One long-time user of Metro Vancouver’s HandyDART transit service says she hopes mediated talks that began Sunday can bring about the end of a work stoppage that has halted most service for the past six days.
About 600 employees of the door-to-door service for people unable to navigate the conventional transit system have been on strike since Tuesday, bringing an end to all service with the exception of some essential medical trips.
Lynn Johnston says she relies on HandyDART for most of her transportation needs, including attending wound care appointments at Burnaby General Hospital.
She says she’s been taking conventional transit to make those appointments and says navigating multiple buses and the SkyTrain in her wheelchair has been a nightmare.
The fight between the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1724 and employer Transdev Canada centres mostly around pay, with the union arguing its members don’t make as much as others working similar roles elsewhere in Canada.
In a statement issued before the strike started, Transdev said its final offer, which was rejected by employees, represented a 19.2 per cent pay increase by January 2026.
Union local president Joe McCann has said low wages make it difficult to attract and retain employees.
Johnston said she felt immediate disappointment upon learning of the strike, but found the trips she took since the stoppage took effect fell well short of her already low expectations.
Taking a wheelchair on regular transit systems has been a “horrible experience,” said Johnston, recalling a recent occasion when her wheelchair got stuck in the SkyTrain doorway.
“I had to get out of my chair and rely on the kindness of strangers to get my chair unstuck and loaded onto the train without it taking off without me,” Johnston said in a written interview.
HandyDART workers in Metro Vancouver rallied outside Pacific Central Station on Tuesday. As Isaac Phan Nay reports, it’s a start to job action that includes cutting service down to only essential rides.
HandyDART rides provide travellers in her circumstances with smoother and less painful options, she said. She said her heart goes out to the many customers who have been left stranded at home by the strike, but stressed she fully supports the workers in their fight.
“It has been my experience that HandyDART as an organization doesn’t seem to care much about the vulnerable status of its clients … and so I am not at all surprised to hear drivers talk about how little the company cares about them,” she said.
Johnston described the HandyDART drivers she has known as wonderful, pleasant and professional, adding she feels they genuinely care for their clients.
One of those drivers and union member, Ryan Jones, who was picketing outside Pacific Central Station in Vancouver on Sunday, says he hopes the strike ends soon.
“We don’t want to be removing our service from the people who need it,” he told CBC News. “We love the service that we provide to the people…part of what’s rewarding of this job is we get to do nice things for the community.”
But a decent wage is equally important, Jones added.
“We just want to make what other paratransit companies are making and that only seems fair in such a high cost of living environment.”
A 2022 performance review of HandyDART says the service provided more than 960,000 trips that year.