Delays, cancellations during transit strike fluctuating and unpredictable

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – It seems like no two days are the same when it comes to the impact of the Metro Vancouver transit strike.

Talks between Unifor and Coast Mountain Bus Company, which operates Metro Vancouver transit services on behalf of TransLink, reached a tipping point on Nov. 1, leading to the job action by roughly 5,000 Unifor transit drivers, SeaBus operators and mechanics.

They’re asking for improvements to working conditions, wages and benefits.

The strike has seen bus drivers out of uniform, multiple SeaBus cancellations and now bus delays because of rolling overtime bans.

Unifor’s Gavin McGarrigle explains that just like any big company, staffing levels at CMBC change on a day-to-day basis, and that can be hard to keep up with when no one is working overtime.

“Could be vacations, could be illnesses, could be different shift changes. It really just depends on what the schedule is on a given day,” he says.

“Our members, both in maintenance and drivers, are working their full shifts. They’re putting in a full week of work because we don’t want to impact the passengers.”

Jill Drews with TransLink says typically when someone isn’t in, they’d just get someone else to work overtime to fill the gap.

RELATED: No SeaBus sailings cancelled Tuesday but Metro Vancouver transit strike continues

Only now, the union is blocking the company from doing that.

“That means that the bus just can’t run,” she says.

So how can commuters prepare for delays? Maybe they can’t.

“That just really depends on how many operators CMBC is short on and how many buses they’re short on, and we won’t know until the morning of,” Drews says.

Transport Canada requires the SeaBus have six crew members on board for every sailing, which means even a single absence can impact how many sailings there are.

“With the overtime ban right now we’d be unable to replace that person, so that means the bus can’t sail. We won’t know those sorts of levels of detail until the day of,” Drews says.

There were no cancelled SeaBus sailings on Tuesday, though some bus routes have been running a little less frequently than normal.

Greater impacts will likely be felt on Wednesday when the overtime ban for bus drivers kicks in again. They’re refusing overtime on Monday, Wednesday and Friday this week.