Councilmember Richard Fimbres Statement on the Sun Tran Bus Strike

Vice Mayor Richard Fimbres
Ward 5

As monthly reports show, Ward 5 has the most used routes in the Sun Tran bus system. People in Ward 5 and across the city, used Sun Tran buses to get to their jobs, go to doctor’s appointments and getting groceries on weekdays and weekends. I’ve had calls from people who have lost their jobs due to the strike and not being able to get to work on the weekends. The most vulnerable and most needy use Sun Tran.

This week marked the new semester for schools, including the University of Arizona and Pima Community College, for which many students would use Sun Tran to get to their classes. Public school districts, TUSD and Sunnyside to name two examples, which also use Sun Tran to help get their students to school as well.

Friday, September 4th will mark the 5th week of the Sun Tran bus strike, which has had limited service during the weekdays for ridership.

It is time that both the Sun Tran employee’s union, Teamster’s Local 104 and PTM/Veolia get back to the table and reach a settlement.

Both sides have expressed their eagerness to negotiate and that the federal mediator called in needs to get both sides to the table now for our community.

There have been suggestions to fire the manager or management company in the absence of another company to take it over. The City has to have a management company to run the bus system and for another person or firm to be brought in now would delay a resolution even further and Tucson’s bus riders cannot afford any further delays in the bus service.

For the sake of our city’s bus riders, a settlement is needed as soon as possible for Tucson.