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The MBTA is warning riders with disabilities that they may face delays on the Ride and is asking them to avoid nonessential trips, after about 350 drivers for the door-to-door service went on strike Sunday night.
The drivers are employees of Waltham-based Veterans Transportation Services, one of two companies that supply vehicles and drivers for the Ride under contract with the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority. They voted to strike after rejecting a contract offer, citing demands for better health care benefits, according to their union, Teamsters Local 25.
“These men and women are essential workers who have put themselves and their families at risk providing essential services during this time,” Sean O’Brien, the union’s president, said in a statement, referencing the pandemic. “Our members at Veterans Transportation can be assured we will fight for them and will not rest until they receive a fair contract.”
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Veterans did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The drivers are picketing outside Veterans locations in Everett and Watertown.
Ray Domkowski, a driver who has been involved in the union negotiations, said the company was offering a health care plan with higher costs and fewer options than the current benefit, prompting the strike. Drivers — who in addition to transporting passengers have also been delivering groceries and household items during the pandemic — are concerned about the impact the strike could have on service for Ride users, Dobrowski said.
“It’s at the forefront of the mind,” he said. “We’re hoping with this action the company will come to its senses and offer something the drivers can vote in the affirmative on and we get back to doing what we love.”
MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo said the authority “urges Teamsters Local 25 and Veterans Transportation to continue negotiations to reach an agreement soon.” But in the meantime, he said, the MBTA “asks riders to postpone nonessential trips this week if possible to ensure service is available for riders with urgent needs.”
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Bill Henning, executive director of the Boston Center for Independent Living, said he hoped the labor issue would be resolved quickly. Riders with disabilities, who may be older or have preexisting conditions, are especially hesitant to attempt to use trains or buses in the pandemic and may not trust other transportation providers to follow the same cleaning protocols that have been put in place on the Ride.
“This is just a group that doesn’t have options, by and large,” Henning said.
But he also noted that ridership is far below normal levels on the Ride, in large part because many users are avoiding being in public. Prior to the pandemic, the Ride served about 6,500 people a day. As with the rest of the transit system, that number sharply declined at the start of the crisis, to about 1,000 daily trips, though it has since rebounded to about 2,500.
Veterans, which has been under contract with the T for decades, serves half those trips. National Express handles most of the rest, under contracts that took effect in January. The T also allows Ride users to book trips through Uber and Lyft.
Workers with another Ride contractor, Greater Lynn Senior Services, threatened a labor action in early 2019 but reached an accord. GLSS’s contract was not renewed later that year.