Should Metro Vancouver public transit be declared an essential service?

TransLink's trolley bus and SkyTrain Expo Line. (EB Adventure Photography/Shutterstock)

What currently constitutes an “essential service” in British Columbia?

The list of services, sectors, and industries deemed to be an essential service was previously temporarily drastically expanded at the height of the pandemic.

According to the provincial government’s Labour Relations Code, if the BC Minister of Labour “considers that a dispute poses a threat to the health, safety or welfare of the residents of British Columbia, the minister may direct the board to designate as essential services those facilities, productions and services that the board considers necessary or essential to prevent immediate and serious danger to the health, safety or welfare of the residents of British Columbia.”

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As made clear earlier this week, public transit services in Metro Vancouver are currently not considered an essential service, which would otherwise ensure the continuity of the service without major disruptions. Generally, healthcare, law enforcement, and fire rescue services are perceived to be the most essential of services.

BC Ferries has been deemed an essential transportation service for over 20 years after a binding arbitration decision in 2003 ended a highly disruptive strike and removed the ability for workers to legally strike. The coastal ferry system is considered an extension of the highway system and, therefore, the overwhelming key link for the movement of people, goods, and services for many coastal communities, especially those without road access.

In 2011, Ontario’s provincial government ended the threat of labour disruptions on the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) by approving legislation that bans the ability of workers to legally strike. But the legislation’s life ended in 2023, when an Ontario judge overturned the legislation by ruling that declaring the TTC as an essential service is unconstitutional.

Given this week’s Metro Vancouver public transit strike’s immense impacts on hundreds of thousands of people, the local economy, and the immense traffic gridlock associated with higher private car usage, it has renewed suggestions that TransLink’s system should carry such a designation to avoid service shutdowns due to labour disputes.

Since starting this past Monday, at the time of writing, an online petition has amassed over 2,000 signatures calling for public transit buses to be at least designated as an essential service.

“I am a resident of Surrey, BC who relies heavily on public buses for my daily commute to work, visiting my girlfriend, friends and family. Without buses, I am virtually immobile. This is not just my story but the reality of many citizens in our community who depend on this service every day,” wrote Kevin Neath, who initiated the petition.

“Yet despite its importance to so many lives, bus service is not currently recognized as an essential service by our local government. This lack of recognition leaves us vulnerable during strikes or other disruptions that could leave thousands stranded without any alternative means of transport.”

BC United leader Kevin Falcon has already indicated that he supports the designation, which would be made if his party were to form government.

“Frankly, these are essential services. People use transit to get to work, to get to school, to get to doctors’ appointments — this is not something that should be getting in the way and interrupting the public. And to just stand back like the government is currently doing and say, ‘We’re taking a completely hands-off approach,’ is not acceptable,” Falcon told Daily Hive Urbanized.

“This is not about the workers themselves; it’s about a failure of government to make sure they are leading and make sure we can get these settlements done well in advance of the expiration of contracts, so we don’t run into this situation. I’m just asking this government to please show leadership on this issue and don’t let this expand to cause chaos in the Lower Mainland next.”

In 2001, his governing party enacted back-to-work legislation to end a three-month-long strike that shut down TransLink’s bus and SeaBus services.

Since the pandemic, BC has experienced some of its longest-running public transit disruptions due to job action, specifically the 136-day shutdown of BC Transit’s Sea to Sky Corridor services in Squamish, Whistler, and Pemberton until June 2022 and the 124-day shutdown of BC Transit’s services in the Fraser Valley until July 2023. However, both regions are of course much less reliant on public transit.

The shutdown of TransLink’s bus and SeaBus services due to 180 striking CMBC supervisors is the first major shutdown of Metro Vancouver public transit services since the 2001 strike.

But since the 2001 strike, public transit usage in Metro Vancouver has soared, with many more residents now depending on the services to get around as their main mode of transportation. It has become more integrated into the economy and everyday life.

Every day, on average, roughly one million boardings are recorded on TransLink’s public transit system across Metro Vancouver. Out of these volumes, 62% use the buses, 26% use the combined SkyTrain Expo and Millennium lines, 10% use SkyTrain Canada Line, 1% use SeaBus, and a fraction of a percentage use West Coast Express.

This past weekend, ahead of the shutdown of bus and SeaBus services, Surrey Board of Trade President and CEO Anita Huberman also suggested the provincial government should intervene to “ensure swift resolution and to ensure that TransLink services are prioritized as critical services that need to continue so that our economy isn’t halted.”

So far, the provincial government has come short of declaring TransLink to be an essential service to end the strike.

Yesterday, BC Labour Minister Harry Bains mandated a special mediation process with Vince Ready for up to six days, and if an agreement cannot be reached between the union and employer, the mediator will issue non-binding recommendations, which the unions and employers will have five days to accept or reject. The union has threatened to shut down bus and SeaBus services for 72 hours starting on February 3 if an agreement cannot be reached during the mediation process through February 2, which could potentially also lead to an expanded job action impacting other services, such as SkyTrain.

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