Ottawa's striking transit drivers, mechanics and dispatchers on Saturday voted in favour of binding arbitration to settle a strike that began Dec. 10. The vote means limited transit service will resume Monday morning.

Members from the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 279 voted 95 per cent in support of the option to end the long-running dispute. The vote followed Ottawa city council's unanimous approval of binding arbitration on Friday.

Ottawa radio station CFRA quoted company sources as saying mechanics began returning to work Saturday to start getting some buses ready for a return to service this Thursday.

OC Transpo said train service will resume Monday, but the company said on Friday that buses won't be running again until Feb. 9 and that "full service levels may not return until several weeks after service begins."

People who bought December bus passes will be able to use them in February, OC Transpo general manager Alain Mercier says.

The company is offering other incentives to lure transit riders back on the bus:

• All train and bus service will be free until Feb. 15.
• That service will be free on weekends until the end of February.
• Day passes will be discounted to $5 instead of $7 until the end of February.
• Seniors will be able to ride for free every Wednesday throughout the rest of 2009.

The ATU's international branch vice-president, Randy Graham, says his members were willing to keep garages open around the clock until service resumes.

The agreement to let an arbitrator determine a contract came Thursday, a day after the federal government said it was prepared to legislate an end to the nearly two-month strike.

Talks between the city and the union had reached an impasse after repeated breakdowns in negotiations.

Major issues in the dispute included wages and work schedules.

A debate in the House of Commons on the back-to-work legislation was cancelled after word of the deal was released.

Some commuters turned off transit

The strike by about 2,300 workers had forced people in Ottawa to rely on car pooling or walking long distances in freezing temperatures to get around.

Some transit users say they bought cars and won't be taking the bus as often in future.

Traffic chaos, road rage and overfilled parking lots became a fact of life around Parliament Hill during the strike. A 90-minute wait for taxis became the norm.

Some shops were shuttered as employees suddenly stopped showing up for work, suburban customers couldn't reach the downtown core, and owners opted to stay home instead of commuting.

With files from the Canadian Press