TORONTO - Greyhound passengers can ride easy now that there is a tentative agreement over a labour dispute that threatened to put the brakes on service in Ontario and Quebec.

Members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 1415 still need to ratify the deal.

"We are pleased to have agreed upon this contract and plan to continue to provide service to the citizens of Ontario and Quebec," said Timothy Stokes, spokesman for Greyhound Canada.

"All schedules should operate as normal and we look to have no delays due to our recent discussions."

This avoided a lockout of the drivers by Greyhound that could have hit at 12:01 a.m. Thursday.

If there had been a lockout, all routes with the exception of Toronto-Sudbury and Ottawa-Sudbury in Ontario and Quebec would have been cancelled.

The ATU Local 1415, which represents almost 500 Greyhound workers, says that the dispute was mainly over pension changes.

Local 1415 President Ian Laird could not be reached Wednesday but earlier told the Toronto Sun that the company's final offer was rejected by 87% of the workers in a vote Friday.

"When they gave us that final offer they also handed us a paper saying if this is rejected here is your 72-hour notice, we will be locking you out as of Aug. 12," he said.

The key issue is the company's demand that new Greyhound employees be given a defined contribution pension plan rather than the defined benefit plan currently available to all members, he said.

There was also a concern over driver hours and company contributions to health benefits, he said.

The employees have been without a contract since July 1.

Greyhound passengers can call the customer service line at 1-800-661-8747 for more information.