Erratic Buses : Strike: Limited and at times capricious service forces Greyhound riders to juggle their personal schedules.

Clifford Remley was used to arriving a few minutes early at the Greyhound bus station in Oxnard every Friday morning to catch a bus to Los Angeles, where he works as a crane operator.

But with buses often running an hour or more late because of an employee strike, Remley is no longer taking any chances. The 43-year-old Oxnard resident now arrives a full day early--on Thursday morning--to ensure that he gets to work on time Friday.

Remley, who said he stays with friends when in Los Angeles working Friday through Sunday, is one of many Ventura County residents who have learned to juggle their work and personal schedules since Greyhound’s 9,000 drivers, office and maintenance workers walked off the job March 2.

Greyhound has used replacement drivers to restore more than a third of its service, but most of its efforts have been directed at major stops.

Although limited service is still available in Oxnard, Ventura and Thousand Oaks, stops in Simi Valley and Fillmore have been dropped altogether since the strike began, Greyhound officials said.

“It’s been an inconvenience,” Remley said of the strike. “I didn’t think it would last this long. With a company as big as Greyhound, you would think they would have already solved the problem.”

Before the strike, more than 20 buses a day stopped at the Oxnard depot in the 200 block of East 4th Street, said Jack McCrory, owner of the station. That number was reduced to six per day until this week, when service was expanded to include six buses to Los Angeles and five to Santa Barbara.

Still, schedules are subject to change on a daily basis and buses are often late.

Remley said buses coming from Los Angeles are routinely held up by striking Greyhound workers who stand in front of the vehicles as they prepare to depart.

“It’s rough,” Remley said. “especially for people that take the bus every day.”

Paul Palacio, a passenger from Los Angeles, said he was scheduled to arrive in Ventura at 8:15 a.m. Friday but because of a scheduling change did not get there until 10:15 a.m. Palacio later tried to catch a 12:30 p.m. bus back to Los Angeles, but that bus was delayed two hours, he said.

Bus driver Larry Harper said fewer buses mean more passengers and more delays. He confirmed Remley’s account of striking workers preventing buses in some cities from leaving on time.

“The longer it goes,” Harper said of the strike, “the worse it’s going to get.”

Talks between Greyhound officials and the employees’ union have been stalled, in part because of a number of violent incidents involving buses with passengers aboard.

Federal mediators are trying to arrange separate meetings with the two sides in an attempt to persuade them to resume negotiations over wages and job security.

Remley just shrugged when asked his opinion about the possible outcome of the contractual dispute.

“You can bet the rates are going to go up,” Remley said.