The power of social media is helping Maple Ridge residents prepare for commuting chaos caused by the labour dispute at TransLink.
Members of the Albion Neighbours Facebook group are offering rides into Vancouver so workers can hook into the SkyTrain system as bus drivers are set to walk off the job completely Wednesday to Friday, leaving thousands without a way of getting to work.
The union representing bus drivers said last week that members won’t be driving Nov. 27 to 29.
One member of the Albion Neighbours group is offering to pick up stranded commuters at Bruce’s Market at 240th Street at 6:30 a.m. and carpool to the SkyTrain station at Grandview and Rupert in Vancouver.
For night-shift workers, another Albion resident is offering rides from the same location at 7 p.m., Sunday to Thursday.
Meanwhile, another Albion resident notes she leaves the area at 7:30 a.m. for Port Coquitlam, to Burnaby, then returns home at 5 p.m.
“This is what a great community is all about,” said one post.
“Awesome, such great people in Maple Ridge,” added another.
Updates about bus service are available at alerts.translink.ca. The company uses its Buzzer blog for updates.
The affected SeaBus sailings Mon Nov 25 are:
— TransLink BC (@TransLink) November 25, 2019
From Lonsdale Quay
❌ 3:10pm
From Waterfront
❌ 3:25pm
For non-service job action updates - https://t.co/Viw4DNrYh1 ^sdp
But one post on Twitter asked TransLink why it’s not tweeting about the strike situation?
@TransLink Why aren't you tweeting the public about the upcoming 3-day shutdown of the bus and seabus and the potential Skytrain strike as well?
— Da'Rok the Kinless (@DaRoktheKinless) November 20, 2019
SkyTrain workers have also voted in favour of a strike, if necessary, but no notice of a strike taking place has been given yet.
Coast Mountain Bus said earlier that it was, “alarmed to learn the union will be taking the drastic step of shutting down Metro Vancouver bus and SeaBus service for three days … as part of its campaign for more money.
“It is completely unacceptable our customers are being dragged into this dispute,” said CMBC president Michael McDaniel.
pmelnychuk@mapleridgenews.com
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