If a strike goes ahead, it would be the first for Winnipeg Transit in more than 30 years. (CBC)Winnipeggers are eyeing alternative travel options as transit workers vote on a new contract Wednesday — if the workers reject the city's latest offer, buses could be parked as early as Thursday morning.

The outcome of the vote, by about 1,000 bus drivers and 250 maintenance workers represented by the Amalgamated Transit Union, will be posted on the Winnipeg Transit website and available by Telebus at 287-7433 on Wednesday evening.

If a strike goes ahead, it would be the first for the city's transit system in more than 30 years.

More than 130,000 people take the bus each weekday, city officials said. Almost 15 per cent of Winnipeg workers commute by bus, according to Statistics Canada.

"I don't know what happens if the bus stops. That's just insane," bus rider Amanda Sokolowski told CBC News.

Added Theodore Berryman: "It'll leave me stranded. How can I go anywhere?"

Taxi delays expected

Winnipeg taxi companies said Wednesday that they're seeing a big jump in advance bookings as people prepare for the possibility of a strike.

"We've had a lot of calls from people who are very concerned," said Joan Wilson, general manager at Unicity Taxi, the city's largest taxi fleet. She estimated she'd personally taken 100 calls on the matter over the past few days.

"They need to get to work or wherever they're going. They're wondering how they're going to do that. Can they pre-arrange? Would [we] guarantee that we're going to be there at a certain time?"

Officials with Spring Taxi said they also had seen a significant increase in the number of people reserving cabs for Thursday morning.

Both companies said they hoped they would be able to meet the increased demand for service if the bus drivers walk off the job.

The companies are still reserving cabs in advance, but warned that customers should expect delays as they deal with the volume of calls.

Some organizations are trying to find ways to help their staff get to work if the strike goes ahead.

"We're surveying our staff to find out which of them do and do not use transit to get to and from work," said Heidi Graham, spokeswoman for the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority.

"Once we've completed that, then we'll try and arrange carpools so that they can help each other in terms of getting to and from work."

Handi-Transit service is expected to continue during any labour action, city officials said.

$100 per week

For transit employees, who have been negotiating the new collective agreement since March, a strike would involve a financial hit. Shawn Perry, spokesman for the union's head office in Washington, D.C., said each union member who participates in a strike would be eligible to receive $100 per week in strike pay, beginning in the third week of a work stoppage.

Transit service is not considered an essential service, so the employees cannot be forced back to work under the province's Essential Services Act.

Either the city or the union could ask the provincial government to step in and resolve the dispute under provisions of the Labour Relations Act, but only after the workers have been off the job for at least 60 days.

7% increase over 3 years

The union's membership has rejected two previous contract offers, and it is in an immediate position to strike. In late July, the union told its members to refuse overtime, forcing the city to cut 15 to 20 transit buses per day, affecting mostly morning rush-hour service for several days.

On Aug. 6, a special meeting of Winnipeg city council ratified a new settlement with the union.

Initially, union leadership did not believe the contract required a membership vote for ratification, but they later learned a vote was required.

The new agreement would see drivers and maintenance workers receive general salary increases of two per cent this year, 2.2 per cent next year and three per cent in 2010.

The starting salary for bus drivers is currently $14.63 an hour, ranging up to a maximum of $22.01 an hour after five years of employment.

Some drivers have said working conditions — not pay — are at the root of the labour dispute. The new contract would see the controversial matter of Sunday shifts for drivers referred to arbitration.

The last transit strike in Winnipeg, in the winter of 1976, lasted 1½ months.