Limited Access-A-Bus service to begin Monday

Access-A-Bus clients in the Halifax Regional Municipality will have limited access to the service beginning Monday, according to a statement released from the city.

The service will be made available to more than 1,800 registered Access-A-Bus users for transportation to and from medical and specialist appointments.

The Access-A-Bus service ended Feb. 2 after more than 500 Metro Transit workers parked their busses and ferries and took to the picket lines. An exception was made for dialysis patients, for whom the service continued.

"We recognize that this transit strike is hard on all of our passengers but we feel we must direct our limited staff resources to assisting those of our clientele most in need," said Metro Transit director Eddie Robar in a statement.

Mayor Peter Kelly said the decision was made to resume the service "because the strike was causing distress and suffering to vulnerable residents of HRM."

"Registered Access-A-Bus users are unable to keep medical appointments, often made months in advance," said Kelly. "These and similarly situated citizens have very limited mobility options and depend on Metro Transit's Access-A-Bus service."

Robar said transit management staff will be operating the Access-A-Bus vehicles until the strike is over.

The announcement came shortly after the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission released a statement calling for an end to the two-week-old Halifax transit strike.

Commission director and CEO David Shannon said the union and the city need to be aware the strike is taking a toll on people with disabilities.

"With Access-A-Bus services limited to patients attending their kidney dialysis appointments, persons with disabilities are severely limited with respect to ordinary day to day activities," said Shannon in the statement released Wednesday.

Shannon said there are not enough wheelchair accessible taxis in the city to support people with disabilities even when the Access-A-Bus service is available, let alone during a transit strike.

Access-A-Bus passengers can call 490-6999 starting Feb. 18 to begin booking trips for Monday and beyond.

City says "no" to binding arbitration

After several hours of what the mayor called a "very intense discussion" Halifax Regional Council opted against binding arbitration Tuesday night.

Members of the Amalgamated Transit Union voted unanimously in favour of sending the labour dispute to binding arbitration Tuesday afternoon and said they would be willing to put busses and ferries back in service immediately if council agreed.

Mayor Peter Kelly said council deliberated on the matter late into the night then decided to seek further negotiations instead.

"It would put the taxpayers at greater risk for the overall settlement in this situation," he said.

Kelly and the city have changed conciliators while the province has offered up its conciliator, Ken Zwicker, to handle negotiations when, and if, the two sides head back to the bargaining table.

"I think we have to let that process work its way through," said Kelly. "He is experienced; he is the lead one for the entire province, so I'm sure he has some expertise to help bring this to a resolve."

Meanwhile, union reps say they're baffled by the city's decision to decline arbitration because it would have been the quickest way to get busses and ferries back in service.

At this time there are no plans to return to the table and workers, sporting shirts that read "We Want Back to Work," expressed their disappointment at the city's decision on the picket lines Wednesday morning.

"We want to go to arbitration, we want to go back to work and as you can see here, I guess that message wasn't heard by city hall last night," said strike captain Adam Francis. "We'd love to be back on the road. We could have been back on the road by this time tomorrow morning, but I guess that's not going to happen at this point."

More than 500 Metro Transit workers parked their busses and ferries and took to the picket lines Feb. 2 after negotiations between the union and the city failed.

This has left transit users scrambling to find alternate means of transportation and frustration continues to build in the area as commuters deal with daily traffic jams.

Many pedestrians, who used to be Metro Transit users, say they are tired of having to endure long walks in bad weather.

"It really sucks," said one woman who endured the long walk from Cole Harbour to Halifax Wednesday morning. "It's a big inconvenience for many people who work so far from home."

"I think it's bloody ridiculous," said another former transit user. "I think the city's in awful shape. I think Peter Kelly has finally shown himself to be a small town mayor."

Before the strike, there were roughly 96,000 passenger trips taken daily on Metro Transit busses and ferries.

With files from CTV Atlantic's Kelland Sundahl