How SEPTA affected Bucks
RICKMAURO
Issue date: 11/17/09 Section: Campus News
|
Workers Union Local 234
announced a strike at 3 a.m.
on Nov. 3. For six days, commuters,
including Bucks students,
were left scrambling
for rides.
Riders are breathing sighs
of relief now that SEPTA's
bus, trolley, and subway
walkout is over. The strike
left countless people stranded
from both work and school as
the battle for wage and benefit
raises were hardened to a stopping point.
Many students travel to the
Newtown campus using bus 130,
which stops on Linden Lane located
at the front of the college.
Unfortunately, for six days,
Bucks' SEPTA crowd had to figure
out a new way to class.
Most riders depended on rides
from family members or friends to
help at the last minute. Others
were prepared from the onset of
the strike talks from weeks ago.
Andrew Pirritano, 18, a liberal
arts major from Langhorne, wasn't
very fazed by the sudden lack
of transportation to school.
"From the beginning of the
strike talks, I came up with a secondary
plan to get here. It was no
real skin off my back," said Pirritano.
Other students didn't know that
the strike could happen on such
short notice, and last-minute rides
were hard to come by. Additional
stress was added when some instructors
weren't tolerant of the
resulting lateness and absences.
John Peoples, a 25-year-old biology
major from Levittown,
found it tough to get to Newtown
without SEPTA. "It was very difficult
getting to Newtown. I had to
bum rides when I could. I was late
a few times and my instructor
wasn't very understanding," Peoples
said.
SEPTAalready has a poor reputation
with some. Lateness due to
transit issues, edgy employees,
and now the strike are just a few
things that have turned travelers
off.
"I've never really been happy
with SEPTA in the past. This
strike drives home that they are
unreliable. This is supposed to be
an important public service," Peoples
said.
There's been debate over a potential
law that would prevent
SEPTAfrom halting services during
Be the first to comment on this story