There are a lot different contentions here.

First of all, if you are a single, non-disabled person and you know you have to go to work, why i wouldn't you PLAN (you know, the great American four letter word!) and walk, ride, carpool or hitchhike to work? The METRO drivers are no more responsible for you being late to work than your mommy is for all your problems, Scroozie.

As for the issue of bus driver salaries, the Scent-An*l reported on the front page that *ONLY* three other American cities pay their bus drivers more. What they didn't include in their headline is that we live in the SECOND HIGHEST rental district in the nation and the THIRD HIGHEST for real estate prices. By the Scent-An*l's own logic, THE DRIVERS ARE UNDERPAID!

I would also like to add that, according to the most broad and up-to-date study available, $50,000 doesn' even meet the basic needs of a family. According to the California Budget Project's research published this September........

For families to meet their basic needs, they need to make at least....

$55,900 - for a two-parent family -- one working

$62,900 - for a single-parent family

$79,946 - for a two-parent family -- both working

This is the data for the Bay Area region. Based on these calculations, most of the bus drivers are fighting to just meet their needs.

What is obvious to me is that there are a lot professional scabs in this forum and in rags like the Scent-An*l putting out garbage infomation . It's not working on me --- in fact, it makes me sympathize with the drivers all the more when I see how villified and attacked they are.