The OCTA bus driver’s strike continues unabated. While I feel bad for the drivers, I feel worse for the poor people who depend on the buses. They are really suffering.
The Times published an incredible article by Jennifer Delson today that touches on the disconnect between the union leaders and those who rely on the buses. Here are a few excerpts:
Three days into a strike by Orange County bus drivers, the walkout is resonating in Santa Ana with an urgency unfelt in neighboring cities.
Here in the county’s civic core, low-paid immigrant workers say they depend on public transportation not only to get to work but to travel to the grocery store, take children to health clinics and to keep basic appointments.
Experts say Santa Ana fits the profile of a city dependent on public transportation. In 2004, the Rockefeller Institute of Government, the public policy research arm of the State University of New York, singled out Santa Ana as the city with the greatest level of “urban hardship” in the United States.
High rents and low wages factor into that distinction. Santa Ana remains a magnet for new immigrants, and 10% of city residents
I saw one Striker smoking, as he was walking the picket line, they can’t be that bad off, if he can still afford to smoke, @ nearly $5 a pack.
Maybe those cigarettes are donated.
I think strikes are kind of fun. There is a lot less traffic on Main st. and Bristol without those big buses blocking my way.
2. by the Union for their Vote?
Well, it is nearly a week now with few busses on the street. The world has not ended, and the decrease of traffic blocking busses parked at the curb is wonderful. Keep up the good work, OCTA Board and drivers!