{"id":259,"date":"2017-06-25T19:08:27","date_gmt":"2017-06-26T02:08:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/taxedintempe.com\/?p=259"},"modified":"2017-06-25T19:08:27","modified_gmt":"2017-06-26T02:08:27","slug":"record-heat-leads-to-dangerous-conditions-on-tempe-orbit-buses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/taxedintempe.com\/record-heat-leads-to-dangerous-conditions-on-tempe-orbit-buses\/","title":{"rendered":"Record Heat Leads to Dangerous Conditions on Tempe Orbit Buses"},"content":{"rendered":"

Years ago the City of Tempe introduced the Orbit<\/a> buses which travel through selected neighborhoods and are “free” to riders. \u00a0The idea is nice, except of course that there is no charge so Tempe taxpayers foot the bill, again. \u00a0There was talk <\/a>of charging a small fee, but according to the City of Tempe’s webpage, the buses are still “free.'”<\/p>\n

It is not unusual to see them idling with no riders, using precious gasoline while polluting the air at the same time. \u00a0But this summer, there is a bigger issue more important than the fact that the Orbit buses are a money pit and pollute Tempe.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The past 10 days record high<\/a> temperatures have been reached in the Phoenix area and there is little change in sight. \u00a0We are all worried about those who work outdoors and those with incomes that won’t cover the high energy bills they will soon receive. \u00a0But what about the bus drivers on the Orbit buses?<\/p>\n

According to riders, there is no air conditioning on the buses. \u00a0That has presented a very dangerous situation for the drivers who are required to be in the heat surrounded by a box of metal. \u00a0We are hearing one of the Orbit drivers has been taken to the hospital for heat exhaustion. \u00a0Some residents have complained to the City. \u00a0 While Orbit is uncomfortable in the heat, riders at least have the option to ride at cooler times of the day or find an alternate way to get to their destination.<\/p>\n

The biggest issue is the safety of the Orbit drivers. \u00a0They can’t speak up for fear of losing their jobs or having much-needed hours cut. \u00a0We understand the City has put water on the buses, but that will not be enough to get the drivers through the extremely dangerous temperatures.<\/p>\n

Maybe Mayor Mark Mitchell and the Council members should hop on some of the Orbit routes this last week of June and see how it feels. \u00a0Just like the bike lanes, Council tells us taxpayers how we should live but they won’t walk in their own taxpayers’ shoes….. or buses.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Years ago the City of Tempe introduced the Orbit buses which travel through selected neighborhoods and are “free” to riders. \u00a0The idea is nice, except of course that there is no charge so Tempe taxpayers foot the bill, again. \u00a0There was talk of charging a small fee, but according to the City of Tempe’s webpage, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[31],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/taxedintempe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/taxedintempe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/taxedintempe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taxedintempe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taxedintempe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=259"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/taxedintempe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":263,"href":"https:\/\/taxedintempe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/259\/revisions\/263"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/taxedintempe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taxedintempe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/taxedintempe.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}