OTTAWA - Ottawa's striking transit drivers, mechanics and dispatchers voted overwhelmingly Saturday in favour of a plan for binding arbitration to settle the dispute, a city radio station reported.
CFRA said the margin was 95 per cent in favour.
The vote followed Ottawa City Council's unanimous approval of the option early Friday.
About 2,300 drivers, mechanics and dispatchers at OC Transpo went on strike Dec. 10.
Company sources told CFRA that mechanics began returning to work Saturday to start getting buses ready for a return to service on Thursday.
The Amalgamated Transit Union's international branch vice-president, Randy Graham, says his members were willing to keep garages open around the clock until service resumes.
The agreement to let an arbitrator determine a contract came Thursday, a day after the federal government said it was prepared to legislate an end to the nearly two-month strike.
Talks between the city and the union had reached an impasse after repeated breakdowns in negotiations.
Major issues in the dispute included wages and work schedules.
A debate in the House of Commons on the back-to-work legislation was cancelled after word of the deal was released.
The strike had transformed tranquil Ottawa into an urban jungle overnight.
Traffic chaos, road rage and overfilled parking lots became a fact of life around Parliament Hill.
Some shops were shuttered as employees suddenly stopped showing up for work, suburban customers couldn't reach the downtown core, and owners opted to stay home instead of commuting.
Getting a taxi was a Herculean task during rush hour; calls to the major cab companies resulted in busy signals or - for the lucky few who managed to get through - prompted a warning that 90-minute waits had become the new normal.
Getting transportation was especially difficult during the recent cold snaps that hit the region, as the frenzied competition for cabs left many carless residents walking long distances in weather that plunged below -20C.
Labour Minister Rona Ambrose said last Wednesday the federal government was prepared to legislate and end to the strike, and there was word from the Liberals and NDP they would support the move.
Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty, who represents an Ottawa riding, had pressed the federal government to act.
Ottawa had jurisdiction because the bus routes cross the Ontario-Quebec boundary, into Gatineau, Quebec.
