OC Transpo

Ottawa

OC Transpo Union Can Kiss My Grits

andre cornellier On December 10th, Local 279, the OC Transpo Alamagamated Union which includes drivers and mechanics, walked off the job and began a city-wide strike. Add the biggest snowfall of the early winter season on the same day and you get a thick soup of traffic and headaches the likes Ottawa has not seen in a very long time.

Andre Cornellier, President of the Amalgamated Transit Union states that this strike is based on ‘dignity and respect’ and isn’t about money. I call that pure BS. It is about money, and its about power and greed, nothing more.

I find it funny that he says that this is about dignity and respect, yet Cornellier shows absolutely no respect to the citizens of Ottawa. How has Cornellier and the union showed their utter lack of respect for the public that they serve?

  • When schools tried to organize getting their students to school using yellow school buses, the union first threatened to picket schools. They later backtracked and said that they’d only picket school bus depots so busses couldn’t leave or enter.
  • They are picketing public and private parking lots downtown so that the public who managed to use a car and/or carpool to work are even more inconvenienced. Like the 30cm of snowfall and hundred of thousands of extra cars on the road wasn’t inconvenient already.
  • They chose to strike at the worst possible time of the year. Students are in the middle of exams, it’s the Christmas shopping season and the weather makes alternate modes of transportation (IE: walking, biking) an big issue.
  • When interviewed by the media, Mr. Cornellier responds in grunts and one word answers, saying we the public wouldn’t understand why they are on strike.

buswallWhere is the respect for those students who can’t make it to their exams and flunk their semester? There’s also those students who can only attend school due to grants and bursaries who will lose those for failing due to missing their final exam. Lets not forget the students who work one or two jobs on top of their studies who still live below the poverty line

Where’s the respect for the elderly, young parents and those without cars who only have public transportation as an option? There are a number of these people who count on OC Transpo to go to the doctor, do their groceries and visit loved ones. Please explain to me how you’re being respectful to those who will spend the holidays alone because they don’t have any way to visit their loved ones.

Where’s the respect to those who depend on the bus to get to and from work. Those who live to far to walk or bike and cannot carpool. People who will lose their jobs because they don’t have any alternate ways of transportation to get to work.

Where’s the respect to business owners who will have to close their doors because shoppers can’t go out and do their Christmas shopping, the season where most stores go in the black. Not only are they being hit by the current economical climate, but you’re making things exponentially worse.

Where’s the respect to families? Those who now have to spend 3 hours to get to their job, spend 8 hours at work, then another 3 hours to get home. Add to that 6-8 hours of sleep and that just leaves 2-4 hours for families to spend together. Take away a few hours to do chores and cooking, and that may leave an hour for families to spend together at best. Nothing puts people into the Christmas season spirit better than being forced away from their families.

greed

So why exactly are 2200 OC Transpo employees on strike? Is it because of the 7% raise over 3 years that was offered? Is it for the 2 additional sick days that you get to carry over year after year? Or maybe it was the added money in regards to purchasing work boots, less waiting time for maternity leave or the 2000$ signing bonus. No, the reason OC Transpo decided to go on strike is because the union does not want to give up ownership of creating the work schedule for drivers. GIVE ME A BREAK! Ottawa is the only city in North America where the scheduling is not in the hands of the owners (in this case, the city of Ottawa). Heck, you can add Europe and Australia to that list too! The city stands to save 3 to 4 million dollars a year by taking over the scheduling. They also have stated that drivers with seniority will still have the option to choose their routes/times. The real reasons are that the union does not want to expose the corruption that exists with the current system, and that they want to keep the power for themselves. Corruption you ask? These are only rumours, but I’ve heard it many times by many different people that there has to at least a grain of truth to it. There’s supposedly a loophole in the system and here’s how it works. A driver will arrange with a buddy to call in sick. He calls in sick at the last minute, still gets paid for his shift. His buddy offers to take his route and makes time and a half. Win-win situation for the driver, lose-lose situation for us taxpayers who pay these guys’ salary. Ignoring this rumour, the scheduling fiasco is about not seceding any kind of power to the city and being afraid of change. Just because something has been a certain way for decades does not mean there’s no better way of doing things. The city wants to take over the scheduling not only to save money but also to improve service to those who use the very same public transportation that we pay for through our taxes.

We are currently living in a bad economical breakdown that hasn’t been seen since the Great Depression, and the union turns down a 7% raise over 3 years? ARE YOU CRAZY! Do you know how many people would love to just keep their jobs, let alone get a raise of that magnitude? My raises over the last few years hasn’t even covered the cost of living increases. Heck, this year no one at my company got a raise, and we won’t get one next year either. I won’t even get into those who have lost their jobs due to cuts or businesses closing their doors. You should count yourselves lucky that you have a job to go to. Count yourselves even luckier that you have the nice salaries that you do for sitting on your behinds all day driving around the city.

Some drivers are complaining that the money doesn’t make up for the abuse that they take from some riders. Well guess what, as a bus driver, you’re part of the service industry. Do you think you’re alone in getting that kind of abuse? Try working as a waiter/waitress, driving a cab, working a help desk, or any service industry position that you can think of, and every single one of them have to take abuse from customers.  You chose this line of work, no one put a gun to your head to drive busses,  and you knew that this is part of the job. If you can’t put up with it, find yourself another job.

oct_dyno_large

As an Ottawa taxpayer and OC Transpo rider, I am very much like the bus pictured on the right; I’m taking the shaft in the behind, and I am sick of it. You are holding the city as a hostage as a negotiation tactic. I sincerely hope that city councellors don’t give in to your demands and stick to their guns. Enough is enough. Our taxes pay your salaries and you exist to serve the public. You then turn around and hold us hostage and create havok to further your own agenda.

Respect is earned, not given. With your immoral tactics, your total lack of respect for your customers and employers, your choice of timing to strike and your total disregard for this city you have completely lost any shred of respect that I had. You only have yourselves to blame for it.

Luc "Sandman" G.
Ottawa

Pets on OC Transpo Busses

OC Transpo, the public transportation company that operates in Ottawa, is attempting to launch a trial project that would allow pet owners to carry their pets on buses in pet carriers. I’ve had pets all of my life and currently have 4 cats. I am also very much against this new project.

The main issue I have with this project is room. I live in the suburbs and very often I have to look at 4 or 5 95 buses pass me by without stopping. They don’t stop due to the fact that there’s no room in the bus. On the route home from Place d’Orleans, the major hub of that suburb, the only local bus that ends up taking me close to home is often full because it only runs every 30 minutes (when it shows up). Allowing pet owners to carry their pets in bulky pet carriers would only make things worse. We’re already squished in like sardines as it is. Supporters of this pet project claim that a handful of other cities in the country have allowed pets on buses for years. I’m sure if these supporters would look at these other public transportation systems, they would see that they don’t suffer the overcrowding that we have. With rising gas prices, ridership has also increased, making the problem even worse than it was.

Before looking into allowing pets on buses, OC Transpo should address the lack of buses, their maps/runs and their schedules. I’ve moved into a new part of Orleans that has grown by 6-8 thousand people in the last 2 years but the schedule and number of buses that run have not changed to reflect this growing area, Also, there’s a ‘major’ stop about 1 km from where I live, the Trim bus station, yet I have no local buses that go to that station. I must take a bus to Place d’Orleans, a trip that takes 30 minutes, so that I can catch a 95. Instead, OC Transpo should have a local bus that goes to Trim station, which would cut a good 20 to 25 minutes off travel time each way.

Some folks have written in the local paper saying pets should be allowed except during peak hours. This would be a logistical nightmare. How do you kick off poor little Ms. Smith and her pet poodle off a bus she got on during off peak hours (let’s say 3:20pm) who’s long ride ends up going into peak hours? Do you just kick her off at a random stop and wish her luck at getting home? This makes no sense.

There’s also some people who have severe allergic reactions to pet dander. Should they have to suffer because someone can’t afford to take a cab to their vet appointment? Now some supporters of this proposition state that people with pet allergies already ride the bus with people covered in pet hair. This statement is absolutely ludicrous. Newsflash! Those who have pet allergies aren’t allergic to pet hair, but pet dander. A person having a few stray pet hairs on their clothes will not cause someone with allergies to have a reaction, save for an extremely small minority who have an acute allergy to pet dander. Those people probably already avoid taking public transportation. Now carry a pet on a bus, there’s a lot more dander flying around, which would cause even those with mild allergies to react.

Then there’s the issue of noise. I know a lot of pets (3 of my cats included) that meow or bark constantly when in public or a moving vehicle. I’m sure there’s nothing else one would rather look forward to after a long hard day at work than to get on an overcrowded bus with dogs barking and cats meowing. Ah, such a wonderful symphony of headache inducing noise.

OC Transpo should also conduct studies to see how many more new riders this project would bring in. A dozen new riders a month? A hundred? I somehow suspect that the number would be quite low, as those who would benefit from such a new policy probably already take public transportation. How many people would stop taking the bus because of this policy?

That being said, I am not against all pets on public buses. There are some people who suffer from a physical disability that require a pet, such as the vision impaired. At my old place of residence, I often took a bus with a very nice gentleman who used a seeing eye dog on the bus. These pets are highly trained, will not bark or bite and are there to aid someone who really needs the help. I have absolutely no issues with those types of pets being on buses. I do however have issues with someone getting on a bus with a ferret due to emotional reasons (see the article Ferret barred from Ottawa buses).

As a responsible pet owner, I knew the financial responsibilities that were attached with owning a pet. If one doesn’t have a car and can’t afford to take a cab ride to their vet appointment, then perhaps you shouldn’t own a pet to begin with. Else, when you’re taking Spot to his next yearly appointment, make sure you factor in the cost of a cab into the vet bill. I also suspect that most people who would end up taking their pets on a bus is not solely to go to vet appointments, but to bring their pet with them as they go visit friends or family.

OC Transpo has a lot bigger issues than looking at allowing pets on buses. These issues should be investigated and addressed before allowing pets that would take up much needed room on overcrowded buses. And if this proposition does go through, I do hope that riders who bring their pets onto a bus have to pay a fare for their pets. After all, the pet carrier takes as much or more room than a person, so it would only be fair that they have to pay a fare for it. I know there’s no chance in hell of that ever happening, but one can only hope.

Luc "Sandman" G.
Funny & Weird

Wandering To the Bus Stop

From News of the weird:


Faced with its Alzheimer’s residents’ tendency to wander away, the Benrath Senior Centre in Dusseldorf, Germany, came up with a novel approach: a fake bus stop (an exact replica of a real one) out front. Straying residents might be attracted to the familiar colors and design of the kiosk (because long-term memory is typically still robust) and wait there for a bus instead of trying to “go home” on foot. But short-term, the resident is typically unaware of how long he has been waiting and will remain until a Centre employee sees him and can guide him back into the home (which often is easy because the resident has by then forgotten why he is sitting there, according to a June dispatch from Berlin in London’s Daily Telegraph). [Daily Telegraph (London)]

Hmmm, I wonder if the guy that came up with the idea ever worked for OC Transpo? So many times I’ve waited at a bus stop for a bus that never came, to the point of almost forgetting why I was there.

Luc "Sandman" G.
Life

An Overview of our Paris Honeymoon.

We decided to go to Paris for our honeymoon. Erin had been once before when she was a teenager, but I had never been. I did however always want to visit the City of Lights since I was a young boy, and Erin has always wanted to go back, so going there for our honeymoon was a nobrainer (assuming we could afford it, which we could).

We spent 8 days in Paris. Well really 7 days, as the 8th day we flew out in the morning. It was wonderful and amazing. Sadly we only got to see but a handful of sites that we wanted to see due to the shear amount of tourist attractions and long lines due to the great number of tourists. This just means that we’ll have to go back! The sites that we did manage to see are: Pere Lachaise cemetery (though we never found Jim Morrison‘s grave), The Louvre (saw about half of it), the Orsay museum, the Picasso museum, the Rodin museum, Versailles (both the castle and the gardens), the catacombs, the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triomphe, a boat ride on the Seine, the Pantheon, Notre Dame cathedral, the Notre Dame crypt and a few other things.

We stayed at the Grand Hotel Francais which was situated just north of the main island. The hotel is luckily just a couple of blocks away from a main metro station (Nation) , so it was easy for us to get to our destinations quickly. Our concierge Diede was extremely helpful and friendly. He definitely made our stay more enjoyable. The hotel room was fairly big for a European hotel room (about average size in comparison to North American hotel rooms), had a fully working air conditioner, an in room safe, a big stand up shower and a comfortable bed.

We visited many sites, and at the end of each day our feet were so sore that we could barely walk. Every tourist attraction required either a lot of walking, a lot of stair climbing or a combination of both. My feet have muscles where none existed before. We have to remember to bring some Dr. Scholls for the next time we go.

Its true what they say about food in France, It was absolutely delicious. We mostly ate in cafes and brasseries for lunch and dinner. For breakfast we picked up some fruit from the local grocer and some pastries from one of the many bakeries close to the hotel. There’s nothing like some freshly picked fruit and a freshly made croissant to get your day started. I did manage to try a few things that I’ve never had before, like a tartar and some duck. We also ate some Italian (much better than any Italian I’ve had in North America, and I even dared to have a Royal with cheese at McDonald’s 😛

The culture in Paris is very different from what we’re accustomed to in North America. The priority doesn’t seem to be on service but on the goods themselves. Its a much more laid back atmosphere than what we’re used to.

Here are some observations that we made:

  • Parisian drivers are insane!
  • Half the population gets around on scooters or motorbikes. I saw a total of 1 SUV my entire time there.
  • Coke is everywhere. Pepsi is nowhere to be seen. And you don’t order a Coke, you order a Coka.
  • Paris is fairly clean, its not that dirty.
  • Graffiti is rampant, but not on building facades.
  • The metro can take you anywhere quickly (that’s a hint, OC Transpo)
  • There’s a plague of spiral staircases everywhere.
  • People are very friendly.
  • There are public toilets (similar to Go Huts) on every street.
  • Paris is not very handicap friendly, or to those with strollers.
  • Beer is as cheap as pop in restaurants.
  • Chain stores are rare. Mostly mom & pop type stores, who open and close when they feel like it.
  • Pickpocketing is rampant. Luckily we didn’t get hit. I thankfully read up on their common tricks before we got there.
  • It is truly the City of Lights. Nighttime in Paris is gorgeous.

I managed to write a diary of our adventures. I’ll post them up as a small series sometime this week as time permits.

I totally fell in love with the city, its people, the food and its atmosphere. So much so that we plan on going back, hopefully for our 5 year anniversary. I now understand why Erin wanted to go back so much.

Luc "Sandman" G.

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