First Full Week Of Durham Transit Strike Creates New Headaches For Commuters

At least 30,000 people are facing four more days of no buses and no way to get from there to here. GO buses are at already at capacity and can’t add more service. And no new talks are scheduled.

The walkout, which centres on employee benefits, cost of living adjustments, contracting out and part time workers, began at 6pm Friday. But that was just a one day preview interrupted by Thanksgiving. Now the real reality begins.

Many students were dropped off at residences in the region Monday night. Most aren’t sure how they’re going to get where they need to be in the morning.

“There’s people coming in from Scarborough that come to school here,” relates Durham College student Matti Nureddin. “I mean now they’re stuck.”

But it’s not just students who are ‘stuck.’ The 300 bus drivers who spent their Thanksgiving walking the line aren’t looking forward to what’s coming, either.

“[It’s] going to be probably a little hectic for everybody,” Ray Kelly agrees, as he puts another piece of wood on a trash can fire outside a picket point.

“Money isn’t an issue,” he reminds. “It’s all our benefits that they want to reduce and eliminate.”

Durham Transit notes they’ve made their ‘final’ offer to the union and that taxpayers simply can’t afford the union demands, which they say amounts to about $11 million.

As usual, it’s the people in the middle who are stuck going nowhere fast.

“The people in power that they feel like they’re hurting is not the people that they’re really hurting,” laments student Brendan McDevitt. “It’s the public and they’re the ones that make the difference.”

Cameron Lund has already had his day ruined by the walkout.

“I’ve got to go pick up people from Whitby . So I’ve got to get out of bed an hour early to go pick up people because I’ve got to do the bus driver’s job.”

To make the commute easier, the Student Association at Durham College has worked out an agreement to reimburse students for the first $15 of any cab ride that originates from the school.

But it doesn’t tell them how, exactly, they’re supposed to find a cab in the first place.