Kevin Nice takes two buses each way to get to and from a gas station in Surrey. It’s the only transportation they can afford.
“I’m just another person working on a low income and trying to get through a difficult time with the cost of living crisis and the housing crisis,” Nice said.
When Ms Nice was forced to sleep on an air mattress on the floor of her father’s house to be closer to work after last week’s two-day bus and sea bass strike, they online petition They are calling on the British Columbia government to prevent further shutdowns by making transit an essential service.
“If it’s going to affect hundreds of thousands of people in two days, I think that’s a little bit overkill. I think it should be essential and it should be there whether you need it or not. But it’s there, especially for people who need it and have no other options,” Nice said.
This was demanded by the opposition during last week’s two-day strike.
“I said transportation should be an essential service: for people to go to doctor’s appointments, for seniors to get around, for students to go to school, for workers to go to work. is important,” said BC United leader Kevin Falcon.
During Monday’s media availability, Premier David Eby did not directly answer CTV News’ questions about whether the province would make such a move.
“There’s no question about the importance of a functioning transportation system to British Columbians,” he says.
“The message to both sides of this dispute, TransLink and the regulators, is to settle it at the table,” Mr Eby said.
Special mediator Vince Reddy will provide non-binding recommendations to both sides by Friday. CUPE 4500 announced that unless an agreement is reached by 12:01 a.m. Saturday, the Coast Mountain Bus Company supervisor will resign after another 72 hours of work.
The union also asked the Labor Relations Board this week to allow it to expand the areas it can legally picket, including SkyTrain stations.
“What I want is for there to be no service interruptions,” said Nice, who believes mandatory service legislation is the only way to ensure that. Their petition has more than 2,800 signatures.
“I really hope that we can do something that makes the British Columbia government think, ‘Hey, this is how many people care about this.'” Maybe something needs to be done about this. There will be,” Nice said. “And what if bus service is canceled again? “Personally, I don’t think I’ll be able to work during that period.”
