Metro Vancouver’s HandyDart Buses Grind to a Halt

Talks are scheduled Sunday in an attempt to resolve a dispute that shut down the majority of Metro Vancouver HandyDart bus service Tuesday morning when ATU Local 1724 workers walked off the job.

Last week 83 per cent of the union’s 600 members voted against employer Transdev Canada’s final collective bargaining offer and issued a strike notice starting Tuesday.

Passengers who use HandyDart buses to access chemotherapy, renal and multiple sclerosis-related appointments will still be offered regular, door-to-door service during the strike.

All other services have been paused.

ATU Local 1724 represents HandyDart drivers, maintenance workers, road supervisors, trainers and office workers. The union has been on strike since July 3 and members used escalating tactics, like refusing to work overtime or pick up shifts on days off, before walking off the job Tuesday.

HandyDart offers accessible service for people who can’t take conventional public transit without assistance due to physical, sensory or cognitive disabilities. Drivers offer passengers door-to-door service and are trained to work with people with a range of disabilities and mobility aides. Passengers can book a ride up to a week in advance and pay the same fare as users of regular public transit. They will often ride the bus with several other passengers.

Transdev Canada will be meeting with a mediator from the BC Labour Relations Board Sunday.

ATU Local 1724 president Joe McCann said he’s hoping to get negotiations “wrapped up” on Sunday but is “not super optimistic.”

“We hope Transdev got the message when we voted their final offer down and will come to the table with a better offer,” McCann said.

Transdev has been operating HandyDart services since 2018.

McCann said Metro Vancouver HandyDart employees are asking to be paid comparable wages to workers across Canada, noting that Local 1724 members are one of the “lower paid paratransit services” in the country.

McCann previously told The Tyee that Local 1724 members make 30 per cent less than conventional transit workers and 16 per cent less than HandyDart drivers in the Fraser Valley.

A statement issued by Transdev Aug. 29 said its final offer “reaches parity with Central Fraser Valley, the union’s request, on total compensation basis,” and the improvements offered are “over and above the Municipal Pension Plan.”

“We apologize to the community for the public impact of this collective bargaining dispute,” said Transdev Western Canada senior vice-president Emily Watson in the statement. “Our priority remains to reach a fair contract.”

McCann said Local 1724 is also asking for HandyDart services to be brought in-house and managed by TransLink, the public transit operator that runs buses, SkyTrains and the SeaBus in Metro Vancouver, instead of being contracted out to for-profit companies.

“Public is more stable than for-profit. You can attract and retain experienced and qualified workers which is better for the service and better for the community. We can’t keep losing experienced drivers, dispatchers, schedulers to better-paying jobs down the road,” McCann said. “If we’re just a revolving door then it affects the end user: the clients, our riders.”

HandyDart delivers around 25,000 trips in Metro Vancouver every week and is still delivering 18 per cent of those rides to ensure patients get to essential cancer, renal and multiple sclerosis-related appointments, McCann said.

Beth McKellar, chair of the HandyDart Riders’ Alliance, says she supports the strike “wholeheartedly” and hopes the service can be brought in house.

McKellar praised the HandyDart drivers she’s known over her 24 years of using the service and voiced her frustration with Transdev’s reliance on taxi drivers to fill service gaps.

In June 2024 taxi rides made up 24 per cent of all HandyDart trips, according to the latest ridership data from TransLink.

Taxi drivers do not have the same training as HandyDart drivers and don’t always know they’re supposed to offer door-to-door service, walk beside a passenger, help them with mobility devices and help secure them before the ride, McCann said.

“Taxis have a different business model, they need to hustle,” he said. “We need to take care of clients. HandyDart drivers are safer and better for clients.”

McKellar said passengers who relied on HandyDart during the pandemic will remember the feeling of being “tremendously” isolated — and that the strike could bring that feeling back.

“This will not take that long, it will be over soon,” she says. “This is short-term pain for long term gain.”

She says passengers should reach out to their networks of friends, family, neighbours or religious or community groups to ask for rides while they are unable to access HandyDart.

Jonathan Ascencio says the strike has impacted his social life and recovery journey.

Ascencio is a student at Kwantlen Polytechnic University who suffered a stroke in his late 20s and has been using HandyDart for five years to get to physiotherapy appointments, church and his local recreation centre for the gym and pool.

He says he won’t be able to get to his physiotherapy appointments during the strike because the half-hour HandyDart ride between Delta and Surrey would now include three buses and would take three and a half hours one way, he says.

Despite this he says he’s “with the workers 100 per cent.” He praised the agreement that ensures cancer, renal and multiple sclerosis-related patients are still receiving the service.

“These passengers need to be able to access these therapies and medications or they will die,” he said. “That’s how essential this service is and it really highlights its importance.”

Ascencio says past HandyDart strikes have taken 15 weeks.

“I don’t know if I can miss 15 weeks of my therapy,” he added. “I need HandyDart as soon as possible.”

Vancouver Coun. Pete Fry spoke at a rally in support of Local 1724’s strike Tuesday and told The Tyee it was “quite illuminating” to hear from so many passengers how “conscientious and caring” drivers are.

“Disabled people and their frontline caregivers shouldn’t be treated as second-class citizens,” Fry said. “This is an important equity, affordability and accessibility issue. These services are in demand in our city and we’re quickly falling behind in all three categories.”

At some point in their life every person will have mobility issues or know someone who needs to use the paratransit service, Fry added.