Photo: File photo

A Vernon man's quest for a better bus route between Vernon and Kelowna will be presented to Vernon city council Monday.

At their regular meeting, council will receive a letter from Fraser Young, who launched a petition seeking support for an improved bus route between the two cities.

When Young started taking transit to commute from Vernon to downtown Kelowna for work, he found the current system makes it difficult for Vernon residents to get to work before 9 a.m.

Route 90 to UBCO starts service from the Vernon bus depot at 7 a.m. on weekdays. It runs hourly until noon and then runs at certain times until its last departure at 7 p.m.

Young noted that the early departures for Route 90 are always “plum full,” which can make it harder for people to get comfortable during the one-hour ride.

Young wants to see Route 90 merge with Route 97, which runs through Kelowna. The petition says merging of routes would allow residents to commute using a single bus directly from Greater Vernon starting at 5 a.m. with buses running every 15 to 20 minutes to downtown Kelowna or West Kelowna.

Young met with NDP MLA Harwinder Sandhu, who “agreed to champion this cause and since December she and her team have done exactly that by working with BC Transit and MOTT to look into this proposal further.”

Young is now seeking support from Vernon city council.

“More than 400 community members from our region signed a petition in support of this. Premier Eby has also expressed desire for the provincial government to improve intercity transit in the Okanagan. Lake Country Council has already expressed interest in the expansion of route 97 into Lake Country as part of their transit strategy for this year. I humbly request that Vernon City Council do the same and request the extension continue all the way to Vernon following the existing route 90,” the letter states.

Young said the bus route would benefit those working in Kelowna as well as students, staff and faculty at UBCO and people going to and coming from the Kelowna Airport.

“With a stop in each direction for YLW, air travellers will finally have a frequently operating transit option encompassing the entire daily flight schedule, so no matter the flight, or if your flight comes in late – you can take a bus,” he wrote.

To read the letters from Young, Eby and Sandhu, click here.