BC Transit Services Note

Transit service in BC

Background facts

  1. Translink is the Vancouver and lower mainland transit company.

    • Translink is a statutory authority (not a Crown Corp) that is run independent from the government, but under legislation.
    • Translink owns Coast Mountain Bus Company

  2. BC Transit (BC Crown Corporation) community services are contracted out in all except Victoria.

    • Contractors include First Canada (Transdev) and PWTransit.
  3. BC Transit funding for contractors' wages is tied to the provincial mandate (historically 1.5%-3%).
  4. Translink is not an agency of the government, so Coast Mountain Bus Company (CMBC) is not tied to the provincial wage mandate. As such, there has been higher wage growth for CMBC than BC Transit.
  5. BC Transit's Victoria transit is also not tied to the provincial mandate. And has higher wage growth matching Coast Mountain Bus Company.

Result: wage disparity between workers at directly owned and contracted services.

Standing union demand: wage parity with CMBC for all service.

Note: BC has successorship rights that apply to transit.

TransLink

Statutory authority named South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority.

The authority is not an agent of the government, is independent in its operations, but operates under public legislation.

Created in 1999.

Updated legislation and structure in 2007 to further privatize the company. 30 mayors of communities Translink operate a board. However, operations are carried out through a commissioner and a government-appointed board of professionals.

Purpose is to coordinate and provide transit service through contractors, its operating companies and subsidiaries.

It also has ownership over much of the infrastructure it operates on.

Subsidiaries included

  • Coast Mountain Bus Company
  • British Columbia Rapid Transit Company Ltd. (SkyTrain)
  • West Coast Express Ltd.
  • Metro Vancouver Transit Police

Coast Mountain Bus Company (CMBS)

Three year deal signed in 2023 for:

  • 3700 bus operators (Unifor 111)
  • 1100 maintenance employees (Unifor 2200)

CUPE Locals at CMBS:

  • 180 CMBS transit supervisors (CUPE 4500)
  • 1000 SkyTrain’s Expo and Millennium lines (CUPE 7000). Five year deal signed in 2023.

Wholly owned subsidiary of the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority (Translink).

CMBS operates bus services in the Lower Mainland of BC including Metro Vancouver and much of the Fraser Valley. This includes the 99 B-Line which is the busiest bus route in North America.

  • 220 bus routes
  • 1 ferry
  • 6 Transit hubs
  • 1,451 buses
  • 4 ferries

BCTransit

BC Transit is a provincial Crown and its contracting decisions are quasi-independent from the provincial government and local councils they operate in.

Fraser Valley

  • CUPE

    • CUPE Rep: Ryan Royce
  • First Canada (Transdev)

  • Bargaining

    1. Last round started in 2020
    2. Union demand: parity with CMBC
    3. Strike

    4. Vince Ready mediator

      • Recommendations released July 15, 2023
    5. Settled on the Ready recommendations.

Ready Recommendations:

  1. Substantial wage increase.
  2. Wage parity with other smaller community operators across BC Transit, but not CMBC.
  3. "Bus is a bus", meaning all work on and in any size bus should be compensated the same.
  4. Includes handyDART operators.

Ready wage recommendation:

  • 2022:

    • handyDART: $24.56

  • 2025

    • handyDART: $37.15
    • Mechanics: $53.87

Additional funding from the province was provided to make-up the difference.

Whistler/Squamish, Sea to Sky Region

  • First Canada (Transdev)
  • handyDART

  • Unifor 114

    • operators, mechanics, dispatchers
  • Community Shuttle

Hybrid system of Community Shuttle and Handy Dart where handyDART make the same as other operators.

Campaign: Unifor highlighted problems with domestic and foreign third party companies operating public transit in BC. The union’s concerns were voiced in person to the Provincial and Municipal governments and to the general public through media reporting and interviews.

  • Vince Ready mediator
  • All other Transit groups ratified agreements that were based on the wages as outlined by Ready.
  • More so, most of the Provincial Government agreements with various unions were based on similar wages.

Victoria Transit

  • Unifor 333 BC

  • Handy Dart

    • operators, mechanics and dispatchers
    • First Canada
    • tentative agreement: June 28, 2023
    • Ratified: July 8, 2023

Wages:

  • 2022:

    • handyDART$27.55

  • 2025:

    • handyDART: $30.90
    • Mechanics: $44.97

Note: mechanics do not work on conventional diesel coaches

Cowichan Valley Transit (including Duncan)

Contracts with BC Transit managed by Cowichan Valley Regional District CVRD.

CVRD is run by a 14 member board appointed from the regional communities.

  • First Canada (Transdev)
  • handyDART: Unifor 333-BC
  • Cowichan Valley Transit (standard bus): Unifor 114

<2025-01-22 Wed>

Signed off on the global order over essential services. Open to mediation.

  • Victoria HandyDart (333)
  • Cowichan Valley, Vancouver Island (114)
  • 114: The 44 Unifor members work as transit operators, cleaners and mechanics. Mechanics operate on 333 HandyDart buses.
  • 333: 3 members in HandyDart
  • Route Map
Transit strike affected communities

Cowichan Region includes the following municipalities and communities:

Municipalities
  • City of Duncan
  • District of North Cowichan
  • Town of Ladysmith
  • Town of Lake Cowichan
Communities
  • Youbou
  • Meade Creek
  • Malahat
  • Mill Bay
  • Shawnigan Lake
  • Cobble Hill
  • Cowichan Bay
  • Cowichan Station
  • Glenora
  • Sahtlam
  • Cowichan Lake South
  • Skutz Falls
  • Gulf Islands
  • Saltair
  • Diamond
  • North Oyster
Local media
  1. The Discourse: https://thediscourse.ca/cowichan-valley
  2. 89.7 SunFM and https://MyCowichanvalleynow.com
  3. IndigiNews.com Cowichan section
  4. Gulf Island radio: https://www.chir.fm/
  5. Cowichan Valley Citizen
  6. Ladysmith Chemainus Chronicle
  7. Lake Cowichan Gazette
  8. Chemainus Valley Courier
  9. Victoria News

Kamloops and Whistler

Vernon

Cowichan Valley

Funding mechanism for BC Transit

  • BC Transit finances the base funding for the system
  • Local councils give money to BC Transit to continue operating in their community and/or to expand specific services.
  • Other supplementary costs covered by the regions.

The union's call is:

  1. For more public money to flow to PWTransit to pay our workers a fair wage.
  2. Money could come from the province and/or the local council.

There is precedent for this to happen. Recent negotiations, strike, and mediator Ready's recommendations for Fraser Valley. CUPE vs. First Canada (Transdev).

The BC government provides BC Transit an allocation in the budget for providing services. This allocation is significant, but it has not grown to match the growth in costs for a long time.

PWTransit

Parent Company: Student Transportation America (STA)

STA owned by:

  • Caisse in Quebec (pension fund)
  • Ullico (insurance company)

Corporate structure:

  • STA

    • Student Transportation of Canada

      • PWTransit

STA is a large conglomerate of private transport companies.

STA purchased PWTransit for its assets and to compete with Transdev which just purchased First Canada.

PWTransit is contracted to BC Transit.

Local 114: PWTransit Comox Valley Labour Dispute

Current striking with the exception of the handyDART accessible services.

  • Employer: PWTransit
  • Locations: Campbell River and Comox Valley

  • Brands:

    • BC Transit buses
    • handy Dart – accessible bus service

Local 114 represents:

  • Operators
  • Maintenance
  • Cleaners/Custodial

City Council

  • Meeting schedule
  • Comox Town Hall, 1809 Beaufort Avenue
  • phone: 250-339-2202
  • town@comox.ca
  • council@comox.ca
Name email
Mayor: Nicole Minions nminions@comox.ca
Maureen Swift mswift@comox.ca
Dr. Jonathan Kerr jkerr@comox.ca
Chris Haslett chaslett@comox.ca
Ken Grant kgrant@comox.ca
Jenn Meilleur jmeilleur@comox.ca
Steve Blacklock sblacklock@comox.ca

Route Stops

Malls

  • Comox Mall

    • 215 Port Augusta Street
    • Comox, BC V9M 3M9
    • Tel: 250-941-0054
    • Fax: 250-941-5116

  • Driftwood Mall

    • 2751 Cliffe Avenue, Courtenay, BC V9N 2L8
    • Administration Office | Mon – Fri 8:30 am – 5 pm
    • Louise Martin, Assistant Property Manager
    • Phone: 250.338.1071 Ext 1
    • Email: louise.martin@bentallgreenoak.com
    • Fax: 250-338-5882

Airport

  • Website
  • (250) 890-0829
  • 1250 Knight Road, Comox, BC
  • Airlines: Air Canada, Pacific Coastal, WestJet

Union Bay Shuttle to Little River Ferry

Aquatic Centre

Schools

Schools in the area seem to rely on transit quite a bit for higher-level schools.

Comox Valley Lifelong Learning Centre

  • The Comox Valley Transit Service bus line that services the area is Route 8: Downtown/Anfield Centre.
  • 1507A McPhee Avenue, Courtenay, British Columbia V9N 3A6
  • info@cvllc.ca
  • 250 338 9906

North Island College

  • 1-800-715-0914 (toll-free in Canada)
  • questions@nic.bc.ca

  • Faculty association

    • North Island College Faculty Association
    • c/o North Island College
    • 2300 Ryan Road
    • Courtenay, BC V9N 8N6
    • Jen Wrye, President: (250)334-5030