The transit strike in the winter of 2008-09 angered many commuters. (CBC)

Ottawa bus drivers and mechanics have rejected a revised contract with the city's transit service, OC Transpo.

Details of a vote released Friday show 61 per cent of the members of Amalgamated Transit Union Local 279 voted turned thumbs-down to proposed amendments to their current contract.

The contract was put in place by binding arbitration after a strike in the winter of 2008-09.

The new proposed changes, approved by city council earlier this week after the union and Transpo officials hammered out the details, were supposed to improve working conditions for drivers and cut OC Transpo's overtime bill.

But one of its key elements would have extended the length of time within which workers had to do a shift to 12½ hours, and that bother drivers, the CBC's Cory O'Kelly reported.

"Many of those drivers are still unhappy that their work day is spread out over 12 hours," he said.

An OC Transpo official put the best face on the union rejection. "The fact we reached an agreement at all is a sign of improved labour relations," he said.

But it is not likely there will be another deal before the municipal election, scheduled for Oct. 25.

The drivers, mechanics and dispatchers went on strike over wages and schedules just before Christmas in 2008. City council voted for binding arbitration on Jan. 30, 2009, and the union backed the proposal the next day.

Buses didn't start running until Feb. 9.

Commuters were angry about the long strike in the middle of the Ottawa winter, but many drivers felt the mayor and city council forced the strike and dragged it out, O'Kelly said.