Rochester, NY: On Thursday, May 7, 2015, members of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 282 and their supporters will rally at the RGRTA headquarters this Thursday protesting the decisions made by CEO Bill Carpenter that will cost 144 workers their jobs, and leave the Rochester City School District trying to figure out transportation for 9,000 students to and from school as of July 1st of this year. The decision by Bill Carpenter to pull the plug on busing city school students came without a vote from the board, and is heavily contested by the school district and the workers who are employed by the RGRTA. Carpenter defended his decision as a resolution to recent violence in the downtown transit center. "It goes without saying that ATU Local 282 Executives and members want to see an end to violence at the Transit Center," says Local 282's President, Jacques Chapman. "The solution, however, is certainly not what Bill Carpenter is proposing." Chapman warns, that if fully implemented, Carpenter's plan will trigger consequences the CEO does not want to make public. 7000 student riders whose express transfer buses never went to the Transit Center now will be penalized and forced to take regular line service buses to the Transit Center potentially leaving no seats or standing room for regular paying customers. Because of the decision not to renew the Rochester City School District contract, which had been subsidizing RTS operations, bus fares will have to be increased. Eliminating 40 maintenance personnel will strain that department so much that techs will have difficulty maintaining and repairing buses causing even more daily cuts and missed trips for scheduled route service leaving more customers on the street. The workers and supporters of the RTS services will be at a rally calling for the replacement of Bill Carpenter as CEO of the RGRTA to the Board of Commissioners with a competent CEO who can manage in adversity and efficiently utilize available resources.

[source: Rochester Red and Black e-mail, 2015-May-5]