Commuters curse bus strike impacts as concern grows over SkyTrain operations
Impacts from the ongoing bus strike in Metro Vancouver are weighing heavy on other services in the region, and commuters have taken the brunt of it all.
The TransLink bus strike began at 3 am Monday, and bus service and SeaBus service have been stalled as a result, leaving thousands to rely on alternatives to public transit like Uber or passenger ferries.
Negotiations between TransLink subsidiary Coast Mountain Bus Company (CMBC) and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) 4500 failed over the weekend, and the two sides haven’t announced any plans to return to the table.
Statement from Coast Mountain Bus Company President and General Manager Michael McDaniel: pic.twitter.com/3RT6WQ7lbF
— News from TransLink (@TransLinkNews) January 22, 2024
“CUPE 4500 members will have up picket lines at Coast Mountain Bus Company Transit Centres in Vancouver, Surrey, Richmond, Burnaby, Port Coquitlam, and the SeaBus North Vancouver Terminal. Transit users in the Lower Mainland can expect the suspension of all bus and SeaBus services operated by Coast Mountain Bus Company,” the union wrote online Monday.
Unless CMBC and CUPE 4500 reach an agreement within roughly the next 48 hours, there are no guarantees that bus and SeaBus services will resume by Wednesday morning, and public transit riders should continue to try to plan for alternate ways to get around.
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SkyTrain’s Expo Line, Millennium Line, and Canada Line will remain operational for Monday’s service, but that could change this afternoon if other public transit unions declare they won’t cross CUPE 4500 picket lines. TransLink has maintained that that would be illegal but the threat remains.
That uncertainty has sparked major frustrations for commuters, to say the least, and many have taken to social media to lash out over the inconveniences.
“Strikes are the bane of my existence. Just get back to work from the Hollywood strikes and then Vancouver Transit strikes and I have to Uber to work. FFS,” one person wrote.
Strikes are the bane of my existence. Just get back to work from the Hollywood strikes and then Vancouver Transit strikes and I have to Uber to work. Ffs.
— Lillian B. 🌈🖤🧶 (@LillialuvB) January 22, 2024
Others are suggesting the trains should be free to offset the frustrations.
@TransLink if there’s no buses skytrain should be free just saying
— ✨Kels✨ (@KTrench22) January 22, 2024
@TransLink Will monthly pass holders be compensated for the days they paid for but won't get to use?
— Treasa B (@TreasasPhotos) January 22, 2024
Others say they don’t appreciate being a pawn in a wage dispute.
They are going to pay them eventually. Why go through this pantomime at the expense of working people needing to commute.
— Seahawk Mike (@SeahawkMikeR) January 22, 2024
Because the personnel feel that holding the general public hostage is a good tactic
— Doug (@Wolffen5) January 22, 2024
What the f**k? Mid day? Why does the union feel they need to punish customers for issues that are not our fault. Are you really going to strand people at work? Some of us have families to get home to. @TransLink
— Chris Choi (@cbchoi) January 22, 2024
CMBC bus and SeaBus services are expected to resume on Wednesday.
Hey Vancouver, if you could settle the translink strike before February 8, that’d be swell.
— CF (@C_Forrest) January 22, 2024
According to TransLink, “SkyTrain (Expo, Canada Line and Millennium Line), West Coast Express, HandyDART, West Vancouver Blue Bus, Bowen Island Community Shuttles, and Langley Community Shuttles will NOT be affected and are expected to continue to operate.”
However, CUPE 7000 — the separate union representing over 1,000 workers on SkyTrain’s Expo and Millennium lines — issued a second internal memo to their members, indicating that they intend to join CUPE 4500 on the picket lines at the earliest legal opportunity in solidarity if CUPE 4500 does not reach an agreement for the 180 bus operations supervisors it represents.
This means SkyTrain services may also shut down in solidarity.
With files from Kenneth Chan
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