Just after writing my last blog, I thought about what I would say to the mayor if I bumped into him on the street. What better place to get inspiration that his Web site? There, he blogged about day seven of the strike, not unlike I did. Only, while my post talks of how I'm surviving not having buses, his post was deeply soaked in the unfortunateness of this whole situation, how reasonable he is being, and how his new plan is all about improving safety. After reading a few of his posts, I decided to write him a letter. And after the letter wouldn't send through the site, I just faxed it to him (yay for that nifty feature I never use on my printer). My letter was strong in its neutrality:
Faced with this transit strike, many people have flocked to Web sites and Facebook groups looking to get around town. I am sure there are some great success stories proving that Ottawa is a great place with great people. We have heard extreme stories in the news of how people cannot get around, are missing appointments, and how businesses are starting to feel the impact of Ottawa-sans-bus.
This past week has been a wonderful experiment. It has shown that for how much ordinary commuters like myself complain about the buses, routes, drivers, and the like, we ultimately need the system and can accept its flaws in the face of the alternative. It is easy to take it all for granted, and commuters and non-commuters alike have really seen this past week how much everyone depends on having OC Transpo. In a lot of ways, they really do carry the community of which they are part.
Hearing that the strike will be at least another week certainly makes me, and I imagine everyone else, sigh and take a moment before having to continue planning how to get to and from the most essential of activities. We start to see first-hand the benefits of compromise. There has been a whole lot of "I'll go out of my way to drive you to X if you don't mind arriving 20 minutes early." and "you can be 10 minutes late, but then you'll have to do task Y." For a week, that has worked for many of us. It will for yet another.
Each of us have made sacrifices, whether it was spending more time in traffic, giving up shifts at work, paying more for parking, changing daily schedules, staying in instead of going out, etc. In that spirit, I ask you the City and the transit’s Union to seek out each other's needs and reach an agreement. Take initiative. Work together to end this dispute so that life in the city and everyone, whether they use OC Transpo services daily or have never stepped foot on a bus, can get back to normal.
In the end, there are no heroes or villains, no offenders or victims, just people. There are you, me, and over million others. It does not matter who is wrong or who is right, just that differences get settled and everyone pushes forward.
Thank you for your time and enjoy the holidays
I wonder if there's a more innovative way than a fax machine to send a message. If there were, I might be more persuasive in my words.
As we walk into week two of this strike, I'm going to have to get more creative with my getting from place to place. OC Transpo's Web site has some suggestions:
- Park & Ride for Carpooling: Not relevant, since I'd have to walk to the nearest park & ride. I may as well spend my energy walking to where I want to be.
- Carpooling & Ridematching: Ridematching might be something to look into, though I do wonder how reliable it truly is. I kinda carpooled on my way to work today. It was nice.
- O-Train: Why do they list this as an alternative when it clearly states that service is also disrupted?
- Taxis: at about 16¢ per 93 metres and a starting price of $3.40, it could get expensive, fast.
- Para Transpo: Not all that applicable to me, since I dont' have a short-term or permanent disability.
- Teleworking: It's not easy to manage and sell at retail from my own bedroom.
- Biking: This was an option before the strike started. I guess they took it down when they realised that it was winter, and only the hardcorest of hardcore bikers get out.
I guess I'll have to be more creative than whoever made up that list.
I've also always wondered how many councillors and municipal government types have any real interest in public transit. Looking beyond the strike, I see a light rail platform that's stuck between Middle-of-nowhere and Not-quite-relevant, with Carleton in the middle. It has been there for close for 7 years, and I don't see it ging anywhere fast because nobody seems really interested in connecting all corners of the city in a quick, convenient, environmentally gentle (potentially, anyway) way. Whenever it comes time to try to save money the city eliminates and reduces service on some routes rather than trying to plan new routes that would improve efficiency and generate more riders. I truly believe that Ottawa's bus ridership would jump if it were easier and faster to get to more places. It's that bump that's need to make such improvements to the system possible. The city's transportation people and OC Transpo's powers that be should be made up of people who are genuinely interested in taking transit to the next level - for the city, commuters, and yes, even drivers.
Note: Eigth days without buses means I have wasted an average of about $16 on my transit pass.
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-J