Finland bus drivers like a book of matches, they always on strike
The bus drivers are on strike again, (well, most of them are) they were on strike just a few months ago. Thank Christ the bus system in Finland is semi-privatized or else all of them would be on strike…or possibly none of them. Juhani Salonius has been sent in mediate the negiotations of grumpy old wealthy white men - you’ll remember Salonius last year was the mediator for the month long paper industry strike - somehow he was invited back to screw up yet another labor agreement.
The next time some hippie gives you shit for owning a car, or thinking of owning a car - remind them of these bus strikes. Fortunately I have a car, and so do most other middle class Finns, and wealthy Finns have three cars. It’s Finland’s ever-growing poor who are truly hurt by this strike, they can’t afford an automobile.
There’s not enough taxi’s in Helsinki and tomorrow it’ll be next to impossible to find one. I remember when I visited St. Petersburg, there were tons of these private mini-buses scooting around the city. And people had the freedom to flag down cars and pay the drivers to take them places if they were heading in the same direction - that certainly saves on gas!
My hometown of Baltimore was full of “hacks” - these were private citizens who used their car as a taxi. Vist a city supermarket, you’d see well-dressed men waiting outside the store offering to take women home in their Cadillacs (get a hack on a Friday night and it’s probably a rusted out Honda). You negotiated a price before you got in, they were great, much cheaper than a taxi, and never once did I read about a hack doing something bad. Of course, hacks were completely illegal, but the police had more important things to worry about.
Residents of Finland could really benefit from these liberalizations in transport policy.
Yabbut we didn’t have short buses to go to school with.
Comment by Hank W. — Sun, Mar 5th, 2006 @ 10:04 pm
You mean seriously, the hacks waiting for women were just happy giving them lifts, and nothing unwishedfor ever happened?
Comment by Stupid — Sun, Mar 5th, 2006 @ 10:45 pm
The reason Salonius is back on the job is the fact he’s the conciliator general, so not much choice on the matter, at least for the time being.
http://www.mol.fi/mol/fi/06_tyoministerio/02_organisaatio/03_valtakunnansovittelija/index.jsp
Comment by Annu — Sun, Mar 5th, 2006 @ 10:51 pm
You mean seriously, the hacks waiting for women were just happy giving them lifts, and nothing unwishedfor ever happened?
Why would they? They were taxis, they just didn’t have that government piece of paper. Do anything to a woman and you’ll find your ass quickly in jail. THey were honest people making an honest living. They probably had regular jobs and did this on the side for extra cash.
Comment by Phil — Sun, Mar 5th, 2006 @ 11:11 pm
Before the last strike about a year ago many said it would be “impossible” to get a taxi. Well, I used taxis for many times during that time and I had no trouble getting one.
I discussed this with many drivers and they actually said there weren’t enough customers for all the taxis on the road.
I guess people found alternative ways to get to school and work and didn’t need taxis as much as expected. Let’s see how it goes this week.
Comment by Tero Lehto — Mon, Mar 6th, 2006 @ 1:11 am
“They were honest people making honest living”, says who? I know that in States most of the hacks have beeb scraped from the bottom of the barrel. The most of them don’t speak any major language, they most likely don’t know the city and their driving skills stink even more than their unwashed bodies. Taking these unlicensed, untrained, unknown, maybe Ted Bundy wanna bes, and illegal performers with their non safety cheked jalopies might be the climax of free society, but give me regulated taxi-industry anytime.
Comment by Pekka K — Mon, Mar 6th, 2006 @ 1:24 am
but give me regulated taxi-industry anytime.
Aight, you take a taxi, I’ll take a hack.
In Finland, the cabs here are sooo expensive, so few can afford to take one on a regular basis. But hacks were regular forms of transportation for many poor people in Baltimore. Maybe when cabs are much cheaper, people would be less likely to get drunk behind the wheel? And maybe if Baltimore’s bus system was completely crap, people would be less likely to take hacks.
Comment by Phil — Mon, Mar 6th, 2006 @ 1:36 am
Hippies on their busses, espoolaiset aina takseissa.
Well, you could always bike to the nearest train; they’re not stopping those.
Comment by Ryan — Mon, Mar 6th, 2006 @ 2:12 am
I am not a hippy, I have 2 cars. Yet hippy is always better then 1984 “there is no global warning” american.
Comment by dude — Mon, Mar 6th, 2006 @ 5:07 am
I love that bus! Nice rims!
Rob in China
Comment by Rob in China — Mon, Mar 6th, 2006 @ 5:59 am
Fond memories when I first moved to Finland and the busses and metro were on strike in January 1998. For two weeks I walked from Siltamaki to the Malmi train station. Finns were amused at me because I was walking with my insulated coffee mug. That was a cold two weeks!
The one item I missed the most while living there was a car.
Comment by Fred Fry — Mon, Mar 6th, 2006 @ 6:01 am
But hacks were regular forms of transportation for many poor people in Baltimore.
But why are they poor? Mayby because they don’t get a decent living from their un-unionized jobs. Same goes for the drivers who “probably had regular jobs and did this on the side for extra cash.”
Comment by Anonymous — Mon, Mar 6th, 2006 @ 8:51 am
I’m not the biggest fan of AKT - they regularly abuse the right to strike (basically the ability to shut down the harbours is their eternal trump card), but still I very much like the Helsinki region public transport system. It is slowly getting worse with the ever tightening finances, and the current bidding system is not helping, but even now it’s extensive, reliable and relatively cheap to use. There are lots of cities around the world where traffic is a nightmare, many of them quite Helsinki region sized. The fact that we are not in a similar mess is very much due to the public transport system.
Comment by mjr — Mon, Mar 6th, 2006 @ 9:48 am
“And maybe if Baltimore’s bus system was completely crap, people would be less likely to take hacks.”
Shouldn’t that be “wasn’t completely crap…”?
The same thing happened in the UK in the 1980s with Thatcherite liberalisation. The busses were taken out of local government control and sold to private companies who were only interested in running the profitable routes (totally understandably). But that means that in some places (particularly rural - but of course in small country like the UK ‘rural’ is very relative to Finland or the US) like where I grew up it was a 2 mile walk to the nearest bus stop for a bus that ran twice in the morning and twice in the late afternoon. I had to cycle to school every day, a bit under 10 miles each way, rain or shine (and this being England thats generally rain). The old people who didn’t have a car basically got done as they need to use taxis at vast expense. Indeed even now a British friend in Finland, orders his elderly mum’s shopping (in England) on-line for her because until that became an option she was paying 30 quid (EUR 50) for the round-trip to get from her village to the nearest town with a supermarket. De-regulation of the buses there seems to have pushed taxis prices up in many case due to increased demand, not brought them down.
So just a the poor are hit by not being able to afford a car, they are also hit by shit provision of public transport. There are social costs and benefits to all policy positions, the politics is in trying to balance them.
Comment by Toby — Mon, Mar 6th, 2006 @ 9:58 am
I’m not a big fan of unions, but I do like the idea of decent well-integrated public transport. And Helsinki has that.
I guess its the old economist student in me, but I do tend to see cars as economically inefficient modes of transport compared to trams, buses and trains. The externalities (noise/air pollution, traffic, etc) per user are much higher with cars than with most other forms of transport.
It’s not about public vs private either - it is possible to have a liberalised public tranposrt system that runs efficiently. The real determinant of the value of public transport is how well it is organised (reliability/ reach/ frequency), priced, and intergrated.
Of course there will always be a need for private cars and taxis, and some people (Phil?) will prefer cars no matter how good the public transport system is.
Oh, and by the way, if you see cars as the “liberal” option to public transport, please remember the huge petrol subsidies and car manufacturing subsisides that went into your independant ride.
Apologies for length.
-BM
Comment by Badgermushroom — Mon, Mar 6th, 2006 @ 11:26 am
“Maybe when cabs are much cheaper, people would be less likely to get drunk behind the wheel?”
So there is less drunk driving in Baltimore then with all the cheap hacks?
Comment by matti — Mon, Mar 6th, 2006 @ 11:39 am
But why are they poor? Mayby because they don’t get a decent living from their un-unionized jobs. Same goes for the drivers who “probably had regular jobs and did this on the side for extra cash.â€Â
I dunno, unions were quite strong in Baltimore. But a lot of Baltimore’s poor don’t have jobs to begin with, so no chance for a union.
Comment by Phil — Mon, Mar 6th, 2006 @ 12:38 pm
Shouldn’t that be “wasn’t completely crap…�
OOps, yup!
Comment by Phil — Mon, Mar 6th, 2006 @ 12:41 pm
So there is less drunk driving in Baltimore then with all the cheap hacks?
Good question, we’ve always had the hacks so it’s hard to say. I would think that if the cab is less expensive, people would be more likely to take it? And if more people are taking public transportation, less people are getting behind the wheel…and getting drunk behind the wheel.
Comment by Phil — Mon, Mar 6th, 2006 @ 12:43 pm
The problem dates back to earlier strike of late 2004, when AKT took up fight ‘cos two privately-owned companies (Connex, owned by French Veolia -former Vivendi and Concordia, owned by Goldman Sachs and Norwegian Schöyen) tried to bend collective agreements by using part-time drivers in excess.
The problem isn’t with the system or Salonius or even employers in general ‘cos bus companies are usually small family enterprises with responsibility and loyalty towards employees (according to EK stats only 7% of work is done by part-time employees in Finland) but with these global companies.
On the other hand, AKT supremo Mr.Räty is a lawyer, a breed of SDP faith (much like President Halonen) who probably has a pic of Jimmy Hoffa on his nighttable…
Comment by Pete Q — Mon, Mar 6th, 2006 @ 12:51 pm
A very recent market survey in the Netherlands showed that people are not benefiting from privatisations and liberalised markets. Some results: People feel that profits, not customers have become most import (74%). Sixty percent said that services became more expensive and another 59% thought that services have deteriorated. A majority of voters for the Dutch equivalent of the Finnish Kokoomus party said that they wanted to de-privatise the national railway and the energy sector!
I was amazed by the outcome of this survey, but I have to admit it’s a fucking mess! The privatisations in the NL only worked for the telecom sector. But perhaps only because there is a watchdog body that has intervened many times.
I also don’t see how a privatised public transport system can work anywhere for the customer without a government dictating a certain bottom service level… Rural and more quiet areas will always suffer if money rules.
Comment by majava — Mon, Mar 6th, 2006 @ 1:03 pm
AKT supremo Mr.Räty is a lawyer, a breed of SDP faith (much like President Halonen) who probably has a pic of Jimmy Hoffa on his nighttable…
he should watch out - theres a big construction site next to the Connex depot
Comment by Hank W. — Mon, Mar 6th, 2006 @ 1:19 pm
“Good question, we’ve always had the hacks so it’s hard to say. I would think that if the cab is less expensive, people would be more likely to take it? And if more people are taking public transportation, less people are getting behind the wheel…and getting drunk behind the wheel.”
Matti - No, people would still drive drunk, even when the cabs are free. Especially in the midwest, you are what you drive and people don’t surrender the to idea that they’re unfit to drive very easily. I used to call free cabs for people all the time when I was bartending…90% of the time, they’d disappear before the cab arrived, presumeably out to their cars.
Phil - I don’t know how illegal taxis trump the idea of good public transport. I mean, you wouldn’t hitchhike in the US, so why would you get into a car with a total stranger who likely can’t afford the medical or auto insurance or is also likely not bonded so, in the event of an accident, injury or other problem, you’re pretty much screwed if only because you were too cheap to pay the 10 extra bucks for a legit ride?
Comment by hfb — Mon, Mar 6th, 2006 @ 1:25 pm
To suggest that these hacks could be safe sounds pretty incredible. And yes indeed:
http://www.citypaper.com/news/story.asp?id=6264
several murders and lots of other crime. Apparently most people in Baltimore consider illeagal cabs dangerous. Big surprise! This kind of activity must allure sickos like honey bees (if that’s a saying in English).
Comment by Anonymous — Mon, Mar 6th, 2006 @ 2:24 pm
It seemed like the centre of Helsinki was almost empty of cars and people today, it was very easy to get around already before 9 AM. Länsiväylä was a bit busy, but nevertheless there wasn’t heavy traffic.
As I expected, there are plenty of taxis and it’s easy to get one.
Comment by Tero Lehto — Mon, Mar 6th, 2006 @ 3:09 pm
“The bus drivers are on strike again”
I don’t think it was nation-wide the last time.
But this strike is great. Since Gold Line (former “mail buses” of Suomen Posti, today owned by private Koiviston Auto) is also on strike, Suomen Posti has to find other ways to deliver mail for example in northern Lapland. Use of private taxis has now caused today’s mail to arrive 1,5 hours earlier than usual in some areas!
Comment by Tikki — Mon, Mar 6th, 2006 @ 3:24 pm
“The bus drivers are on strike again, (well, most of them are) they were on strike just a few months ago.”
The previous bus strike was in November 2004. That’s still too recently, but an order of magnitude from your “a few months ago”.
“Thank Christ the bus system in Finland is semi-privatized or else all of them would be on strike…or possibly none of them.”
Actually, it’s the privatized drivers that are on strike, the municipal drivers are working normally.
Comment by Antti-Juhani Kaijanaho — Mon, Mar 6th, 2006 @ 8:29 pm
“AKT supremo Mr.Räty is a lawyer, a breed of SDP faith (much like President Halonen) who probably has a pic of Jimmy Hoffa on his nighttable…”
Hehe, If I remember, in the good old cold war days the finnish transport branch had two trade unions, one with CIA and one with KGB contacts. AKT, or its predecessor was the one with the CIA connection and good relations to the U.S. brother organization, which was at the time run by Mr. Hoffa.
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Comment by Johnnyboy — Mon, Mar 6th, 2006 @ 11:34 pm
In the U.S. there are Unions. Bus Unions, train workers unions, factory workers unions. They set certain rules by which all the workers in the union agree to, including salary. Guess that’s not the case in Finland. If it were maybe they’d strike less often. Strikes are avoided by union talks with management, also, the union members elect a President and have monthly meetings. That way everybody’s on the same page. Personally, I walk most places that I need to go. Don’t have a drivers license. Most people in metropolitan areas of the U.S. walk because it’s more convenient, and if they’re going further than walking distance they take public transportation. As for Taxi’s they’re expensive everywhere. The word taxi then becomes fitting as they tax your budget.
Comment by Ms. New Jersey — Thu, Mar 9th, 2006 @ 9:58 am
The only way for unions to make some headway in negotiations is to threaten with a strike. A threat is no threat without saying when the strike will start. A strike is not good for anybody - it’s incredibly expensive to both unions and of course the management. They don’t go to strikes for fun, although the owner of this blog likes to imply that.
It’s the staring competition that ultimately decides if a strike is to begin - who will blink first? Both sides know that the most to be gained and most to be lost is on the table mere hours before a strike is to begin, so they usually go that far - and don’t blink. So the strike begins and after support strikes pop up the management usually gives in, especially if there’s a remotely good deal on the table.
That’s the way it went this time too. And I’m glad it did. The workers of this country will not be tossed around according to the whims of international companies only interested in their stock status. And this is coming from a Kokoomus voter.
I absolutely do think employees should bend a little bit more too. It’s just that this time they did. They said they’d be willing to adjust to the shift requirements as long as their full-time hours would be filled in a week. The management saying no to that I think only signals that their real motivation is to get more power. It’s really about power - management wants to be able to say who works when and even for what pay. But that’s not the way it’s supposed to work - people are people, not machines that can be used and tossed aside. Negotiating is what the management - not AKT - failed to do.
Comment by Oskari — Sun, Mar 12th, 2006 @ 3:37 am
I forgot to rant about illegal taxis!
Untrained, unaccountable taxis should definitely be kept illegal. If for no other reason then because they don’t pay taxes for their income, and there is no viable system to be set up for that to happen. You do work for money, you pay your taxes. Tarja too 
But that’s not up to her, it’s up to the parliament.
The last thing we need is to make Helsinki more like St. Peterburg. You used the term “private taxis”. Well that’s what they are in Finland too! It’s not like the government owns them - they just use them (a lot, especially MP:s who don’t have their own drivers). The companies play by the rules, they employ drivers and pay them fair (I think most don’t pay a steady wage, instead a percentage of the fares), and they really shouldn’t be compromised by some drunk students with their daddy’s car or an immigrant with minimal Finnish skills and no concept of the city streets. The students can get a job driving a taxi pretty easily - the training is short and while it costs a good deal the work is pretty steady so you’ll earn it back in no time. The immigrants can learn the language and take the training too - or go drive a bus full time
It’s expensive to use a cab. Boo-hoo. It’s expensive, but it’s also a safe, fair and sure way to get where you’re going. And people use taxis a lot - they need more drivers, it’s been all over the papers. The fact that taxis were readily available during this strike shows that the public transportation has pretty strong backbones, a few lines can be down and it doesn’t cause a citywide panic.
Libertarians are hypocrites I think. They want things to be free, and when asked how it will work they use things that are working through regulations as basis. Privatizing public transportation has NEVER led to improvements in it, ANYWHERE. Correct me if I’m wrong.
Comment by Oskari — Sun, Mar 12th, 2006 @ 3:52 am
http://www.iltalehti.fi/2006/03/19/200603194270923_uu.shtml
Illegal taxi ride goes sour, the “customer” gets beat up and left out in the cold when he refuses to give ALL his money to a hack driver.
Comment by Wille — Mon, Mar 20th, 2006 @ 7:24 am