Confused foot passengers stepped off the ferry at Horseshoe Bay on Monday morning expecting their regular Blue Bus service. Instead, they saw a scramble for taxis and people shelling out $20 for a shuttle service to downtown Vancouver amid a transit workers' strike. 

CTV News approached a woman waiting at a bus stop to ask her thoughts on the lack of service due to the job action and found her unaware a full strike was behind her long wait for a bus.

“Thank you for letting me know,” she said. “I was just wondering why there was no bus here.”

Commuters in West Vancouver trying to head to school and work also found themselves caught in the middle of an increasingly bitter dispute between transit workers and the district.

Unionized Blue Bus drivers, mechanics and other staff launched an indefinite strike this week – the first of its kind in 100 years, according to the union – after talks broke down.

Regular bus passengers were forced to make other arrangements such as cabs or shuttles, which was an unexpected surprise to some, despite a warning issued on Sunday.

"We apologize to the seniors [and] the college kids," Geoff Devlin, president of the Amalgamated Transit Union Local 134 said from the picket line. "We're willing to go back on the road anytime."

The job action also means there is no public transit bringing people to and from the Horseshoe Bay ferry terminal. The Tofino Bus Company was a popular choice Monday, running four trips per day to downtown Vancouver.

There are 149 members of the union who operate the Blue Bus system of 52 buses, which carries nearly 20,000 passengers per day.

The union alleges the District of West Vancouver has been asking for concessions on benefits, and has failed to address issues with retaining the mechanics on staff.

"We have 14 mechanics and a turnover of 14 in two years, so we need to address that," spokesman Bill Tieleman said, adding that "wages is not the issue."

In the early afternoon, the union announced it had agreed to a meeting with district staff, Mayor Michael Smith and negotiators for an unmediated discussion, but would not be immediately suspending the strike. Hours earlier, district spokesman Jeff McDonald described the two groups as being "far apart."

West Vancouver District offered a salary adjustment and other benefits that it described as fair and comparable to terms accepted by other Coast Mountain Bus Company workers earlier this year. It also denied asking for any concessions to existing benefits.

Blue Bus is currently operated by West Vancouver under a contract with TransLink, a system the district suggested could change if its divide with the union can’t be bridged. 

"If the transit union continues to take the stance they've taken that's led to this strike, perhaps that conversation will come to the forefront," McDonald said.

With files from CTV Vancouver's Sheila Scott and Penny Daflos