Hope in sight for end to bus strike

COMMUNICATIONS ministry and bus companies yesterday continued meeting in a bid to iron out their differences and bring an end to the bus drivers’ strike, which has been inconveniencing the public since last Wednesday.

According to media reports yesterday, the two sides hope to reach an agreement by the time the weekend was over.

Speaking to the CyBC yesterday, Communications Minister Efthymios Flourentzos said the differences between the two sides “are shrinking”.

“I hope a solution is found,” said the minister. “We are awaiting a response from the bus companies regarding our suggestions and alternative proposals that we posed (on Friday night).”

Bus drivers across the island – except the Larnaca District, who stopped striking on Wednesday night after reaching an agreement with the ministry – have been on strike over the companies’ failure to pay them their January wages.

The result was thousands of passengers – old and young – being inconvenienced, with some school children even being unable to turn up to school.

The Cyprus Mail is the only English-language daily newspaper published in Cyprus. It was established in 1945 and today, with its popular and widely-read website, the Cyprus Mail is among the most trusted news sites in Cyprus. The newspaper is not affiliated with any political parties and has always striven to maintain its independence. Over the past 70-plus years, the Cyprus Mail, with a small dedicated team, has covered momentous events in Cyprus’ modern history, chronicling the last gasps of British colonial rule, Cyprus’ truncated independence, the coup and Turkish invasion, and the decades of negotiations to stitch the divided island back together, plus a myriad of scandals, murders, and human interests stories that capture the island and its -people. Observers describe it as politically conservative.