Trams on strike - chance to hike
I use the trams to travel to work, but luckily I live only a few stops away from the radio building. Ever since the summer floods, travelling on public transport in Prague has been rather difficult. With half of the metro network out of operation, it is the trams that carry most of the burden. I don't need to tell you that they are overcrowded. Sometimes I have to miss two or more trams that are too full and wait for one where I can squeeze in.
Travelling to work or school has become longer and more tiring. It was more bearable when the weather was warmer. But now with some minus ten degrees Celsius outside, everyone is bundled up in several layers of clothing and the trams seem even fuller. People standing up and trying to hold on to the handles get really hot in all their winter clothes, so they open the windows - to the annoyance of those sitting down, who then complain about freezing wind blowing into their faces. Also, hot weather or cold, the overcrowded trams attract pickpockets. That is how I had my purse stolen, with all my documents, some two months ago. On a crowded tram, with my grocery shopping in one hand and with the other trying to reach for a handle while standing on one leg and trying not to lose balance, I had little chance to monitor my handbag which was squeezed between two other people somewhere behind my back.
I must say that people have been very patient since the summer, and I have seen or heard of few conflicts between passengers. But as time goes on, people are starting to lose their calm and almost every day someone starts an argument on my tram. But I guess those who have been affected the most are the tram drivers. It is very different to control a half empty tram compared to an overcrowded vehicle. There have been many accidents in which pedestrians have been involved. An overcrowded tram has a longer braking distance than an empty one, and when people step on the tracks they do not realize the driver might not be able to stop in time. Also the driver is the first one to face all the passengers' complaints, although he or she is certainly not guilty for the flooded metro.
Recently, the tram drivers agreed that in this situation it was not fair that they should get less money than the bus drivers in Prague, so they threatened to go on strike for one morning last week. Eventually, the strike was called off because the authorities promised to compare the two jobs and then reconsider their wages. Since the summer I have been trying to make myself get up a little earlier each day and walk to work, which probably would not take me much more than half an hour. But every morning I put it off. So I have to admit that for purely selfish reasons I fully support the tram drivers' requirements and I wish they went on strike so that I would finally have to do what I haven't been able to for all those months - put on my sneakers and move my lazy bones.
