By Dave Millhouser

"Wild Bill," despite his moniker, was one of our better drivers.

That is, until he got bored.

The boss made a mistake in giving him a whole day off on the far side of the country, and Bill decided to make the worst of it.

Cruising city streets in his ancient 4104, he found a little old lady at a bus stop. He picked her up, told her that since shed been such a good customer of the Transit Authority for so many years . . . he was going to take her all the way to her front door for free.

Things would have worked out fine if she hadnt written a "thank you" note, whereupon the transit folks took offense that Bills service was better than theirs.

Private-sector service is usually better because our customers have choices.

A wizened bus executive recently told me: "The new federal highway and public transportation law includes a section mandating increased private participation in public transportation, kicking doors wide open.

"However, the real concern now is getting operators to walk through that door."

His point is that, as an industry, we are often dependant on business finding us, and it may be time to start looking a bit harder. Like, at your local transit agency.

The same guy (I only know one "wizened executive") said: "In 2011, transit riders took 10.2 billion trips on taxpayer-subsidized transportation. The last numbers we have for the motorcoach industry is 723 million passenger trips."

Since the door is open, we ought to go after some of that business because we can do it better -- and cheaper.

Transit authorities carry people but theyre also involved in social engineering. For political reasons they pay better than their private counterparts. That wouldnt matter except for the fact they sometimes choose to compete with us, and try to disguise those numbers and other overhead.

In these troubled times we can help them, and make money, by taking some work off their hands.

I can think of two ways to get started. Youll think of more. One is to query trade associations like UMA and ABA. They know whats happening.

The other is to build a relationship with your local transit authority or authorities. If youre willing to do some of their routes, for less money, it helps them in several ways. Any cash you save them is available to do other things (hopefully the ones they do best).

In addition, at a time when they need to rationalize employee compensation, your presence provides some bargaining chips. If we dont act now, when the economy revives, the chance may be gone forever.

As the wizened executive says: "Things we are already good at work in any transportation enterprise hiring, training and dispatching drivers, acquiring and maintaining appropriate equipment, and implementing sound safety programs. If you do these things well, you can basically operate any transportation enterprise."

Youre probably wondering who this guy is but Im not gonna tell you because you wouldnt need me anymore.

In the early 1980s the old wood commuter rail bridge over Massachusetts Danvers River burned, stranding trains in Salem, with no way to finish the final 20 miles to Rockport.

The only way to get people the rest of the way home was to bus them from Salem to the North Shore communities where they lived.

The bus company pressed into service belonged to some close friends and because the need was unexpected they were desperate for drivers so desperate, in fact, they used me.

Since "Wild Bill" was a pal, and Im a slow learner, I, too, took some folks directly to their doors, or dropped them somewhere more convenient than the assigned stop.

Within hours the bus company was informed that such behavior could not continue. We were trumping the normal service level of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority.

The bus company made good money providing superior service for more than a year, until the old wood rail bridge was replaced by a modern concrete structure.

Years later, when the bus company had fallen on hard times, and was eager to find new business, one of the owners came to me and asked "do you know how to make concrete burn?"

I still dont know how to make concrete burn, but Im convinced there are other ways to find good paying work serving public transportation authorities.

Dave Millhouser is a bus industry marketing consultant and freelance writer. Contact him via email at Davemillhouser@gmail.com.