Bus service partially returned to Brampton on Saturday after the union representing striking municipal workers allowed buses to cross picket lines.

But Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown says with only a quarter of buses back on the road as of Saturday morning, his previous threat to seek an injunction still stands.

“My message to CUPE is to stop preventing our public transit operators from going to work. Otherwise, we will see you in court next week,” he told CBC Toronto.

Bus service has been disrupted since Thursday when 1,200 municipal employees from CUPE Local 831 walked off the job after contract negotiations with the city failed to produce a new agreement. Picket lines have been set up outside Brampton Transit facilities.

The striking workers include employees responsible for public transit, parks and recreation, road maintenance and other services. Bus operators are not among the strikers.

The decision to allow buses to return to the road was not due to Brown’s threat of an injunction, said Fabio Gazzola, president of CUPE Local 831. Rather, it was a sign of good faith that they wanted to return to the negotiating table,

“We are not here to disrupt the public, but we are also here to try to negotiate and get a fair deal with the employer,” he said.

In a online updateBrampton Transit said there will still be “significant disruptions,” adding that service is limited along Routes 1A, 4, 7A, 11A, 15A and 18.

Meanwhile, public transport riders like Manpreet Kaur said they were growing impatient.

“I’m late for work,” she told CBC while waiting for her bus. “Yesterday I had my college classes online because of this.”

Striking municipal employees are demanding a pay increase and a health care and benefits package comparable to those of management.

The union representing bus operators stands in solidarity with City employees but wants their work to return to normal, said union president Andrew Salabie.

“We have a job to do and we need to serve the citizens of Brampton and get them where they need to go,” said Salabie, president of Amalgamated Transit Union 1573.

He said they had people on site communicating with strike captains and trying to get five-minute intervals to get buses in and out.

It is unclear when bus service will return to normal.

Brown said there have been no discussions at the negotiating table since Tuesday and the two sides are still far apart.

He said the offer presented to the union was “final” and included identical conditions to an agreement reached with CUPE members in Mississauga.

Gazzola told CBC that’s not an appropriate comparison given that Brampton has almost 1,000 more CUPE employees than Mississauga, who are classified in different ways. “That’s not a fair assessment,” he said.