English
The Coast Mountain Bus Company dispute is settled. On September 21, 2026, members of Unifor Locals 111 and 2200 voted 68% to ratify a new collective agreement, lifting the September 23 strike deadline that would have stopped bus and SeaBus service across Metro Vancouver and ending all job action. The deal adds a Letter of Understanding on running time, recovery time and electronic service sheets, the core issues for operators in this round; if either side fails to follow it, the matter goes straight to the mediator. This page keeps the official announcements, with dates and links, and explains what a future dispute would and would not affect.
How it got here: bargaining opened in February 2026; in May, members gave a 99.35% strike mandate; escalated job action began on September 2 and a strike was set for September 23, two days after the ratification vote that called it off.
Status · Agreement reached
A new agreement is in place, so no strike or job action is under way. Buses and SeaBus run their normal schedules; TransLink's alerts cover everyday detours.
Read automatically from official sources · updated Oct 4, 2026 at 9:01 AM Pacific. Nothing on this page is our own guess about service levels.
Latest official announcements
Unifor · Sep 22, 2026
Coast Mountain Bus Company transit workers ratify new collective agreement, strike averted
Coast Mountain Bus Company transit workers ratify new collective agreement, strike averted September 21, 2026 Share Main Image Image VANCOUVER – Members of Unifor Locals 111 and 2200 have voted to ratify a new collective agreement with Coast Mountain Bus Company, averting a strike that would have stopped bus and SeaBus service across Metr
Sources: Unifor, TransLink, Government of B.C. For real-time service, TransLink's own alerts page is the authority.
Who is involved, and what they actually run
Unifor Local 111 represents transit operators — the people driving the buses. Unifor Local 2200 represents skilled trades, service staff and SeaBus crews. Together they bargain with Coast Mountain Bus Company, the TransLink subsidiary responsible for the bus network and the SeaBus.
Everything else in the system has a different operator: the Expo and Millennium Lines (British Columbia Rapid Transit Company), the Canada Line (ProTrans BC), West Coast Express and HandyDART. That is why a bus dispute and a rail shutdown are not the same event, and why the airport train keeps running.
If buses ever stop: a plan that still works
Stay on the rail spine. Between Waterfront, Yaletown, Olympic Village, Broadway–City Hall, Commercial–Broadway, Metrotown, New Westminster and Surrey Central, SkyTrain alone reaches most of what a visitor came for. Base your days around stations rather than bus stops.
Downtown is walkable. Canada Place to Yaletown is about 20 minutes on foot; Gastown to Stanley Park's entrance about 25. The dense part of the city is roughly 3 km across — a bus stoppage is an inconvenience there, not a trap.
The hard cases are the North Shore and the beaches. Grouse Mountain, Deep Cove, Lynn Canyon, Kitsilano and UBC are bus-dependent. If a stoppage is announced, move those days to rail-reachable plans and keep them for later in your trip.
Budget for the fallback. Ride-hailing and taxis surge hard the moment transit news breaks; bike share and walking do not. If you were planning to rent a car anyway, a strike week is the week to do it — but read our parking costs first, because downtown parking is where that plan gets expensive.
More detail on fares, passes and how the system fits together: Getting Around Vancouver · route finder · downtown parking costs · today's road closures.
Questions people are actually asking
Is there a bus strike in Vancouver right now?
No. Unifor Locals 111 and 2200 ratified a new collective agreement with Coast Mountain Bus Company on September 21, 2026, with 68% in favour. The strike set for September 23 was called off and all job action ended, so buses and SeaBus run their normal schedules.
Is the SkyTrain affected by the bus strike?
No. The dispute is with Coast Mountain Bus Company. The Expo and Millennium Lines are run by British Columbia Rapid Transit Company and the Canada Line by ProTrans BC — different employers, different contracts. A CMBC job action does not stop SkyTrain.
Can I still get to Vancouver airport?
Yes. The Canada Line runs from YVR–Airport station straight into downtown Vancouver and is not part of this dispute. If you are staying anywhere within walking distance of a Canada Line station, your airport trip is unaffected even in a full bus stoppage.
Which services would stop if there is a full strike?
Coast Mountain Bus Company operates the conventional bus network and the SeaBus, so those are the services at risk. HandyDART and West Coast Express are operated by other companies.
What is a uniform ban?
The mildest form of job action: employees report for their normal shifts but out of uniform. Routes, schedules and fares are unchanged — you may simply notice drivers in street clothes.
How will I know before I travel?
Watch the announcements above and TransLink's own alerts. A legal full withdrawal of service in British Columbia requires 72 hours' written notice, so a total shutdown does not appear without warning.
For journalists & editors
Canonical page: fanvancouver.com/vancouver/transit-strike/
Machine-readable version of the announcements below, with source URLs and publication dates: /api/fv_transit_status.json. Rebuilt every 30 minutes.
Every item is quoted from Unifor, TransLink or the Government of B.C. and linked to the original — we publish no service status of our own. Always confirm with the parties before publishing.
