Expect scattered delays on Metro Vancouver bus routes Friday, TransLink warns, as job action escalates

Commuters huddled in the rain at bus stops across Metro Vancouver will likely be waiting longer than usual for their bus during rush hourFriday evening, withdrivers nowrefusing overtime as part of escalating job action.

TransLink said service will be significantly affected across the region throughout the day, most severely in Vancouver. Dozens of bus trips were cancelled in the city alone Fridaymorning.

Bus driver unavailability means buses are running less frequently. Service is being further hampered by a lack of available vehicles due to maintenance workers also refusing to pull overtime in order to keepbuses in shape.

Buses that are running may be overcrowded.

Unifor, the union representing 5,000 Coast Mountain Bus Company workers, saidtheban on overtime for bus drivers could force delays or cancellations on as manyas 15 per cent of bus routes across the Lower Mainland.

TransLink said commuters can check on delays for their route by checking transit alerts.

"We expect Vancouver is going to be hardest hit," TransLink spokesperson Ben Murphytold CBC's The Early Edition on Friday morning.

"We want to ensure that anyone travelling in and out of Vancouver signs up for transit alerts ... to make sure that they're able to get the latest information available because we are expecting that there will be significant inconveniences there."

By Friday evening there were close to 300 alerts posted on TransLink's website, the majority of them related to bus cancellations and delays.

The ban was felt in downtown Vancouver late Thursday when a bus brought down trolley wires at a busy intersection. The crossing was closed until early Friday when maintenance crews becameavailable to effectrepairs.

Ten more SeaBus sailings are also cancelled Friday:

• The 7:20 a.m., 9a.m., 4:10 p.m., 7:32 p.m., 8:47 p.m.sailings from Lonsdale Quay.
• The 7:35 a.m., 9:15 a.m., 4:25 p.m., 7:46 p.m.and 9:01 p.m. sailings from Waterfront.

The job action by Unifor members began Nov. 1 with an overtime ban by mechanics that prompted the almost immediate cancellation of numerous SeaBus sailings and delays or cancellations on dozens of bus routes.

"If I'm not busing I'm going to have to walk for 40 minutes so that definitely affects [my commute]for sure," said Emily Carr student Tenaya Fogelman, who hopes the situation will be resolved quickly.

UBC student Areeb Iqbelalso expressed his concerns, noting delays and cancellations can have a big impact on students. "I don't even have my licence," he said.

A key issue in the dispute, Unifor said, is a $3-per-hour wage disparity between mechanics who maintain buses and mechanics in a different union doing the same job on SkyTrain cars.

"[They're] still trying to pretend that TransLink is made up of multiple companies instead of one enterprise so they don't pay the skilled trades workers at Coast Mountain anywhere close to what they pay them at SkyTrain," Uniforwestern director Gavin McGarriglesaid Friday.

"There's simply no justification for not paying them the same as other skilled trades workers within TransLink. They're the same qualifications."

CMBC said Thursdayit offered an enhanced proposal for working conditions, but wage demands over the increases it has already offered would come at the expense of customer service and it's time for the union to compromise.

The company said itsoffer also includedpay increases of $6,100 annually on the top wage for drivers over the next four years, and $10,000 for skilled trades. The bumpwould bring the top annual wages to $69,900 for drivers and $88,000 for skilled trades.

Murphy saidcompany'soffer"is well in excess of public sector settlements in British Columbiatoday."

The TransLink spokesperson said Metro Vancouver transit drivers make less than those in Toronto "due to the market conditions ... and demand" in the western region. The spokesperson noted bus drivers in other Canadian cities like Victoria, Ottawa and Montreal make less than those in Metro Vancouver.

Unifor saidit will continue its ban on overtime for drivers on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays until a contract is reached.

SkyTrain negotiations

Unifor's job action is not the only transit problem facing Metro Vancouver commuters.

Talks between CUPE Local 7000 and the B.C. Rapid Transit Company, which handles SkyTrain service on the Expo and Millennium lines, collapsed Tuesday.

The union said workers have been without a contract since August.

Wages and staffing levels are several of the items on the table.

CUPE Local 7000 has not yet conducted a strike vote, so job action is not imminent.Any action would not affect the Canada Line between Vancouver and Richmond, or the West Coast Express commuter train between Vancouver and the Fraser Valley.

Canada Line and West Coast Express workers are represented by other unions.