TransLink’s Coast Mountain Bus Company and the unions representing about 5,000 transit workers across Metro Vancouver have reached a tentative deal.

The unions also represent maintenance and service workers.

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Coast Mountain Bus Company is TransLink’s largest operating company, responsible for bus service in Vancouver and its neighbouring municipalities.

The agreement prevents a strike from bus drivers and SeaBus operators, as they overwhelmingly voted in favour of the job action last month.

The unions, Unifor Locals 111 and 2200, said on Monday that the deal includes increased wages and improved working conditions and benefits.

The bargaining table was mediated by Trevor Sones.

The document still needs to be ratified by both sides.

“This agreement delivers for workers, and we look forward to members reviewing it and making their decision,” said Unifor Local 111 president Mike McMillan.

Details on the tentative agreement have not been disclosed, and the unions will only do so once approved by their members.

Negotiations for a new agreement had started in February, a month before the previous deal expired at the end of March.

The vote in May occurred after the employer “hardened its position and refused to withdraw its concession demands,” the unions said in a written statement at the time.

99 per cent of the almost 5,000 transit workers across Metro Vancouver voted to strike if bargaining did not continue.

Job action would have interrupted Vancouver’s ongoing FIFA World Cup hosting efforts as the city has seen an increase in people using transit, commuting back and forth to BC Place, the PNE, and other hot spots of the tournament.

According to TransLink, the transit system saw an 18 per cent higher ridership on June 18 – the day when Team Canada faced Qatar in Vancouver – than on a regular Thursday.