Diary of a Commuter Strike

I'm 32, so there's no hippie history, no protest experience, no free-wheelin' parents (they're 70ish and ultra-conservative) who instilled sticking it to THE MAN.

And yet, I find myself organizing a full-blown commuter strike against a local bus company.

This really doesn't fit in with the IHDR sentiment, but I felt compelled to share the experience with you...whether we succeed or fail.

How did this start?

Ok. There's a local online community called Baristanet and it's a really well done, frequently updated, fyi on what's up in our area.

Every time there's an article concerning DeCamp Bus Company, the comments section blows up. People share nightmare experiences (sound familiar), damn the company to a fiery death, describe the pains of a daily commute.

Examples are here, here and here.

Being Greek, I can't shut up.

"So, why don't we strike?"

Well, folks got fired up. T-shirts were brainstormed, date chosen, guerrilla marketing plotted. Wow. Uh, what did I start?

Mom always said "follow through" (so did Coach Poppy when I couldn't get a consistent foul shot). So that's what I've been doing.

Last night I was on every NJ chat room I could find. Ugh, the spam I'm going to get.

I take DeCamp maaaaybe once a month. When I'm desperate (read: drunkenly miss the train home). I purposely avoid the damn thing, even though I could jump from my balcony to the train stop.

So now I'm a Norma Rae vs. DeCamp. And we'll probably get 3 people to boycott and no one will sign the petition. But, I can't help hope that we get their attention and they finally ban abusive bus drivers or keep to the schedule they've assigned. Big dreams, people. Big dreams.

For more info on the strike, click here.

For the petition (if you'd like to sign in solidarity), here.

More on the DR next post.