Well as the days without bus service grind past without an end in sight, it seems that the city is rebooting the entire discussion with the union and is proposing that a third party investigator be hired to “fact find” both sides of the scheduling issue.  Of course the union hasn’t agreed to this yet, but since it’s probably on the city’s dime I’m thinking that “The Inconveniencer” will probably agree.  Although agreeing on anything really isn’t his style, it does seem that he isn’t completely bereft of sense and agreed to let the city hire some replacement ParaTranspo workers.  It’s really the only reasonable thing the union has done to date, but it should have happened weeks ago.

On at least one cheery note, Clive Doucet must have received a sturdy whipping from city council for publicly breaking ranks and saying that Mayor Larry was handling the strike badly.  That remark alone probably cost us at least another two weeks of strike time, as it probably only served to stiffen the union’s resolve.  Still it seems that he apologized for those remarks today with his tail between his legs. Mess with the bull, you get the horns, or something like that.

So, we all will survive a bit longer without bus service I suppose.  The longer this goes the more likely I won’t really need a bus soon.  I’m hoping to be riding my bike to work as soon as the spring hits, and at this rate it’s even odds which comes first at this point; spring or the end of the transit strike.

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