KOLD Channel 13 reports that an emergency meeting has been scheduled to discuss transferring the authority over Sun Tran’s bus system from the City of Tucson to the Regional Transportation Authority.

Gary Hayes, the head of the RTA, made the front page of the daily today for threatening to shut down work on the downtown streetcar project if his demands weren’t met.

Critics say the RTA is broke and that Hayes has said he might double bus fares and/or discontinue low-income fares.

The transfer of authority is seen by many as an a move toward ending the strike of union Sun Tran employees, now in its fourth day.

The meeting is scheduled for 3 p.m., Friday, Aug. 6.

(Full Disclosure: I volunteer at the Casa Maria soup kitchen, which is operated by Brian Flagg, a critic of the RTA mentioned in one of the links above.)

This article appears in Aug 5-11, 2010.

6 replies on “End of Sun Tran Strike? Emergency Meeting Today (Friday)”

  2. There is a meeting of the RTA Board at 3 PM today. Single item is the Sun Tran/Sun Van situation.

  3. RTA is in great financial shape, projects are happening as promised; the RTA has guaranteed not to change the economy low-income fare for 5 years, but there was never a danger of a “doubling” of fares – people were misreading a report that showed examples of a variety of revenue options.

  5. The City already adopted a budget to fund them as they normally do, this is between Sun Tran and their union and the union wanting job security that absolutely nobody else has. The City has their own unions and members (whose benefits costs have risen while the pay has been cut) to satisfy and if the teamsters were to prevail there are other ramifications.

  6. Everyone who understands it should be opposed to the RTA. With the possible exception of RTA Dave, who must be on the payroll.

    Buses? City don’t need no stinkin’ buses. Or water. RTA’s got a regional authority to take that off our hands, too.

    No fair looking behind the curtain.

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