There will be no bus strike this year in Greater Vancouver, after 3,800 bus drivers and maintenance workers who operate the Coast Mountain Bus Company ratified a new contract.

The members of the Canadian Auto Workers union voted 63 per cent in favour of the four-year deal, which expires in 2011 and gives the workers wage increases of three per cent a year, it was announced Wednesday.

The CAW complains that there aren't enough buses on the road to keep up with passenger demand, putting its members under a lot of stress.
(CBC)

The bus company had faced the threat of a strike after talks collapsed last week, but the two sides were able to work out an agreement without a strike vote being held.
 
Despite the ratification, CAW spokesman Jim Houlihan said there are still serious problems with the transit system, which he said is "just a mess."

One-third of bus routes on the Lower Mainland were identified as overcrowded two years ago and a three-year plan was developed to deal with the problem, but there just aren't enough buses on the road, Houlihan said.

Houlihan said his members are under tremendous stress, because bus service has not kept up with increased ridership.

"We are 300 to 400 buses short, ridership is through the roof and [there are] zero spares in our system, and [there are] not enough buses on the way.

"We are getting some buses, but not near enough to meet that huge growth in demand. And so those are very real issues facing our members every day."

He noted that the union negotiates with the company, but it's TransLink — the governing transit authority, which wasn't at the table — controlling the funding.

"Unfortunately we are sitting across the table with an employer bargaining a contract that has virtually no influence or control over how many buses or service hours they get to put on the road. That is totally determined by TransLink, who is not our employer."