Now a public service announcement (sorry I need to blurb about this):
Baseball opened yesterday and so did our RTD bus strike. It's odd how something so unrecognized and unappreciated could create such a mess for Denver. People usually hate being behind buses because of frequent stops. Now they realize how important buses are.
Our buses mainly comprise of downtown workers, school kids, and the poor. It's the cheapest transportation ($1.25) considering downtown parking fees ($5.00-$7.00). Traffic is heavy and most of my school parking lots are full. The light rail which cost millions to build is now shutdown. Thank goodness I have a car. I started driving to school mainly this year due to my late classes.
I support the strike in a way. The standard of living is so high that people need more money. On the other hand, where I work they make $7.00 more than the average employee. I have to do more physical labor, but they have to keep 50 people's lives safe.
Strikes are problematic and any problem always kicks the poor first. I hope this thing ends soon. So if you ride the bus, thank the bus driver. Please break and be courteous to buses. They're more important than you think.
2 comments:
I absolutely agree. Anyone responsible for transporting millions of people safely (those millions who, in fact, keep the city moving and breathing and functioning and operating) ought to receive first preference when it comes time to share the surpluses.
Something for these struggling pros need to change soon. I hope it does. Thanks for writing about this, Melon!
I don't own a car. I hate 'em. Small, enclosed little cans on wheels. Felt that way for years, though some in my immediate believe I feel this way because I don't have a car.
Whatever.
Anyway, I ride the bus. The HRT. Can take me anywhere I want to go and hasn't increased in fare since '93 (it's $1.50). I wouldn't have gotten my college degree without the buses (it got me to and from campus on one line). And when ODU started using the parking fee to give students (who didn't have a need to park anywhere but were forced to pay it) free bus passes that were good all semester long anywhere I wanted to go, that was just great. Through the rain and that one snowstorm when the traffic I was in led me to be stuck in Norfolk for about four hours, they got me there and back.
Sorry to hear that Denver doesn't truly care about the public service the RTD gives to the community. I know a lot of people care more about the well-to-do than the well-they-don't in our society, but, like the recent subway/bus strike in NYC, those in power will always manipulate it so that the bus drivers are just rabblerousers.
A pity. I support those "rabblerousers" because they're taking a stand about what's fair and what's right.
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