SeaBus service first to be affected by transit strike: Union
Credit to Author: Jennifer Saltman| Date: Fri, 01 Nov 2019 01:32:25 +0000
When Metro Vancouver transit workers go on strike Friday, the first thing commuters will notice is that SeaBus service will likely be cut back by one boat for the afternoon rush.
Contract talks between Coast Mountain Bus Company (CMBC) and Unifor, the union that represents about 5,000 bus operators, maintenance workers and SeaBus employees broke off Thursday.
Earlier in the week, the union announced that if a tentative deal wasn’t reached by 8 a.m. on Friday, strike action would begin with a ban on uniforms by transit operators, and the company’s technicians and skilled-trades workers refusing to work overtime.
“The greatest impact will be at SeaBus,” said Mike Smith, president of Unifor Local 2200, which represents bus maintenance staff and SeaBus workers. “Probably right off the bat we’ll probably be down a boat. They do not have the people to run the boats.”
SeaBus provides service between Downtown Vancouver and the North Shore, and this summer TransLink added a third vessel, which had been used as a spare, into the rotation to provide more service during peak periods. Smith said the morning rush hour will look the same, but by the afternoon that third boat will be gone because every boat must have an engineer on board, and engineers work OT every day because there is a shortage of skilled workers.
“There is no contingency plan for that either,” Smith said.
The SeaBus likely will be affected first by the transit strike.
That means the SeaBus will be back to 15-minute intervals instead of 10 minutes, and people will be waiting to get on a crowded boat.
“There’s a lot more people riding that boat than there ever has been,” Smith said. “They’re going to get home — it’ll just be a lot longer.”
Smith said the overtime ban for maintenance workers won’t be noticed right away, but it will gradually increase pressure on the system. Mechanics work “sporadic overtime” to catch up on overdue work, like fixing buses that have broken down or conducting mandated vehicle inspections that have backed up, and without OT there will be fewer buses available.
“The buses will be slower impact — not smaller but slower,” Smith said. “The longer this goes on, the less buses will be on the road because it will back up; the maintenance will back up.”
TransLink spokesperson Jillian Drews said it’s not possible to tell customers which routes and runs will be cancelled.
“Reduced maintenance will shrink the fleet size. It’s fair to say there will be service reduction,” said Drews in an email.
Bus scheduling will be affected by the transit strike.
Unifor national president Jerry Dias said the goal is a fair contract that ensures members are working under safe and reasonable conditions.
“To minimize the disruption to the public while still ramping up pressure on the employer, we have chosen a measured level of strike action in the first phase,” he said in a statement.
Gavin McGarrigle, Unifor’s western regional director, said Wednesday the union is asking for measures that would reduce overcrowding, service increases and more reasonable break times for its members. Passengers are packing onto buses “like sardines” or can’t board buses because they’re too crowded, while the tense environments mean drivers are more likely to be subjected to violent outbursts like one recorded on video this week of a passenger kicking a door, then spitting on a driver, he said.
Drivers complain that they often don’t get breaks from driving because increasing traffic congestion makes it hard to stay on schedule.
Coast Mountain said Thursday that it’s “negotiating in good faith” and has made fair and reasonable offers. In a prepared statement the company said if the union proceeds with job action, it will only punish transit users in Metro Vancouver.
“Without maintenance overtime, we will see bus and SeaBus service cancellations affecting customers,” said CMBC president Michael McDaniel.
He said the company has been bargaining with the union since Aug. 1 but the union has refused to participate in third-party mediation.
“CMBC is now back at the table and our current offer includes significantly better wages and benefits, and addresses working conditions,” said McDaniel. “This package would be greater than most other public sector settlements in B.C. I urge the union to hold off on job action until a deal is done.”
The company said many services will not be affected by the strike, including SkyTrain, West Coast Express, HandyDart, the West Vancouver Blue Bus and other contracted services.
If it comes to a full shutdown, like the one that happened in 2001, experts say the labour dispute could have significant consequences for an urban area that relies heavily on transit.
“If we do have a serious disruption that lasts an extended period, it’s going to set back the progress that has happened to shift people to more sustainable urban mobility options here in Vancouver,” said Anthony Perl, professor of urban studies and political science at Simon Fraser University.
Public transit plays an increasingly important role in the regional transportation network as the population grows and the space for new roads and infrastructure doesn’t, he said.
Ridership reached an all-time high in 2018. The number of boardings increased more than seven per cent across the system, representing the largest ever annual increase in transit use.
Buses are the most widely used transit service in the region, with an average of 20 million boardings per month, or 262 million boardings last year. Almost two-thirds of all transit journeys are by bus, and almost three-quarters of transit journeys include a bus connection. Bus ridership grew by eight per cent last year.
Mayor Mike Little of the District of North Vancouver said he and other regional mayors have been pushing for increased transit funding: “People are becoming more comfortable with relying upon the service but it’s really, really stressed.”
• Transit users are being advised to sign up for transit alerts at translink.ca and to follow @TransLink on Twitter.
— With files from David Carrigg and The Canadian Press
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