Okanagan bus drivers to walk off the job on Thursday

Bus drivers in the central Okanagan region of B.C. are set to walk off the job on Thursday morning after last-minute talks between their union and employer broke down.

The 217 members of the Kelowna Regional Transit Union Local 1722 are in a labour dispute with their employerand have been without a contract since April 1, 2016.

On Tuesday, transit workersturned down an offer from First Canada, the private company that runs the Kelowna Regional Transit and HandyDart systems.

The company and the union then met on Wednesday but were unable to work out a last minute deal.

"I would have figured that by now, we would have had common ground, at least on something in our core issues, and that hasn't been achieved,"said union president ScottLovellin an interview with CBC Radio'sDaybreak South.

He said the main pointof contention has to do withwages.

Currently, drivers of small community busesin the Okanagan receive about $4 less an hour than standard bus operators, according to Lovell.

'Significantdisruptions' for passengers

Lovell said the strike will be a full withdrawal of service except for certain essential service clients on the HandyDart system.

That means people who rely on public transit in Kelowna will be affected by the action, especially those who study and work at the University of British Columbia's Okanagan campus, located about 15 kilometres from the city's downtown.

"A significant number of people that come here every day are coming here via public transit," said Bud Mortenson, UBC Okanagan's director of university relations.

"We are expecting that there will be significant disruptions for the studentsand also the employees."

Student Dylan Draper relies on bus service to get to campus every day.

The looming strike has him considering his options.

"[Parking at UBC-O]is more than $5 a day," he said. "I'll probably bike to school, but it's going to be colder."

First Canada is a holding company with headquarters in Edinburgh, Scotland. In addition to Kelowna Regional Transit, it also oversees other B.C. bus operations and Greyhound.

With files from Jaimie Kehler and CBC Radio's Daybreak South