I’ve been more-or-less following the Ottawa transit strike, which has been ongoing for 51 days and while the drivers are now going back to work while the issue is settled in arbitration, it could be a couple of weeks before buses are back on the road and full service resumes. This strike was over the holidays, through some days of wicked cold and large snow storms… basically the worst time of the year. People car-pooled, walked, even biked and traffic was hell but basically coped and managed to get on with their lives without the trains and buses. Unlike Montreal and some other cities, in Ottawa the buses are not considered to be an “essential service” so there was no minimum service at all.
Thisarticle is suggesting that ridership could suffer significantly. After a shorter strike in 1996, it took years to get people back on the bus, and even then, it never got back to the pre-strike levels. People in Ottawa are angry, and the public seems to largly consider this to be the fault of greedy drivers.
So, my question is, if you lived in Ottawa, or if your city transit had a similar strike, do you think you’d return to public transit if the same routes/schedules etc you used to use were resumed? It appears that an Ottawa Adult regular monthly pass is about 80$ (CDN). Assume your hypothetical commute is basically the same as what you currently experience.
Yes, even if I felt it was the bus drivers’ fault. Whatever their grievances, taking the bus is still a better choice for me, and once bus service returned, I’d be back on it.
I commuted by car long enough and hated it, even though I like driving, and while I hate crowded buses and occasional late or absent buses (like the STM has been providing lately!), it is still a lot less expensive and less stressful than trying to park downtown. The tax credit for bus passes helps a little, though it isn’t really a huge motivator, either (though that might be a provincial thing, not federal, so I don’t know if it applies for Ottawa). My current bus commute is reasonable, with frequent buses on a couple of alternate routes to get to my school, so I’m lucky. I doubt I would have started walking to school during a strike, so I don’t think I would choose to keep that health benefit. I would hope that the service provided discounts or free rides for some time (a month?) like suggested in the article, but seeing has how strapped for cash most cities and their transit services are, I wouldn’t expect it.
I’ve always kind of wondered about this when I’ve seen long-term strikes. The ones that take the longest seem to fall into one of two camps: Management is characterized by the strikers as being a bunch of incompetent, greedy, mean bosses, or the workers are characterized by management as a bunch of lazy, greedy, whiny mean people. Another case of this was a very long-term strike by the workers of a jewelry store I walked by on the way to work, and the strikers had signs listing out in great detail how horribly mean and unfair the bosses were… I realize there are strikes where both sides are being fair and reasonable, they just don’t agree, but I keep seeing the other kind of strike and thinking, “You know, I don’t know that I want to patronize a business that is managed by/performed by incompetent, mean, greedy people…”
That is sort of insane. I know the city’s full of diplomat town cars, but doesn’t Ottawa have tons of students? Expect a certain amount of tourists? I can’t even fathom how they functioned that long.
I probably wouldn’t think twice about getting back on the bus. Now, if I drove a bus I might be a bit worried about going back to work.
This happened in Vancouver when I lived there - as I recall the strike lasted about 4 months, although to be fair it wasn’t winter for us.
The day the buses went back on the road I was back on them. Like many people, I was angry at what I saw as a complete failure of our provincial government to come to the aid of the people and declare basic bus routes to be an essential service. I felt that if it was upper or even middle class people being affected, they would have stepped in, but because the strike largely affected students and those on low incomes, we were left to suffer. I was actually angry enough that I wrote a letter to my MP, who sent me a lovely and useless form letter back.
During the strike I walked everywhere, but Vancouver is a big city and walking to school took about 90 minutes. Walking to work was only about an hour, but if you start at 8.30am, it is a big pain in the ass to do that everyday. I suppose I could have bought a bike but I had nowhere to store it or lock it up and they kept promising that the strike would end any day.
In the end though, what was I going to do? They have you by the short and curlies if you are a bus rider - most of us can’t afford to buy a car and I didn’t know anyone to carpool with. So, I got back on the bus. When I think about it it still makes me a bit mad though.
I would definitely not take the bus. I am not really into the whole public transport thing. I am more of a personal transport kind of guy. Plus if people don’t show up to work their employers should be able to fire them and hire people who will.
I live in Ottawa. I am a student. I have no choice; of course I will be taking the buses as soon as they’re running again. I’ve been walking 10+ kilometers a day just to get back and forth to school.
I have heard from plenty of people plenty of different takes on the strike. Some people are saying they’ll never take the bus again. Some are like me and can’t wait to hop back on. Some are saying the public transportation system benefits leeches on society and everyone should just drive everywhere. (No, I don’t get it either.)
Here in Philly, both of these things are true. A fine example of the transit authority’s greed and incompetence- due to an escalotor not being in proper working order, a boy had his foot torn off. Transit authority officials ordered false evidence planted at the scene (a shoelace intended to make the accident look like the boy’s fault) and ordered the destruction of documents the court had requested. The boy won 20 million in damages, and the transit authority’s tampering with the scene and destroying records resulted in a further 10 million dollar fine. Had they just repaired the escalator on schedule, it would have cost them a few thousand. Instead, they ended up spending over 30 million.
Still, since I can’t afford a car and I’m able to get monthly transpasses on somebody else’s dime, I ride the bus. I have no choice. I often tell other riders “You’re riding SEPTA. Just bend over and take it.”
I was not using the buses at the start of the strike and I retired on December 19.
However, when there was a strike in 1996, I was a transit user at that time and did go back to using it after the strike. I had arranged for a work colleage to give me a ride but it was not a viable long term option and the cost of parking at the location of work was much more that the cost of transit.
I was living there then too. Your’re absolutely right. Normally I wouldn’t agree with vandalism against a person’s property (manure thrown on the lawn of the guy who headed Transit on city council) but in this case I didn’t mind so much.
Yeah, I remember the manure too. Normally I wouldn’t be into it, but I have to admit I found it a bit funny.
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Cornelius Tuggerson**, it’s nice that you enjoy your car, but I think you would find that most bus riders aren’t “into the public transport thing”. We cannot afford to own or drive a car regularly. I appreciate that some people do choose to be bus riders, but those are generally not the ones really affected by strikes.
When they come back to work, what are my options? My commute is too far to walk, there’s no legal way to ride a bicycle through the tunnel or bridge (and 45 miles each way is a bit far to ride!), and to drive costs $19 for gas and bridge tolls, plus another $25-35 for parking.
I can’t afford $50 a day to commute, so it’s back to the train for about $10 a day.
I feel rather embarassed that the union represented is the same union I’m a part of in my side of the country, and yet I didn’t hear about this until I read about it on the 'dope…
I’m surprised they were striking over scheduling; last year VTA (bus system in Silicon Valley) almost had a strike but it was over health benefits for active members and retirees. I feel that we got lucky- our union negotiated a contract with management mere days before the stock market tanked. I feel like we wouldn’t have gotten nearly as good of a deal if we had ‘held out’ as some members wanted.
If the transit workers went on strike, it would shut down Tokyo. Quite literally millions of people commute into town by public transit every day, and forcing them all to find other means of coming to work for 50 days would have serious repercussions. I’d be pretty pissed at them.
Still, I got serious about biking to work last year and now do it almost every day. Being pissed off at the Metro staff would just mean biking when it’s raining, too.
this is one reason i live near where i work. i’m in philly as well and i use septa as little as possible.
i went to high school in a far away part of philly and was dependent on septa to get me there…3 month strike in my 2nd year. i missed 2 months until in the 3rd month i was able to stay at friend’s houses who lived closer.
learned my lesson well. no more total dependence on transit. if i take the bus now it is for convenience only.
until I read about it on the 'dope…