IT's TIME THAT ALL, repeat ALL, Boeing employees left their cars at home! I have been discussing wth SPEEA leaders about putting in a Boeing building to building transit bys system. Make it frequent, make it nice. Bluntly, this situation on the highway is costing too much - and as the price of gasoline, road repairs, traffic accidents, congestion, etc. goes up. Boeing employes are making UNREASONABLE DEMANDS on the Company. Transportation is the major cause of inflation. SPEEA needs to make transporation benefits issues Number ONE. And that is how you get money for other things like medical beneifts, etc. I want you to knokw that Phil Condit has assigned my proposal for BOETRAN to Government Affairs. What I proposed was the following:

1) Putting in a bus transit system between all Boeing sites.
2) A SouthCenter Grand Central Station, where express buses go.
3) Platform load, eliminating the need for wheelchair elevators and stairs.
4) Combi-Buses that also handle Company mail and cargo during off hours.
5) Boeing purchasing a couple of trains and running them from Tacoma to Renton to Everett (we can get trains up the Everett canyon).
6) Running the system on alternative fuels like natural gas.
7) Consider airlifting bus drivers from Spokane, Pullman, etc - partly to expand employment in low employment areas, and overcome the increasingly higher cost of living in Puget Sound.
8) Establish satelite park and ride lots for BOETRAN, and put in telecommication storefronts, even put computers on buses and trains so employees can work while going to work.
9) Paid parking wakes people up!
10) A company wide video about traffic, congestion, energy, pollution etc, and I dont mean role playing.
11) That this be done at other plants than just Puget Sound, like Mesa Arizona, Huntsville, etc.

This company has over 75,000 parking places (in Puget Sound), each costing over $6,000 I estimate we spend over $500 million a year driving from home to work, and that cost is increasing. Over the ten years, there have been some improvements in better bus service, vanpools, but this is a piece meal approach. Boeing needs to do more than just RTA. I request that SPEEA make this transportation issue NUMBER ONE, and stand up and be counted.

POST COMMENT Year 2000: Since this article has been written Boeing has merged with other companies. It is no longer the Company of Choice of the airlines, but the space station, missle, jet fighter, bomber, satellite co. Boeing should be it's own company, and not merged with lethal military weapons programs. Bluntly, Boeing used to be primarily commercial airlines, with some involvement in airframe derivatives. Now the company has merged with the military side, and mark these words: what McDonnell's Corporation did to Douglas Aircraft Co. (the same people who build the MD-80s) they are going to do to Boeing. Boeing should be a tranportation company, focusing on the needs of the airlines. It is unfortunate, but when I left Boeing, I never read so many "choice words" from airline CEO's than I have in my entire career. Bluntly, the military weapon side is corrupting the way we do engineering, and do business on the airline side. The airline side is very international, while the military side is national. There is a basic conflict of goals, and even sources of money. Recently, the airlines had a huge price increase, due to the increasing cost of fuel, in a large part caused by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. But more to the point the airlines have shown a desire to have other types of fuels, than just oil. At Boeing alternative ideas in transportation, and fuels, is held too much in contempt by both employees and management...one manager, told me "there was no traffic problem". Boeing is acting too much like a rich people country, I contend that this latest strike by SPEEA, has more to do with nicer cars, more parking places, and tax payer subsidized highways...than higher wages. I could support SPEEA if they would act more like engineers more concerned about "public safety", like crashing MD-83s, and other honesty/integrity issues. I lot of the reason for the conflicts is these engineers come from the military side, like the B2 Bomber program, and just dont get it! On the commercial side we work, longer, harder, and we are not suppose to be in the killing business. A lot of engineers don't care about important issues like what happen on a 747 off New YORK. The fuel tank exploded and in my opinion it was caused by lightning. The solution is inerting all commercial aircraft, but this cost money. What is happening at Boeing, is PROBABLITY has been replaced from FAIL SAFE. One if it happens rarely then it is ok, the other engineers it so that if it fails, it fails safely. Remember the 1970's and the oil embargo...welll it is returning, and this will severely impact Boeing and the airlines. What I see going on are engineers compromising their professional integrity, and this is caused in a large part by military weapons influence in the company. Right now as I speak we have military troops in the middle east, in a large part to protect oil supplies. While close to 1/3 of employees do carpool/vanpool or ride the bus...must just don't care. Weapons construction does drive up our taxes, and those weapons are being used to protect oil supplies...this traffic and energy situation is not a joke, and it is time Boeing engineers faced reality, and acted more like engineers....if you want more money....leave your cars at home. By putting in a building to building transit system, using the HOV lanes, that way employees who live in KENT can park in KENT. Make the buses nice, even with meeting rooms. But I dont see that kind of innovative going on, Boeing is acting too much like a "rich people's country club". Engineers are not necessarily some of the most honest people, and it is time these hard headed engineers understood that we do have a traffic and energy crisis, and YOU WILL ADMIT THE PROBLEM EXIST AND YOU WILL DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!