Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority light rail and bus service is shut down Monday as more than 1,500 front line employees have gone on strike.

Monday marks day one of a South Bay transit strike that stands to disrupt the commutes of more than 100,000 VTA riders.

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority said Saturday it has asked Gov. Gavin Newsom to order striking transit employees back to work serving thousands of South Bay riders while it works out a new contract.

More than 1,500 transit workers walked off the job early Monday morning, marking the first work stoppage in VTA’s 30-year history.

VTA’s final contract offer to workers last week included a wage increase of 9% over three years, keeping the employees as the second-highest paid in the Bay Area and the fifth-highest paid in the country. The union is seeking a 6% raise per year over three years and wants to add a clause guaranteeing arbitration for contract disputes.

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority has requested Gov. Gavin Newsom to intervene to get striking VTA employees back to work.

It looks like the agency reached out to the governor’s office for a cooling off period,” Raj Singh, a spokesman for Amalgamated Transit Union Local 265, said in an interview.

The Santa Clara Valley Transportation Authority said Saturday it has asked Gov. Gavin Newsom to order striking transit employees back to work serving thousands of South Bay riders while it works out a new contract.

VTA said Saturday it has asked Gov. Gavin Newsom to order striking transit employees back to work serving thousands of South Bay riders while it works out a new contract.