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Stockholm bus strike looms

Buses in Stockholm County will come to a standstill at midnight on Monday as bus drivers plan to follow through on their threat to go on strike.

Stockholm bus strike looms

There are currently no negotiations between the bus drivers’ union Kommunal and their employer, Bussarbetsgivarna.

Tourists, visitors and commuters in Stockholm are advised to stick to rail lines, bicycles, taxis, or their own two feet to get around town on Tuesday.

Bussarbetsgivarna had requested that several bus routes be exempted from the strike, but as of Monday afternoon the only exemption granted were for buses which replace a stretch of the commuter rail line under repair south of the city between Nynäshamn and Västerhaninge.

Requests for exemptions for routes in the Nacka and Värmdö suburbs, buses which currently replace rail lines being repaired on sections of the green subway line, and bus routes toward Norrtälje, north of Stockholm were denied.

On July 8th, the strike is set to expand beyond Stockholm County to include Västerbotten County.

Skåne County bus drivers will also join the strike on July 15th if the parties have yet to reach an agreement by then.

Taxi Stockholm, which had planned on reducing its activity by one third during the summer months, is expecting things to get hectic during the strike. But the company will try to keep the same number of drivers on duty as normal.

OKQ8, which rents automobiles at about forty of its Stockholm-area petrol stations, hasn’t yet noticed an increase in demand ahead of the strike.

“Not yet, but it may likely come later in the day,” said Göran Lindblå, OKQ8’s board chairman, to the TT news agency.