Savings from transit strike not long-term: city
Posted Mar 2, 2012 06:36:05 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Today marks the one month anniversary of Metro Transit workers walking the picket line, and at first glance it appears the strike has meant a $2 million boost to the city’s bottom line.
There is no money going into the fare box, but there is no money being paid out for payroll either.
HRM is seeing a net savings of $85,000 every weekday while the strike continues. On weekends the city is saving about a third of that.
But a municipal spokesperson says there won’t be a long-term savings because of the predicted ridership loss once service resumes.
“We lost four per cent ridership in 1998 following that strike,” said Shaune MacKinlay. “We have a much bigger and more complex transit system now. We have more regular commuters so it’s really tough to say what that loss would be now, and how long it would take to regain that ridership.”
The city says that math debunks any union claim that the city is dragging the strike out to balance its books.
There’s still no plan for transit passes to be refunded because if the strike ends soon, the city could end up honouring February passes.
