The time is long overdue to make public transit an “essential service” where strike action is simply not an option any more.

Enough is enough. Buses are an absolute lifeline for thousands of people in this city who are totally dependent on public transit to get to work and school, to buy food and get to medical appointments. There is no other option for people on poverty incomes.

Shutting down bus service puts vulnerable people at serious risk of going hungry, losing employment, missing an education or even losing their life in a medical emergency.

Threatening a shutdown of the system on Jan. 22 is a mean-spirited act by a selfish union. The bus drivers have no right to use the most fragile members of the community as innocent pawns in their battle.

It makes no sense that I am forced to miss a day from a program that is helping me find work due to the self-serving actions of bus drivers who are lucky enough to have jobs at top union wages.

The bus drivers are knowingly hurting people who are the least able to take it.

Our provincial government needs to act now to prevent a powerful union from inflicting their problems on people who are powerless.

Doreen Marion Gee

Victoria