai Beach from time to time and offers free rides and free lessons so come on out and have some fun sailing around Saipan’s beautiful Lagoon. You might be the one to beat Tony and Janet next year.

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[B]People with Power[/B]

Recent promises by the new CUC Director, Mr. Tony Muna, pave the way to a ray of hope. If he can nudge CUC into keeping the promises made at a recent Saipan Chamber of Commerce meeting we will see the last of the rotating “brown out” power outages “sometime in June.” He didn’t specify whether early or late in the month, but the promise of 24/7 electric power for all customers was made. That in itself is welcome relief.

But Muna went on to promise that by September of this year the repairs to all the engines would be complete and CUC will finally be producing more power than consumers use for the first time in quite a while. If true, that bodes well for all businesses and residential users. Instead of struggling along barely able to cope with demand, the powerhouses will have a substantial surplus of available power at long last.

Mr. Muna did not say when he would ask the biggest users, the major hotels, to rejoin the grid but that event will probably signal that the health and reliability of our power generators has been greatly improved.

Another promise he made was to be back at the next meeting of the Chamber next month in June with hard data about the actual costs to produce power and administer CUC broken down by category. He further promised to show up with ledger proven data on how much CUC actually collects versus how much is billed, and who the main non-payers are. This should be very interesting information. Most people don’t mind paying the real cost of producing electricity efficiently, we just want to see what those costs and payments are. Let’s hope he will be able keep all these promises.

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[B]Or do it yourself[/B]

Many islanders are interested in generating their own power using one or more alternative technologies and want CUC to gear up to buy or give future monthly credits for their small excess power sent back into the grid for others to use. A recent law mandates CUC be able to buy this power from individual producers. By producing more power than they use, they will be able to make their meters “run backward” showing that they are due a payment or a credit. The real accounting system is a bit more complicated.

Only a handful of people are set up to take advantage of this “sell-back” option right now but many others seem interested in moving in that direction. As the international price of oil keeps going up and the availability of reasonably priced power goes down locally, these people and their off grid systems will look more and more like self actualizing prophets of the future. Web searches will provide a wealth of information about these systems and the various options that are viable and available to you today. Right now it is still a back up system at relatively high cost but the day is fast approaching when alt power systems may outperform mass generation systems. It is worth checking out.

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[B]Quotes of the week:[/B] Life is like a taxi. The meter just keeps a-ticking whether you are getting somewhere or just standing still. Lou Erickson (It’s just a job. Grass grows, birds fly, waves pound the sand. I beat people up. Muhammad Ali (1942- )