The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) has announced that bus drivers of First South West have voted overwhelmingly to take strike action over pay for 48 hours from 23 July. See RMT union press release.
Presumably, this will mean that there will be no services on First routes in Cornwall including the Truro park and ride system on 23rd and 24th July. I have written to Cornwall Council Transport Service to ask what they think the impact will be. I will update this news item as and when I receive a response.
Update
12 July 2024
I have received the following response from the Transport Service of Cornwall Council regarding the proposed strike by First Bus drivers:
"We are having ongoing discussions and meetings with First South West over coming days to understand the potential impact this action may have on the Truro P&R, school services and First South West’s wider commercial network in Cornwall, recognising that accurately predicting these impacts will be challenging for them. We will be communicating with stakeholders and the wider public once we know more details."
First South West have released the below statement:
First South West statement
11/7/24
Comment can be attributed to a First South West spokesperson
"We are disappointed at RMT members’ decision to announce strike action in Cornwall on 23 and 24 July 2024. This will cause disruption to the daily lives of
our customers who rely on the bus to get to work, education and for appointments.
“We have been working hard to agree a pay settlement and have already made a substantial offer of 5% for all pay grades, which follows a significant pay increase of 17.6% in December 2022.
“Discussions with the RMT continue and we are focused on trying to avoid any industrial action. We urge our RMT Union colleagues involved to halt the action and to continue to engage with us. In the meantime, we are concentrating on minimising disruption for our passengers. We will provide further updates over the coming days”.