One of the unions representing TransLink employees is pushing back on the transit agency’s plans to reduce service due to revenue shortages resulting from a massive drop in ridership related to the coronavirus pandemic.

Speaking with CKNW on Mornings with Simi, Unifor western regional director Gavin McGarrigle said TransLink came to the union with a number of potential paths forward.

“They’ve contacted us and given us a range of options that they’re looking at, but one of the options I heard was cuts as high as 70 per cent,” McGarrigle said.

The union says it’s worried about how essential service workers who rely on public transit would be impacted by deep cuts.

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“We’re in discussions with the employer. We’ve made the point to them that it doesn’t make sense, we’ve made the point to provincial officials it doesn’t make sense and we’re asking them to sort it out,” McGarrigle said.

The physical-distancing measures that are being implemented on TransLink buses are also complicating the situation by reducing the number of passengers each one can carry, McGarrigle explained.

“People are getting into arguments with each other at the lineups because when they see buses that are only a third full going by and they pass them up two or three times, obviously, there’s a lot of tension to get on the bus,” he said.

TransLink has already taken a portion of its fleet off the road because it was not equipped for rear-door boarding, just one of the measures in place to promote physical distancing on public transit.

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