Mindy Schauer / AP Orange County Transit Authority bus drivers, members of the Teamsters Union, cheer at a meeting announcing a tentative settlement ending a bus strike.

ORANGE (AP) — A tentative deal on wages and benefits could put 1,100 striking Orange County bus drivers back on the road next week, both sides reported Saturday.

Negotiators announced they had agreed on a package and only a few issues remained to be ironed out.

"This is definitely a breakthrough," said Joel Zlotnik, spokesman for the Orange County Transportation Authority.

Both sides said they were pleased with the agreement. This was the county's first bus strike in 21 years.

"Too bad that it came to a strike," Patrick Kelly, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 952, told KFWB-AM radio. "Sometimes that's what necessary. We're happy that we were able to do some things about this serious inflation ravaging all working people here in Southern California."

The week-old strike shut down 50 of 81 bus routes that served 200,000 riders a day and cost drivers about $1.5 million in lost wages, said Carolyn Cavecche, who chairs the OCTA board of directors.

Union members are expected to vote on a new three-year contract Sunday and the OCTA board could ratify it on Monday. The agency planned to reinstate service gradually through the week, Cavecche said.

"I don't think anybody wins in a strike. Our coaches and operators definitely did not win ... Our riders definitely did not win," Cavecche said. "We feel very badly that this strike ever happened. It did not need to."

Under the tentative wage agreement, drivers with less than five years experience will start at $14.20 per hour, and will be making $15.22 per hour by the end of the three-year deal.

Veteran drivers will start at $22.33 per hour in the first year of the contract and get up to $23.92 during the period.

The agreement also calls for a 9.3-percent increase in health and welfare benefits, rising to 12 percent in the final year.

The agreement will cost the OCTA an additional $18.2 million but the agency doesn't plan to raise ticket prices, Cavecche said.

During negotiations, both sides were close to agreeing on a wage increase but sparred over who should benefit the most, Cavecche said.

The union wanted veteran drivers to get the lion's share of wage hikes while the OCTA wanted better pay for new drivers in order to attract more applicants, Cavecche said.