(photo from the Mannheim Morgan newspaper: morganweb.de)
Last Wednesday and again yesterday and today all the local buses and streetcars are on strike.
I have always been a huge proponent of public transit systems. I was fortunate to grow up with the RTD system in Colorado--one of the better public systems I have ever seen in the US. So well run, in fact, that I chose not to get a drier's license until I was in college and no longer living within the Regional Transportation District.
I like to think that i do not take the excellent public transit here in Germany for granted. I am well aware of how lucky we are to have it. We intentionally rented a home near the tram lines and use them heavily. We only have one car, a huge money saver made possible by the ability to get virtually anywhere on trams, trains and buses
Even though I know all of that, and even though we are lucky to have the car at home this week (Dave flew out for work), these last two days have still been a jolt to me.
I often talk about how much I love that my kids have "freedom" to go places with friends or get to activities, etc without having to rely on Dave and I to get them there. Yesterday, as I planned my day around getting Rio to school, Marika to the story hour she volunteers for, Rio home from school and to therapy and then Marika back home--it hit me that the public transit is just as freeing for ME as it is for the kids. I have spent the last two days really missing the freedom to plan a day which does not revolve around my teens' busy schedules. Wow.
I fully admit I do not understand much about the issues behind the strike. I know the workers are asking for a 2.5% pay increase. I do not know when they last had a pay increase or what their current salaries are. So, I cannot really say how I think it should end, but I do have to say I am really, really, really hoping that all sides reach a resolution now and that there are no more long days without that system that I have come to rely on so heavily!
--Hadley
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