economic sense?

Apr 24, 2008 11:34

When I rode the bus yesterday, I saw a sign that depressed me ( Read more... )

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Comments 5

jwildstr April 24 2008, 15:45:44 UTC
Do they think the average bus rider can't do simple division?

Yeah, probably :)

Reminds me of when a 4-pack of Chicken McNuggets was $0.88, and a 9-pack was something like $2.99. I tried to explain that you got 12 McNuggets for less money than 9, and they just looked at me blankly.

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jd7a April 24 2008, 16:08:51 UTC
I'd like to think that the clientele on the Montgomery County busses is moderately better educated than the deadbeats at McDonald's.
At least I hope they'd be annoyed enough at a $7 increase to go to their calculator of choice and figure out what that breaks down to. But maybe I have too much faith in people.

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susangc7 April 24 2008, 15:50:34 UTC
Maybe they're trying to get everyone to switch to SmarTrip for everything, so the lack of discount is intentional? That's kind of been my impression of their plan. I guess it's easier to keep track of or something.

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jd7a April 24 2008, 16:05:37 UTC
so the poor overworked bus drivers don't have to remember which button to push to indicate the form of payment? maybe. it seems that they're frequently stymied by that.

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freeptop April 24 2008, 19:48:32 UTC
Consider the following: until about a month ago, sandwiches at Subway were in the $4-5 range. A couple sandwiches got up to $6. (All prices are for footlong sandwiches).

Suddenly I start seeing TV commercials and hearing radio ads from Subway advertising $5 footlong sandwiches. Sure enough, the next time I went to Subway, they have a "limited time only!" "deal" of any footlong sandwich for $5... and all the "regular" prices have risen by $1. So while it looks like a deal, it's actually a price raise from what it was before the "deal" started, pending an even greater price hike to come.

They clearly expect people to not remember what the prior price was.

Given that, yes, I clearly expect that your local transit authority doesn't expect people to do the math.

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