On Mar. 10, Valley Transportation Authority (VTA) workers went on strike demanding higher pay and a safer, fairer work environment, according to an article from KRON4. Assistant principal Sean Anglon is certain that attendance has been affected due to the strike, Anglon said.
To help students who are critically impacted by the strike, administration is redirecting them and their families to Simple Mobile Access to Reliable Transit (SMART) buses, Anglon said.
“We’ve had students using SMART for at least two years now,” Anglon said. “Students can get dropped off and picked up; SMART has been beneficial for those when family members are not close by at the beginning or end of school.”
The strike has created an interruption in schedule for students and faculty members who utilize VTA as a mode of transportation, Anglon said. Despite that, the strike is an opportunity for individuals to reach out and become closer to their peers, he added.
“Students can create a carpool tree where families can share the responsibility of getting students to school on time,” Anglon said. “It also can help more students consider riding their bike to school.”
Spanish teacher Kimberly Marion has been relying on VTA for thirty years to get to places, Marion said. Due to VTA transportation being down, she’s resorted to driving to school, she added.
“I’m developing cataracts (and) it is a little difficult to drive,” Marion said. “It is difficult to see the lines that divide the lane, and it has been a little more stressful on my eyes because I normally just drive once a week.”
There are some factors that VTA could have acknowledged that could have prevented the strike, Marion said.
“If the directors and administrators (of VTA) really care about the public, they will be willing to negotiate with the union workers and come to some kind of agreement,” Marion said.
If the strike continues on for any longer, it’s going to harm the agency, Marion said.
“People are going to look for a permanent solution for transportation and then VTA will lose ridership,” Marion said. “If they drag out this strike, it will turn the public against VTA, and it could also turn the public against the workers.”
Junior Carielle Pelayo became aware of the strike because of warnings that VTA sent out on the VTA app, Pelayo said.
“When the strike happened, everything was down on the app and the entire BART station was empty,” Pelayo said. “In the app, it shows you numbers that correspond with the minutes of when the next bus was about to go to a stop that you’re near. When I opened the app in the morning of the strike, all of the lines were down. All of them showed that they were all canceled.”
Pelayo had to resort to taking alternative modes of transport due to the strike, Pelayo said. Uber, one of the modes of transport she’s resorted to, is affecting her financially, she added.
“Ubers in the morning, when there’s high demand, is around $20 unless I go and book my ride right in advance for the carpool,” Pelayo said. “That really affects the time that I get to school. I’m usually late when I carpool, so it’s mostly just impacting my first period.”