A Silly Willy Rule

If you are over the age of twenty, you NEVER wet willy someone on the bus. Did I really just see that happen? Not only do I not want to see you lick your finger and stick it in someone's ear, I am pretty sure your boyfriend does not appreciate it either! Really, you're an adult and still wet willying people in public?! Bus people, you truly amaze me. What will you do next......

The Talkers

What could be more annoying than sitting between 2 people that decide to start a conversation? I would like to know so that I can do it and annoy the 2 woman talking. Besides talking over me, they keep leaning towards each other, putting me in the middle of their conversation sandwich. Hello I'm right here, not invisible, pretty sure you can see me. You know, that human sitting between you? Maybe I should make a random phone call to someone or even call my voicemail. Ring Ring, no new messages. Oh boy I better stretch out to keep listening to my phone ramble on about no messages. Big arm stretches! Oops did my arm get in the way of your conversation? Teehee. Oh my back hurts now, I should lean forward a bit to stretch that too. Once again I got in the way of your conversation. Sorry you had to move your big curly head out of my space. Sure go ahead and give me dirty looks, but it's you that's being rude! Hmm, I haven't spoke to my mother today, I should give her a shout. Ring Ring.....no answer. Maybe i should call my voice mail again?

Conversation over, mission accomplished :)

Liquor Bus

Well it looks like, I mean smells like I am riding the liquor bus today. It's hard to say who it is since the bus is packed but I'm going to take a guess and say it might be the guy with empty seats around him. It's a good guess since people are standing instead of sitting in those seats. Oh I was wrong! The drunk just made his presence known by yelling at the driver to open the back doors. Problem is we aren't at a bus stop, just some pretty red lights! I swear he is going to bust those doors down if he doesn't clue in real soon. Even a girl is yelling at him that we aren't at a stop. So what does drunk guy do? He decides to walk up to the front of the bus to get off. OMG! He just totally fell and landed into the side of the wall. Ha ha! The best part is that it is an accordion bus and he fell right into the accordion wall!Haha I can't stop laughing! Thankfully everyone else is laughing too.

Wow, the driver just slammed on the brakes! Did we hit a car or something? Everyone went flying, people that were standing actually slid a good 6 feet down the aisle, some man is trying to find his laptop bag. For a second I saw nothing but floor, and I am sure I grabbed the guy sitting in front of me by accident. I had nothing else to grab onto! Now some guy is daring a girl he is with to stand the rest of the bus ride. Haha she won't do it. Ow my knee hurts, I must have slammed it into the back of the seat when we stopped. Ok not sure what is going on because we are at the main bus terminal but not letting anyone on?! And now we just did a loop around the terminal and came back. No one knows what is going on, and everyone is looking at each other for answers. Did the driver break the bus or something?

And the driver just got off the bus. So now what....

...Oh that's what! A girl fell when we braked real hard and hurt her knee and now we have to wait for a supervisor to come take statement....oh joy. I could be here for awhile. What the...we are going around in a circle again! We just looped around the station for a second time! Wait, we are actually letting passengers on this time so we must be done with the report. Please just take me home!

Bus Strike Week 6 - Strike is Over

Our bus strike lasted 6 weeks, a few weeks longer than we thought, but it is finally over! Last week was the first week it was back up and running and I took the ferry almost everyday. What perfect timing since it was 30 degrees Celsius for 2 days in a row. Global warming what?

This morning I took my regular bus for the first time in almost 2 months and it felt like riding the bus for the first time. Well not liking riding a bus, more like riding a roller coaster for the first time! Maybe the driver was just really excited to be driving the bus again, or maybe he had a little too much caffeine, but i had to hold on for my life. The driver was zipping around corners, I was flying out of my seat, and we braced ourselves every time the driver hit the brakes! Hmm maybe it wasn't the bus driver, maybe it's just me not being used to the bus anymore. Well the weather isn't nearly as warm and sunny as it was last week so I have all week to re-familiarize myself with the bus.

Bus Strike Week #5

5 weeks later and yes the bus union is still on strike. I don't even feel angry anymore, all I can do is laugh at the union for how childish they are behaving. Every offer the city has put on the table the union has declined.  The city keeps changing their offers to make the union happy but the union will not budge on what they want. So in a nutshell the union is acting like a brat at a toy store stomping their feet screaming "I WANT IT" and throwing a hissy fit without trying to listen or reason with the parent.

Besides the child like attitude of "Gimme gimme" they are now acting out by pulling stupid stunts like blocking the city snow plows after a snowfall. Why? So that they can get the city's attention and gain support. Hmm...let's look at this again. So you stand in front of the city's plows and block them as they are leaving the depot to plow the streets before morning rush hour traffic, and now the roads are unsafe and you think this will gain you support? What do snowplows have to do with a transit strike?? And don't forget that these are the people making more money than most University graduates! How can you not laugh at this strike!

I also read 2 weeks ago that the media was interviewing the head of the union and asked him if he was going to be going back in to continue talks that day. He said " I'll leave that to the adults to discuss". Wait....so if he called the city and other union reps adults, then did he just call himself a child? Either way ,for a union leader, that comment made no sense and probably did very little to gain support.

So that's my little update on the Bus Strike! Oh and I am developing killer legs walking to work everyday!

Bus Strike Week #2

So the bus stroke is still on and we are now hearing rumours that they could be on strike until March.  It's not even halfway through February and they know a deal won't be reached until March? Seriously almost a whole month and you can't come to an agreement? I have a feeling this bus strike is really bad news for the city and really really bad news for Transit workers, as citizens are slowly turning against them just like i said would happen!

I read last week that some of the union workers striking are not happy about the strike either and are not in support if it. And now there are people picketing the picketers! There is one man who walks in front of the picket line every morning with a sign that reads "TAXPAYER, who do transit workers think they are" with another sign that says "Transit- Fire them and re-hire". This one man who is standing up against all the other picketers, and actually gets more waves and honks then the Transit strikers are getting. Why? Because no one supports the Transit Strike! On the radio this morning they said they same thing the man stated, fire the few transit workers that are not happy and hire new ones. This was on one of the most popular radio stations in the city saying what everyone else is thinking. The city cannot afford what the workers want, taxpayers do not want to pay more than what we already pay, but the transit expects us to just give them what they want? The city has made a number of offers but every single offer the union has turned down. They say it's not about money yet it's right there in the paper and on the news that the city offered an amount that the union felt was too low. HAHA! It's always about money!

I've been lucky so far to catch a ride with co workers and friends, but that still does not make commuting to work any better. We have to leave almost an hour earlier, and we have to park a good 20 minute walk away from our office. The other day they had police directing traffic because of how congested traffic has become. It must have been the only way to get traffic moving, the cops directing instead of cars stopping for traffic lights. I have to say it did make a difference. But can they do that everyday? No, it's just not possible. Also more cars on the road equals more car accidents! For some people getting to work now means a 3 hour commute!

Transit workers: Get off your high horse and suck it up that you do not get to select which shifts you work and for how much! Welcome to the real world. That's why it is called job!

Bus Strike!

Bus story? What bus story? Transit is on strike! Can you believe it? It's the middle of the winter (a mild one at least) and not a single bus or ferry is running. So my options are to take my car to work and pay and arm & leg for parking, swim across the polluted harbour (not much of an option) or walk across a cold windy bridge that will take me 2 hours to get to work. Unfortunately none of these options work for me.

So what i will do is post stories from years ago, or recent stories that I haven't had a chance to enter. It's been a few months since i wrote any stories so i think you deserve a few. I will also post the interesting ways I get to work, and how much of an inconvenience it is that Transit is on strike. Also feel free to post/ vent some of your frustration about the strike, i know i am not the only one that is upset.

I understand that the drivers want fair pay, job security etc. but i think all of us want job security and fair pay and to inconvenience 96,000 daily commuters to get there point across is unnecassary! And i'm not just talking about myself, what about the people who can't afford a cab and rely on the bus everyday to get to & from everywhere? What about those who can't afford a vehicle but rely on the bus to drop off their kids to daycare or school? Or how about the people who use the Access-a-bus to get to the hospital for cancer treatments? Oh wait, your job security/ pay raise is more important! Go ahead and fight for what you want, but to affect this many people and to pull public transportation is a bit much I think. I know not everyone will agree with me, and i am entitled to my opinion, but if this strike continues as long as last time (5 weeks) no one will be supporting the strikers!