The Orange County Transportation Authority Board of Directors yesterday greenlit a new three-year collective bargaining agreement with Teamsters Local 952, which represent the agency’s coach operators.

The agreement gives bus drivers a substantial wage hike of 14% over the next three years, beginning this month.

OCTA Chair Tam T. Nguyen remarked, “We appreciate the Teamsters’ efforts to negotiate in good faith and reach a fair and competitive deal for our valued employees. Our coach operators perform a vital service and are often the face of OCTA, the people that tens of thousands of bus passengers rely on for the highest level of safe and reliable service.”

OCTA directly employs approximately 600 coach operators, with an additional 330 contracted, ensuring a blend of quality customer service and prudent utilization of taxpayer funds supporting public transit.

Key provisions of the contract, which received prior endorsement from union members before securing approval from the OCTA Board of Directors, include an expedited wage scale enabling coach operators to reach the top rate after four years instead of the previous five. Drivers will also get their training wages increased, an augmented uniform allowance, and bonuses for working days characterized by historically high absentee rates, such as Mother’s Day.

OCTA and the union will collaborate on a safety committee in the wake of several recent high-profile safety incidents in the region involving bus drivers, OCTA continues to expand safety measures to protect coach operators, including installing more safety barriers on OC Buses and refining training to de-escalate and resolve conflicts on buses.