Quebec City bus driver strike begins today
‘We are preparing for a much larger wave of requests than usual,’ says taxi company
Calling for better wages and work hours, some 900 unionized bus drivers with the Réseau de transport de la Capitale (RTC), Quebec City's transit agency, have gone on strike today after failing to reach an agreement with management.
The strike will run from July 1 to July 16.
"Intensive negotiations are continuing to quickly reach an agreement for the benefit of our customers," said a spokesperson for RTC this morning in a statement.
While commuters will not be able to hop on an RTC bus, the city's adapted transport, Flexibus and àVélo services will continue to operate.
The transit agency is offering refunds to users who hold a monthly city pass, a student pass and an unlimited weekend or evening pass. Commuters with unlimited FestiBUS tickets are also eligible for refunds.
The Saint-Joachim Information Centre and Service d'accompagnement en mobilité intégrée will also be shutting their doors during the walkout. RTC users hoping to recover a lost item will have to wait until the end of the strike.
The organizers of the Festival d'été de Québec, one of the city's biggest summer events, say their event will be seriously impacted if negotiations fail to bring an end to the strike. The festival starts on July 6.
On Friday, the city's taxi companies announced they would be ready for the strike.
"We are preparing for a much larger wave of requests than usual," said Patrick Rochon, the president of Taxi Coop Québec.
"All the drivers we have will all be on the road," he said, adding that the company could have a total of 680 taxis driving across the city at once.
The strike is also having an impact on long-term care homes.
Seniors' residence administrators in Quebec City say they are looking for solutions so their employees can get to work.
Le Groupe Maurice, a company which manages private seniors' residences, says in some of their establishments, 70 per cent of its employees rely on the bus. The company told Radio-Canada it will be renting mini buses for its workers who have no other way of commuting.
With files from Radio-Canada