So
SEPTA is on strike.
Or more specifically, 5,000 city transit workers from
TWU Local 234 are on strike against SEPTA.
For those of you unfamiliar with Septa, it's the South Eastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority - the entity that runs all the busses, trolleys, trains and subways for the Philadelphia metropolitan region.
Six days into the strike, there are no negotiations, and 400,000 regular Septa riders have been left to fend for themselves, to traverse the 135 square mile metropolitan area on their own - in a city where 1 in 3 families do not own cars, and where tax dollars already subsidize the mass transit system.
There is no schedule for talks to resume, and both sides keep using emotional language in their statements about the situation to bash the other side. Is this anyway to run a business - especially one that is paid for twice, both out of taxes and out of pocket by the riders?
In case you need an illustration of the ratio, it's like having 405 people in a room, where 5 people's actions are making life difficult for the other 400 people. Now, where else is this tolerated?
Septa riders feel helpless, stuck in the middle - they are experiencing scenarios ranging from inconvenience to hardship, and can't make the two sides come to the table.
It's up to TWU Local 234 and Septa to act responsibly on behalf of their riders - which they're not doing.
I have a suggestion:
Septa Riders should stage a boycott after service is restored - one day for each week the strike lasts. Without taking sides, this will remind both SEPTA and TWU Local 234 that there are
THREE parties involved, and that without Septa Riders the whole damn system is irrelevant. If they stay out a month, Riders should boycott a week longer after the settlement.
Pretty tough talk from a guy who drives a car, eh? Well, I'm one of the riders Septa lost. I was a die-hard Septa rider between 1986 and 1998, but after two significant strikes during that period (and regularly repeated threats of additional ones), major cutbacks in service, unreliable service and poor attitude from vehicle operators, I gave up on Septa after 12 years and bought a car. As a result I have more freedom to come and go, but I do pay more to get around - and I certainly add more exhaust to the atmosphere as well. Maybe my next car will be a hybrid - I can't see going back to Septa, especially with strikes looming every few years.
The authority and the union don't get it: Mass Transportation is losing Federal and State funding each year because more dollars are being spent on asphalt roads and systems for individual drivers. We have a Washington Oval Office staffed by oil-men with little sympathy for Mass Transit Systems, and a conservative congressional majority who view Mass Transportation as a liberal expenditure for cities, where all the damn liberals live anyway. Whether this is true or not, TWU and SEPTA are shooting themselves in their own feet respectively each day this strike lasts. Don't forget, Washington tried to dismantle Amtrak earlier this year... I hope these guys wake up before they strike themselves into non-existence.
