@EmpressPixie – awful was an understatement. First, some background. I live in Ottawa, Canada’s capital city, and the bus service is a city-run service called OC Transpo. The bus drivers are a part of a union. They chose to start striking December 12th, right when the worst of winter started. It was a back and forth squabble from the union and the city, both sides refusing to give in towards finding a solution and getting back to work. We heard many stories about people walking 3 hours each way to work in snow and wicked winds, people getting in trouble for providing an “illegal taxi service” which was simply carpooling and taking more money from people than only the cost of gas. Many people were fired or had to spend all (or more than) their wages on taxis to get them to and from work. The strike was forced to end when our government came back (our Prime Minister had prorogued Parliament until the 27th of January to avoid a political squabble, that’s another story altogether) and was going to force the city and union into binding arbitration. Two hours before, the city and union announced… that they were agreeing to binding arbitration. Last weekend (February 7th) was when the service started back up partially, and it’ll be a few more weeks until all the routes are back, what with the buses needing maintenance. I feel safe in saying it was the most ridiculous strike I’ve ever seen, and both sides came out looking like squabbling losers. Almost two full months without running buses. Completely pathetic for the Nation’s Capital City.