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Bus drivers reach deal after one-day strike Blue Buses back on road, union to vote Thursday
JANE SEYD jseyd@nsnews.com
Buses in West Vancouver were back on the roads Tuesday morning, following a one-day strike on Monday that left 18,000 regular Blue Bus riders scrambling for other ways to get to their destinations.
The union representing West Vancouver’s bus drivers and mechanics announced buses would be back on the roads after the two sides in the contract dispute reached a tentative deal Monday evening. Picket lines at West Vancouver’s bus depot came down Monday night. No details were available about the deal, although sticking points in the talks over the past two months have centred on benefits for union workers. “It came to a satisfactory ending for both parties,” said Geoff Devlin, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 134. Devlin said he is recommending that union members accept the deal. That ratification vote is expected on Thursday. Bus service in West Vancouver ground to a halt Monday as unionized bus drivers staged a full-scale strike. The sudden stop in service Monday morning left many would-be passengers stranded. Nanaimo resident Karen Dibblee was heading home from participating in a half-marathon in Vancouver Monday morning and was caught off-guard by the strike. She took a cab from Park
West Vancouver Blue Bus drivers and mechanics set up picket lines around the municipality’s transit yard at 221 Lloyd Ave. in North Vancouver Monday as the union staged a one-day strike. PHOTO MIKE WAKEFIELD Royal to the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal at a cost of $32. Both taxi cabs and private shuttle buses offering to take passengers downtown for a premium price did a brisk trade at the ferry terminal Monday. Beth Stewart, a 79-yearold resident of the Kiwanis assisted living home in West Vancouver, said the Blue Bus
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Split CNV council gives Hollyburn tower approval JEREMY SHEPHERD jshepherd@nsnews.com
Tower power prevailed in the City of North Vancouver Monday, as council approved a 187-foot, 144-unit rental project in Central Lonsdale. The 1301-1333 Lonsdale
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Avenue building is 66 feet higher than what was laid out in the official community plan – a sore spot for many who signed a petition opposing the project. But while the petition drew 361 signatures, 840 hopefuls signed a wait-list for Hollyburn Properties’ previous Central Lonsdale development, noted
Coun. Holly Back. “I’m afraid my heart goes out to the people who need housing,” she said. Addressing concerns about neighbourhood gridlock, Back said she anticipated increased transit service from TransLink. “This building has public transit right at its front door. Well, it doesn’t get better than that.”
Coun. Pam Bookham disagreed. North Vancouver’s has a 0.4 per cent vacancy rate but Bookham contended the “small, geographically constrained” community couldn’t be expected to fill the affordable housing void left by senior levels of government.
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