We expect public transit to be there when we need it.

Interruptions in the service, such as the 14-day Viva strike, can hurt commuters and the economy.

The question being asked by commuters and politicians in Toronto this week is, should transit be considered an essential service, thereby taking away the union’s right to strike?

When TTC drivers walked off the job earlier this year, albeit on a weekend, many suggested the system should be deemed an essential service, with no option to strike.

A recent City of Toronto report estimated every weekday the TTC strikes, $50 million in economic activity is lost.

While York Region is not Toronto — the region’s YRT buses are still running — it is a reminder people unable to get to work on time and deliveries stalled on roads can cause the wheels of the local economy to grind ever so slowly.

Whether or not the service should be considered essential depends on who you ask.

“It’s just that fundamental question: how essential is it to infringe on the rights of labour?” said Ian Milligan, a PhD student in labour relations at York University.

Strike action has only shut down the TTC for three days in the past decade and only 13 days since 1978, he said.

It is hardly enough, he argued, to justify the essential service label.

In addition to the issue of union rights, there is also a question of if it is cost-effective to declare transit an essential service.

When police and ambulance surrender the right to strike, for example, they get sweeter collective agreements, Mr. Milligan pointed out.

When the TTC strikes, management is the city itself, but there is little direct role for our regional government in this Viva strike.

“We’re encouraging them to settle their differences because nobody wins in this situation,” said regional spokesperson Patrick Casey, citing out-of-work drivers and bedraggled commuters among the many affected.

Viva’s vehicles are owned by York Region, but services are contracted out to a private company.

Regular YRT services continue unaffected but its drivers are in a similar situation, contracted out to three private companies, each with their own unionized employees.

It is the 160 Viva operators who are now on strike; the first York Region has faced since merging transit services in 2001.

The contract for the operation of Viva’s first phase was awarded to Connex Canada at a price of $112.5 million in 2005.

The company is a division of Veolia, a French company whose North American offices are in Nevada.

Bringing the private sector online in the creation of Viva was necessary to streamline and speed up the process, Mr. Casey said.

Contracting out services serves a different function, keeping costs low as private companies bid for contracts.

The flipside, however, is that a company such as Veolia can legitimately say it only has $20 million budgeted for the year and no wiggle room.

That is little consolation for drivers who say they are not being treated fairly.

No new talks are scheduled.