lol, why you so mad dude??1. since when does quality solely control pricing on clothing?? It’s called ‘prestige pricing’ and a huge chunk of expensive brands do it. The costs can also be built into design, marketing, real estate, etc.2. have you ever been to NYC, mr avid traveler? cause i live here and see bbc all the time. same in HK where i also lived.3. with ur own said figures, your math is wrong.

It's true that I am an engineer who has never taken an accounting course. However, I'm well aware of the fact that higher operating costs means fewer service hours on the street.

Nevertheless, the operating costs don't quite take into account “all expenses for providing service” as you stated. The operating costs include labor, benefits, fuel, maintenance, utilities (presumably at the bus garages), insurance, taxes, and a few miscellaneous expenses. You can see details here in Form 30.

The tables I included in the post do not include capital costs (rolling stock, preventative maintenance, stations, fare collection equipment, communication and information systems, etc.) or general administration costs (finance and procurement, marketing, real estate, planning, legal, etc.).

Also, ridership can be high despite high operating costs. This will be true in most larger cities that have higher costs as well as higher ridership. Chicago would be a good example in the tables shown in the post.

As for the other glowing omission, I would expect revenue to be independent of the unit operating cost. Please explain how they are related. Also, as you may know, COTA began collecting 0.50% sales tax, not 0.25%, at the beginning of 2008.

Brett Thanks for opening this subject, Larry thanks for publishing it.The US system of marketing real estate is clearly broken or at least obsolete compared to Australia. There is no excuse for a million dollar properties to be so poorly marketed in the US. I have worked with 2 brokers who ask sellers to pay for photography and get reimbursed at closing. These sellers don’t seem to mind at all when they cut me a check while other brokers are complaining that they cannot afford photography and they are loosing listings to those who can. I have shot a few videos with sellers present and they are thrilled with the process and the product. I am sure they would participate in the cost when they know the upside to great marketing. Breaking the old ways of thinking in real estate circles may be harder than we think. Established brokers have made allot of money using the current system and when one pioneer broker goes out and shakes things up by providing (pro) video and other cutting edge marketing they risk becoming a black sheep who listings do not get shown by other jealous brokers. I know it sounds unbelievable but apparently it happens. Going straight to the seller may be the best solution. They control the money and can demand products and services if they know they exist. I am starting an ad campaign targeted at sellers. I am sure it will anger some brokers when their clients call and ask about having a video done of their home but we all need to take some risks if we are going to change the way real estate is marketed.

I don't know of any website offering an exhaustive list of niche markets to explore. Niche markets are something you have to find for yourself; many when they discover a niche immediately put a stake on it as theirs. Why share a profitable niche to others? Niche by definition is a specialized market, and your goal is to have as few competitors as possible.

Given your business experience, what do you think are areas in your industry that have not been tapped? Are there any needs that are currently not being addressed? If not in your current industry, is there anything that you need but no one is currently giving it to you in a way that you want to? Ask yourself these questions — and then that's your niche.

You may want to read the article "5 Steps to Creating a Profitable Niche for Your Small Business" to help you in the process of identifying your niche.

I disagree that OPEC is responsible for the current downturn.

My concise explanation for the economic downturn is:
1. Economies world wide are connected and cannot be completely de-coupled.
2. The US government over a period of time came up with improper policies for eg. The housing industry was artificially protected through various policy changes since 2001. It lead to a point where mortgages were bundled and sold as investments to pension funds overseas for fixed returns. This gave the banks and housing finance companies more money to lend for housing regardless of credit appraisals. The house prices went up and because of this people re-financed their houses and took the extra money to cater to their consumption. In effect the Americans were spending somebody else's savings and when the bubble burst the credit in the market vanished leading to a panic.
3. OPEC does not regulate prices, it is the market that does. Production figures for oil do affect the market but not for long.
At best OPEC could have been a very small, insignificant cause.