The Santa Barbara Metropolitan Transportation District and Teamsters Local 186 have agreed to a 24-hour extension to their contract negotiations, pushing back a potential Tuesday strike by employees.

The extension will push back the deadline for the current contract, which was set to end at midnight, and allow the two sides to continue negotiations on Tuesday.

“Bus service will continue as normal on Tuesday, July 1, 2025,” MTD spokesperson Hillary Blackerby said in a statement.

A work stoppage would affect 100 percent of the MTD’s bus service, according to Blackerby, meaning no MTD buses or on-demand buses would operate. She confirmed that the MTD does not have any alternate drivers who can keep the routes running.

“Passengers will need to make alternate transportation plans” in the event of a strike, she said.

Jed Johnson, the negotiator for Teamsters Local 186, says the Teamsters accepted the extension after Monday’s meeting went smoothly.

“Whereas in the past two months MTD has been dragging their feet (with) bad faith negotiations, today there was some progress,” Johnson said. “Though it be small progress, there was progress, enough progress for the Teamsters in good faith moving forward to extend the contract 24 hours.”

Teamsters 186 said that it held a strike authorization vote on June 11, and 100 percent of its members voted to approve a strike. The organization represents three departments at the MTD: drivers, maintenance, and supervisors.

The two sides have been negotiating for the past few months and have disagreed on issues of healthcare benefits, pay increases, and changes to overtime.

Blackerby said Friday that the agency had reached out to Governor Gavin Newsom to intervene and prevent a strike.