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Transit strike hurting more than students

The transit strike has students searching throughout the London community for alternate modes of transportation.

Besides the options offered by Western’s administration and University Students’ Council, possible solutions have ranged from increased cab usage to charitable rides from strangers. However, it seems no solution can accommodate all those who depend on public transit.

“Taxis can’t replace a transit system,” said James Donnelly, vice-president chief operating officer, for Aboutown Transportation Ltd. “We can’t put more cabs on the road.”

He felt taxis should be considered complementary, leaving buses to provide mass transit.

“We’ve increased our dispatch staff to handle more calls,” Donnelly said, adding the company is trying to encourage cab drivers to take more than one shift to keep up with demand.

“We’re pushing to get the full fleet out, and keeping the fleet out.”

Donnelly pointed out there have been increases in certain portions of their shuttle services, such as increased usage or hours.

The buses running between King’s University College and Brescia University College have also increased in frequency to accommodate students.

“Our service was meant to be an add-on to the London Transit Commission,” Jeff Major, chief financial officer at King’s, said. “A lot of students would take the LTC around campus at night.”

Changes include two buses running during the evening until 11:30 p.m. and having the buses go through campus more often.

“We’re trying to meet student demand,” Major noted.

The two later buses are costing the schools an additional $500 a day.

“We prefer that [students] have a way to get back to their own campus,” Major added. “At night it does become a safety issue.”

Getting to class is not the only issue students have worry about.

“We do have many students [who volunteer] and take the bus or bike to get here,” said Janice Bogart, community services co-ordinator for the Elgin-Middlesex unit of the Canadian Cancer Society.

The Cancer Society offers rides to patients who need cancer treatment.

“I’m sure we will get a little busier because of the strike,” Bogart said. “We’ve had a couple of [patients] register due to [the strike].”

She added patients who were already registered with the program were beginning to ask for other rides, such as to their family doctor.

“We simply can’t do that,” Bogart said.

Other community members are finding creative ways to pitch in and help. London radio station FM 96 used the opportunity to help people with their morning commute.

Tucker and Taz, morning show hosts for FM 96, have been using the station’s media van to usher people around the city

“We did this because […] we thought it would be entertaining for the radio and […] we wanted to help some people out,” Chris “Taz” George, said. “It’s always fun to get out of the studio and meet people.”

The pair helped between 35 and 40 people on Monday morning.

“We did a run up to Fanshawe and Western too,” George added.  “We may do it again, [but] hopefully there won’t be a need.”

Visit www.westerngazette.ca/strike for more strike updates.

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