Tech & Biz

Ottawa Slows to Crawl As Transit Strike and Snow Hits Capital

by Rob Walker | December 10, 2008 at 11:35 am

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Transit workers are on strike in Ottawa, leaving thousands of commuters stranded in knee-deep snow. Over 2,000 drivers, dispatchers and maintenance workers walked off the job and began picketing just after midnight on Wednesday.

More than 2,200 OC Transpo drivers, dispatchers and maintenance workers walked off the job at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday.
"We apologize, but during the current transit strike, bus and O-Train service is not operating," said a statement on OC Transpo's website. "The City of Ottawa is doing all we can to reach a fair settlement," the statement added.

At least 12,000 students have been left out in the cold, and if you've ever walked around in the winter in Ottawa you know that's no small thing. So far a plan to use school buses has been scrapped after the Transit union said they would picket schools and bus stops.

Ottawa's school boards had planned to enlist yellow school buses to help bring students who rely on public transit to school in an OC Transpo strike.
But the plan was abandoned when the companies that operate the yellow buses balked: the OC Transpo drivers' union would not guarantee that striking members would refrain from picketing schools and places where students would wait for yellow buses, say board officials.

For those on a budget, taking a cab everywhere isn't an option. A popular alternative is a free carpool service, where people can find drivers looking to defray costs and share rides.

"We did a custom version of our software in a day, because we recognized there was a big need and the (transit) strike was going to impact 100,000 people in Ottawa," said Mr. Helleman, who also designs hardware with Alcatel (NYSE:ALU). "Wouldn't it be great to give people access to world-class carpooling tools."