Since May 6, 2025, Santa Barbara MTD has been engaged in good faith bargaining with Teamsters Local 186 (Teamsters), which represents MTD’s bus operators, operations supervisors, and maintenance employees. Formal mediation with a state-appointed mediator began last Friday, June 27, 2025.
While mediation is ongoing, Teamsters have strike authorization authority from their members. The current contract expires at midnight today, Monday, June 30, 2025, and MTD has offered a contract extension to avoid disruption while negotiations continue. As of 2:30 p.m. Monday, no extension has yet been agreed to, but MTD is hopeful that continued mediation of the dispute with a state-appointed mediator will be successful.
Should a tentative agreement or extension not be reached by midnight tonight, bus service will not run after midnight. This means no MTD buses or on-demand services would operate as of 12:00 a.m. on Tuesday, July 1, 2025. Passengers will need to make alternate transportation plans.
MTD is committed to reaching a fair agreement and wants vital bus service to continue uninterrupted.