Talk about bad news for your Sunday night.
Those waiting for or stepping off Regional Transportation District buses late Sunday, having just been told of the strike, were split on whether transit workers were justified in walking out. But all were equally bummed that the buses they rely on to get to work at night or ride home won’t be running at the same time tonight.
“We’ll see how long it lasts,” said Jade Zamora, who rides the Route 15 bus from her home on Capitol Hill to the Auraria campus every night for her job. “I don’t know how long RTD is going to be able to let this fly. There’s a lot of people who use public transportation.”
Zamora, though, said she supported the strike.
Workers haven’t had a raise in three years, she said, and the raise offered in the final proposal wasn’t enough.
“I don’t blame them,” she said.
Solomon Beacham and Angela Marshall, both having a smoke while they waited for the bus at Colfax Avenue and Broadway, didn’t feel the same.
“It’s an abuse of power,” Marshall said. “So the $54 I paid for a bus pass, are they going to refund me for that when they get their pay raise?”
Beacham said RTD drivers are public servants.
“They should get a good wage and be taken care of,” he said. “But at the same time, they shouldn’t be allowed to mess with other people’s way of life. People depend of public transportation.”
Route 15 is one of the few that won’t shut down entirely because of the strike.
But it will run on a limited schedule, from just before 5 a.m. to just after 10 p.m.
The strike will have bigger implications for some than others.
Stella Kim, 50, and her daughter Yumi Kim, 24, run a convenience store inside the Boulder Transit Station.
Most of their customers are regional passengers stopping by to pick up a disposable camera or a quick snack. Stella Kim said she will close the store and not reopen until after the strike is over. There won’t be enough customers.
“This is our livelihood,” said Yumi Kim. “And we have to wait it out; we have no choice.”
Gil Romero, 38, of Boulder hasn’t owned a car in 10 to 15 years. Romero, who stepped off the B Local after watching basketball with family in Westminster on Sunday night, said he’ll be limited in where he can travel.
“Everywhere I’ll go, I’ll go by foot,” he said.
Romero said he didn’t make alternate plans for getting to work because he conveniently lives near downtown Boulder and works at the University of Colorado at Boulder.
But for many RTD users, the overarching implication of the strike is the same: How am I going to get where I need to go?
“I won’t be able to visit my family in Westminster, Golden or Nederland,” Romero said.
Zamora said it’s a fairly short distance to her work.
“But I’m not going to be walking down there late at night,” she said.
And Beacham said he is in the worst of jams.
“I live in Sheridan, right by light rail, and I work in Aurora,” he said. “How am I supposed to get from Sheridan to Aurora?”
Staff writer John Ingold can be reached at 720-929-0898 or jingold@denverpost.com.
