Residents of Squamish, Whistler and Pemberton will finally be able to take the bus again, when transit service resumes next Wednesday.
BC Transit confirmed Friday that buses would be back on the road starting June 22, after transit workers with Unifor Local 114 successfuly ratified a collective agreement.
More than 80 unionized workers had been on the picket lines since Jan. 29 in the dispute with BC Transit contractors Whistler Transit Ltd. and Diversified Transit, which are part of PWTransit Canada. The deal, ratified Tuesday, ended what Unifor said was the longest transit strike in B.C. history.
The Resort Municipality of Whistler and the District of Squamish are offering riders free transit until at least July 3 to “welcome customers back on board and provide time to purchase other pass products.”
BC Transit says Pemberton will also offer free transit, and is still working out an end date.
BC Transit said the delay in getting buses back on the road is a result of refreshing training for drivers to “ensure a safe return to service.”
The bitter strike centred primarily around wages, with workers complaining of a pay gap between Sea-to-Sky operators and their Metro Vancouver and Victoria counterparts.
The five-year agreement reached Tuesday, retroactive to April 2020, will offers wage increases of 1.5, two, three, three and four per cent annually, for a total bump of 13.5 per cent by 2024.