A full Sun Tran bus operates on a limited schedule during the Teamsters Union strike in Aug. 2015.
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Sun Tran plans to begin limited service on a ninth bus route Tuesday in its effort to continue to offer limited service during a Teamsters Union strike.
The company and the union failed to agree to a new employment contract early this month. Bus drivers, mechanics and fuel operators began a work stoppage Aug. 6.
Riders who are able to catch one of the nine routes are operating on a reduced service between 6 a.m. and 6 p.m. weekdays said Monday they are frustrated with the adverse impact it has had on their lives.
Some have to adjust their work schedule, or plan extra time to get there.
“It’s caused a lot of late times getting to work, thank god I have a really understanding staff,” said Kit Bunting, as she waited at 8 a.m. for a bus on East Fifth Street.
She is aware the challenge is bigger for those who do not live or work close to one of the nine running bus routes. she said.
“All these other people don’t get a bus and they’re having to walk for miles to get to their job.”
Not all Tucsonans can get to work via foot.
Anthony Tate said he lost a temporary job because he had no reliable transportation. The alternative, walk from near Broadway and Craycroft to Park and Irvington. It would take hours.
Now, Tate said, he’s only taking work that is on a bus route, but he is worried about making enough money to provide for his three children and a fourth on the way.
“It’s very hard to support my kids when I don’t have a steady pay check,” Tate said. As a result, he’s saving money and making sure he supplies the necessities for his children before himself.
In a somewhat opposite situation, Cedric Watkins said Monday he has turned down two jobs he was offered during the strike.
“I had the job,” he said. “The interview went well, they said ‘can you get there?’”
When he checked the bus schedule, he could not get to the employer.
“So I had to turn the job down. It’s been frustrating,” he said, as he rode eastbound on Route 3 through midtown. Watkins was on his way to Home Depot at El Con shopping center, hoping to find the business is hiring.
“I can get there,” he said, because route 3 is operating on East Fifth Street on the north side of the mall, as are route 8, along Broadway south of the mall, and Route 11 along Alvernon Way to the east of the shopping center.
If he gets a job along a bus route, Watkins said he will still worry about being assigned to work later than the 6 p.m. cutoff for the few bus routes that are in operation.
Like many others, Watkins said he feels the riders are not a priority for the striking Sun Tran employees or the company’s management. The two parties have not talked since the strike began, and no negotiations are scheduled.
“It’s just like they don’t give a heck about us, it’s like forget the people,” he said.
He wants them to compromise.
“You’ve got two bullies, they’re not giving in, and it’s affecting us,” he said.
Sun Tran normally operates 43 routes, generally from about 6 a.m. to about 10 p.m., depending on the location. It also usually operates on weekends. During the strike, there is no weekend service.
Many veterans on the bus Monday morning were those traveling from midtown Tucson to the Veteran’s Affairs healthcare complex on Tucson’s south side. That commute has taken Darrell Arndt at least an hour longer since the strike began.
“Believe me, it’s put a crunch on our people that live here, our community. Unbelievable,” he said. While he waited for the first bus he would take on his cross-city trip, he spoke with another veteran who said it would take him about an hour to get some milk from a convenience store because the schedule of buses is substantially cut back from normal 15-minute interval between stops.
Monday was the first day of school for University of Arizona students, but the first day of school for Tucson Unified School District students coincided with the first day of the strike.
The reduced bus schedule has contributed to Graison Wadsack’s tardiness record.
“It’s made me late a lot, my attendance has gotten a lot worse,” he said. In turn, “My grades suffer.”
He was one of few who is not worried about how long the strike lasts.
“I get my license this week,” the high school student said.
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