Cars

You may have heard that the TTC union has pulled a wildcat strike this morning. I’m very fortunate that I get a ride in the morning because looking at the traffic right now (and we’re not into the worst part of rush hour yet) it would take me a long time to get to work otherwise. I’ve had to coordinate with the people on the team whose only way to get in to work is to take public transit. Fortunately ours is a job where it’s possible to work from home because otherwise they might be forced to take a sick day or vacation day despite the fact that it’s not their fault they have no way to get to work. They’ve already given the union a cease and desist order which can lead to fines and/or jail time if enforced so we’ll see if this will lead to the strike ending today or for it to drag on for a longer period of time. We already have a smog alert today and the huge influx of cars that will be on the roads today will make for an especially bad breathing day.

Update (9:15 AM) – The worst part of rush hour has come and the roads are definitely straining to keep up. The traffic lights can’t maintain enough distance between cars which leads to an ever-degrading cycle. The DVP going southbound is almost not moving though northbound is moving fairly briskly. I’m definitely glad that I got picked up when I did because if it were an hour later then it would taken a lot longer to get into work.

Update (10:45 AM) – It looks like we might be able to get the system restarted for the afternoon rush at least according to this article. Seeing as it takes 3 hours to get everything up and running again I remain doubtful that we’ll see anything today but fortunately I should be able to notice buses on the road from my window here. Traffic has calmed down considerably and the highway and Eglinton are moving quite well now. If things don’t get restarted this afternoon though the drive home is going to be very ugly.

Update (1:30 PM) – So apparently my prediction of a non-PM restart seems to be coming true. The union officials didn’t get to the Labour Relations Board until after noon (whether that was on purpose or not is up for debate) so it’s looking extremely unlikely that we’ll have any public transit this afternoon. I’m very lucky in that I have a ride home tonight and a ride into work tomorrow because it’s tough to say if this thing will be resolved today at all; it might drag on to tomorrow. I like the caption on the linked article’s photo – a “congo-line” of commuters. I’m sure they felt the same way walking up Bay Street – “Hey it’s a party, let’s conga to work!”.

Update (3:45 PM) – Now they’re saying that “most TTC service” will resume by 5 PM today. We’ll have “many TTC buses” on the road by then and the Bloor/Danforth subway line should be up and running. I’ll believe it when I see the buses on the road. Even if we do have a lot of buses by then the commuting chaos will have already started. On the DVP it started around noon. I’m leaving in the next 10 minutes or so which should make the roads a little less busy than at 5 but it’s still going to be a slow drive home. Fortunately I don’t have to deal directly with the traffic; this time I’m just a passenger. I just saw a bus driving down Eglinton! I guess the people on those 3 routes (I saw 3) will be fortunate enough to have a ride home.

Update (9:15 PM) – Well getting home wasn’t as bad as I feared though it was incredibly hot outside and the van didn’t have any air conditioning. Fortunately though our house now has central air (more on this later) which I promptly turned on. It’s great having a shaded house because it kept the inside temperature to around 25 degrees but without any wind blowing the air around the humidity really builds so I turned it on. It makes for a much more comfortable evening and sleep. Tomorrow I expect to take the bus home again so we’ll see what the mood is from the public.