SkyTrain riders urged to have backup plan
Talks between union and B.C. Rapid Transit Company go late into night as deadline looms
Note: Contract talks were continuing after deadline. Go to Vancouversun.com/theprovince.com for the latest.
SkyTrain riders face either a confusing and difficult commute or an averted crisis this morning as a three-day system-wide shutdown was scheduled to begin unless a labour deal could be reached in late night talks.
Negotiations between union CUPE 7000, which represents about 900 SkyTrain workers, and employer B.C. Rapid Transit Company continued late into the night on Monday.
Without a deal, the Expo and Millennium lines were to shut down starting 5 a.m. on Tuesday until 5 a.m. Friday, grounding a busy transit system that carries tens of thousands of passengers daily across Vancouver, Surrey, Burnaby, New Westminster, Coquitlam and Port Moody.
“To be very clear, there is no way to replace a system that reliably moves 150,000 people per day each weekday,” TransLink CEO Kevin Desmond said Monday afternoon. “Many people will be left with no other options to get around the region.”
Desmond urged riders to make alternative arrangements. A shutdown will be “extremely disruptive,” and TransLink has limited options to help SkyTrain riders, he said.
Coast Mountain Bus Service is unable to beef up service or set up bus bridges between SkyTrain stations because of labour laws and operational constraints.
TransLink also does not have the capacity to add more trains to the West Coast Express, a commuter rail line that shuttles passengers between Mission and Vancouver.
Any job action would not affect buses, the Canada Line, West Coast Express, SeaBus, or HandyDart service. But a shutdown will affect more than SkyTrain users.
TransLink estimated about 15,000 more vehicles would be on the road for rush hour Tuesday morning if SkyTrain service comes to a halt. The added congestion will put more pressure on roads, as well as lead to overcrowding on buses, the Canada Line and West Coast Express.
Desmond expressed optimism: “I believe both sides in good faith can come together and find a deal that is mutually acceptable — affordable from our standpoint and otherwise acceptable to the workers of CUPE 7000.”
SkyTrain workers have been without a contract since the end of August. Some of the issues include staffing levels, wages, forced overtime and sick-leave policies.
Desmond declined to provide details on how close or far apart the two sides are.
“They’re going to stay at the table as long as they can to try to get a deal,” he said. “Clearly, we’re not there yet.”
Transit revenue and ridership have been affected by the threat of the strike, as well as by the recent job action by bus drivers and maintenance workers, as transit users shifted their habits to avoid uncertainty.
“Even last week after the bus strike was averted, we’ve seen less ridership than we would expect and that means less fare-box revenue,” Desmond said.
In that case, Unifor and Coast Mountain Bus Company reached an agreement past midnight, mere hours before a scheduled three-day bus shutdown.