Even if the negotiations continue between the capital’s transport network (RTC) and the Maintenance Employees Union, officials announced Thursday afternoon that “no bus service will be offered from 5:20 am on July 4”. RTC buses and shuttles could be stopped ten days, unless an agreement is survived.
Note that the regular service as well as the shuttles for the Quebec Summer Festival (FEQ) are maintained on the night of July 3 to 4 before the strike out
we read in the press release published by the RTC in the middle of the afternoon Thursday.
The president of the RTC, Maude Mercier Larouche, is not tender towards the union of maintenance employees, which she does not feel in “good faith”.
Maude Mercier Larouche, president of the RTC
Photo : Radio-Canada
We can only denounce the lack of consideration of the union of maintenance employees, to whom we had stretched a hand to maintain a minimum of service.
According to her, requests to increase the union of 30 % over five years are “unreasonable” and would have the effect of leading to a decrease in service while the finances of the RTC are already “precarious”.
300,000 passages during Feq
According to Quebec City, it is therefore 15 % of the usual customers of the Quebec Summer Festival (FEQ) who will have to turn to alternative means of transport.
Indeed, some 300,000 festival -goers on average have mounted on the buses of RTC to go to the plains of Abraham during previous editions of Feq.
In the morning of Thursday, the union of maintenance employees confirmed its intention to move forward with the strike, even if the negotiations between the parties, at the request of the conciliator, continued this afternoon.
Recall that the Quebec-Lévis Traverse could also be paralyzed due to a starting work stoppage on Friday, confirmed the Corporate Society of Quebec (STQ).
Sufficient options?
From the very mouth of the President and CEO of Bleufeu, Nicolas Racine, visitors will have to change their way of coming to the festival
This year.
Among the other options available to them, that of the bicycle could be popular. Nicolas Racine recalls that devices will be in place at the entrance to the sites to leave helmets and bikes. The suitable transport, Flexibus and à Vélo transport services will be maintained.
The President and CEO of Bleufeu, Nicolas Racine
Photo : Radio-Canada
The organization of Feq Also recommends favoring carpooling or walking as far as possible.
Unsurprisingly, the taxis industry also expects to have to meet a very high demand. I think we will break call records if it lasts more than three or four days
advances the spokesperson for Taxi Coop, Luc Selesse.
With the threat of an imminent strike, the cooperative made sure to maximize its efficiency by increasing the quantity of drivers in service while coordinating their replacement at the end of the work.
Luc Selesse anticipates as well as the taxis offer will be sufficient to meet the needs of festival -goers. Taxi Coop also expects taxis to circulate on the roads normally reserved for buses, counting on the downstream of Quebec City.
But the spokesman does not rock illusions: congestion will remain inevitable on the main roads.
Of course we are going to be there to give the service, but people have to understand one thing, it is like it may be a little longer and a little more complicated.
Taxi Coop, Luc Selesse
Photo : Radio-Canada
To motorists worried not to be able to find parking, Luc Selesse recommends moving away from the site by parking in the Saint-Roch and Limoilou sectors. Put on yourself where there are places, then take the taxi, we’re going to go and go back
he says.
For his part, Nicolas Racine admits being concerned about the strike and advocates a rapid outcome in order to limit his impacts on the customers of the Feq. The experience of the festival-goer for us, it starts from the moment when we buy a general admission pass and it lasts until the end of the festival
he claims.
According to CEOthe two most imposing crowds are expected on July 5 and 12, evenings that will be marked respectively by the headliners Benson Boon and Shania Twain.
With the information of Rosalie Sinclair