It looks like the OCTA bus strike is on. I just got a call from a friend who relies on public buses for his transportation. He says there are huge masses of people walking the streets of Santa Ana, as they no longer can take the bus.
Even worse – it appears that many people don’t even know that the strike has started.
The OCTA website states that only one bus line will remain in operation, Route 43, which runs up and down Harbor Bl., from Fullerton to Costa Mesa. But that route is only running on weekdays, from 6 am to 6 pm. The OCTA website also includes an updated schedule with additional routes. I am not sure what to make of the apparent discrepancy.
Bus riders can get updates by checking the OCTA website or by calling 714-636-7433.
Obviously, Santa Ana residents are going to be more inconvenienced than most folks in Orange County. Immigrants are not allowed to obtain driver’s licenses – and on top of that our city is the youngest one in Orange County. So thousands of Santa Ana residents will not be able to get to work on Monday, unless the strike is quickly resolved today.
What is Santa Ana Mayor Miguel Pulido doing about this? He serves on the OCTA Board of Directors. What is he doing to communicate with residents? Is he even aware the strike is on? He is infamous for not showing up when there are community emergencies.
According to the OCTA website, Pulido was first elected to the OCTA Board back in 1997. He serves on their Transit Planning and Operations Committee. Time to step up Pulido!
What about other local elected officials on the OCTA Board? Anaheim Mayor Curt Pringle, Garden Grove Councilman Mark Rosen, Costa Mesa Mayor Allan Mansoor, Orange Mayor Carolyn Cavecche, and all of our County Supervisors are on the board as well.
The OCTA press release regarding the strike includes a quote from Cavecche,
I am not sure what you expect one man on the OCTA Board to do, since they have nothing to do with negotiations. The last Strike, 21 years ago, ended after 12 days of talks. I am one of those222,000 dependent on OCTA, and be the way, I was born here.
Poster 1,
Are you kidding? Go back and read my post again. The strike happened over a 1% difference of agreement! Pulido very well could have asked the OCTA to just settle at 14% instead of 13%.
I did not by the way mean to say that only immigrants use our bus system. But a whole lot of them do…they have no choice.
First lets correct your inaccurate statement that immigrants are not allowaed to obtain drivers licenses….I am sure you meant to say ILLEGAL immigrants.
Second in your update it appears that OCTA tried to extend 30 days and give the drivers retroactive pay but the good ol unions rejected. Once again, the unions are failing the people they represent. I am so tired of the unions.
This is not about Pulido, or Pedroza or immigrant legalities. This strike is the result of what any employee of any job wants, regardless of union…a needed pay raise. If you were on the job for any length of time, would you eventually like to be earining more money too? The drivers are the ones that will take the most heat as they are the persons the public sees and interacts with the most. To you they may be just bus drivers or a means of transportation, but remember, whether we ride the bus or not, they are the ones entrusted with keeping us all safe on the road.
What do these people think they are doing? How can they possibly let a strike happen when they have over 200,000 people who absolutely have no other alternative to get to work, school and the grocery store. What are they supposed to do? Loose their jobs because they can no longer get to them? Take their children out of school? Having ridden the bus system for many years, I can assure you that the vast majority of their “customers” have no other way to get anywhere. I just wonder how many OCTA staffers and drivers actually use the service. Instead of breaking off negotiations both sides should be working 24 hours a day every day to resolve this. But it seems both sides have but their interests above the passengers.
Why are bus drivers allowed to strike? They provide a vital service in making our transportation system work and now they are screwing the people of Orange County.
Why hasn’t the OCTA done a better job of informing riders of this strike? Does the OCTA think that all of the riders view the OCTA website? With the money they are saving from not providing service, they should be able to afford more communication to it’s riders.
250,000 more people on the freeways and roads in cars on Monday. Thanks Teamsters and OCTA!
who is lying?
“The strike was called after union leaders declined OCTA
I think the strike can have a good impact if it makes all those bus riders appreciate the cheap transportation they have! I think they should strike every 3 months just to remind bus riders how good they have it!
Well,
It looks like a bunch of overweight drivers with wide behinds “need” 1% more than was offered them. For what? To add cheese to their whopper? To supersize that combo meal?
Give me a break!
What arrogance!
Yes, I used to depend on OCTA to get around when I was younger.
Does the OC breed this sense of self-importance, or do people just learn it here?
Lol, you don’t know the crap that drivers have to put up with on a daily basis. We have to deal with people like you that have no respect for another human being just trying to food their own family. Also this is the mechanics that are on strike, drivers are part of a union so we have to show our support with them. Most people wouldn’t last a month doing the job of a bus driver. We get attacked on a daily basis,by assholes for simply doing a job. But people like you want to talk shit. You are probably a wide ass shit talking bus rider that can’t afford to buy a car or you’re too stupid to pass the drivers test so you catch the bus and show everyone how much of a ass whip you really are. You should be thankful that there is a cheap ride service that gets you to where you need to go. Maybe you should use Uber, but you probably can’t afford that. Lol
You do realize that this post is 15 years-old, right?
I think they’re having another strike so this popped up on some folks’ radar.
And don’t harass a guy who’s just trying to food their family!
This strike is about the union wanting to give the pay raises ONLY to the drivers who have been on the job longer than 5 years. OCTA is saying that if you don’t give new drivers a raise for 5 years, they will quit and go elsewhere. Would you take a job where there was no pay raise for 5 years?
Memo to Art- You need a class in protocol! Cavecche is the OCTA Chairperson. It’s her job to issue statements and speak for OCTA.
Morning Coffee
Morning Coffee,
Looks like I struck a nerve. Let me be clear with you. The OCTA absolutely blew it with regard to communicating with the public about the strike. In particular they dropped the ball with the Latino bus riders.
Pulido could have gone on Channels 22, 24 and 52 and told the public, in Spanish, what was going on. But he didn’t.
And Carolyn doesn’t speak Spanish – so I don’t care that she is the chair. Protocol does not matter when the sh*t hits the fan! Bus riders don’t care who she is.
Pulido had a responsibility as our Mayor and as a OCTA board member since 1997 to TELL THE PUBLIC WHAT WAS GOING ON. And he dropped the ball. Typical.
OCTA has someone who handles the public information, and MC is right, protocol dictates that the chairperson be the spokesperson.
Pulido is not reponsible for making the public aware. Maybe Janet Nguyen should be, as an OCTA board member and supervisor of the district with the highest public transit usage. Why not hammer on her for not informing the public?
Flyers have been posted at the OCTA transit terminals and several bus stops by OCTA, trying to inform the public.
I saw the Spanish media covering this strike as well. It was on 22 and 34 (I don’t watch 52). To suggest that the Latino population has somehow been wronged here is ridiculous.
Yes Art, you did hit a nerve, again. You always seem to find a way to blame Pulido, or one of the other Council members you don’t like, for everything..no matter what.
Any of the Council members could have gone on tv to explain the situation. How about your buddy Michele? OCTA also has numerous Spanish speaking employees who could have done the same. And since this effects thousands of people outside Santa Ana, where is your condemnation of the elected’s in other cities for not sounding the alarm?
But the real question in my mind is, why are you not chastising the Spanish speaking media? Did they not cover this story as it unfolded? Did they not warn people of what was happening? Since it’s their constituents who are probably the most effected, one would think this story, and the run up, would have received huge coverage.
Morning Coffee
ANYONE WHO HAS USED OCTA BUSES WILL KNOW THE PRIMARY BUS RIDERS ARE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS. THE OPERATION OF THE BUS SYSTEM HAS GOTTEN SO EXPENSIVE, OCTA CANNOT AFFORD TO INCREASE THE WAGES OF BUS DRIVERS WHO ARE DEMANDING HIGHER WAGES. SO, OF COURSE ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THE OCTA FISCAL PROBLEMS.IF IMMIGRATION LAWS ARE ENFORCED WE WILL SINCE A DECREASE IN TRAFFIC AND LOWER BUS RATES.
#16,
I rode the bus for nearly five years. Most of the passengers on the buses with me were good, hardworking folks that earn an honest living. They came from many different ethnicities.
I don’t remember anyone checking citizenship papers on the bus. How is it that you are able to conclude that they are “illegal”?
Or do you simply assume if someone has brown skin and speaks Spanish they must be “illegal”?
Sean,
You will never get an answer to that question. I have been waiting for that answer for years. For years I posed this question: “How do you know people are illegally here just by looking at them?”
They never answer the question because they will have to admit it is about their own personal prejudice against ALL Latinos and not about following laws. So they go around that question. Don’t bother asking, you will not get an answer.
Predraza there is a large vietnamese community in the 1st district as well….Why are you not BLASTING your precious Janet for not notifty the stranded riders?
Flowerssss, you need to be dead-headed.