The future of the city's transit system and the possibility of bringing back trolley buses will probably be determined by a report that was two years in the making.
The $150,000 consultant's report has not been released to councillors but sources say the 200-page study looks at several options to diesel buses including trolleys, propane, natural gas, and alcohol-fueled units.
Works Commissioner Bill Finnbogason said he had not read the report and councillors would probably get their first glimpse at it in early August.
"I just can't comment on the recommendations that are made," he said. "The works committee has to see the report first."
The study was launched after then-councillor Harold Piercy wanted city hall to boldly go ahead with a multi-million dollar scheme to convert the transit system to electricity.
He wanted the city to build a light rail transit (LRT) network mixed with a fleet of diesel and trolley buses using Manitoba-produced electricity.
Piercy said yesterday councillors would be "short-sighted" if they didn't give the green light to his electrically-charged plan.
"The supply of diesel fuel will soon become scarce and if the city doesn't get moving the cost of a bus ticket will become terribly expensive for the guy carrying the lunch pail," he said.
"The city will have to subsidize the transit operation to an even greater extent and that will mean higher taxes. Every year we wait, the cost of changing over just gets higher."
Cost is a major factor to a city like Winnipeg which seems to live from hand to mouth. Calgary Transit recently completed a 12-kilometre stretch of LRT track with 27 cars that cost $170 million.
The price tag for a trolley from the provincially-owned Flyer Industries runs from about $225,000 compared to $150,000 for the average diesel bus and it would cost the city more than $10 million to install overhead wires on main routes.
But there are advantages to going electric. Calgary Transit spokesman Bob Keith says thousands more people are leaving their cars at home and taking the LRT.
"We can carry about 8,000 passengers in an hour and people don't have to sit on a bus that is caught in traffic while you're smelling somebody else's armpit," he said.
"A bus costs $60-an-hour to operate and the LRT costs $550 but that includes capital costs and there is the advantage of carrying more people."
"Once the capital costs are paid, the price per passenger will be less than the diesel bus."
Flyer president Douglas McKay admits trolleys come with a hefty price tag but says they last at least 50 per cent longer than diesel units.
"I think the city is going about this the right way. They are taking a cautius approach," he said.
Administration officials seem to rule out an LRT system but trolleys on main corridors like Portage Ave. and Main St. are a possibility.
The city is also interested in a trolley Flyer is working on that can store power and go off the wires for several kilometres. But that model probably won't go into production for a couple of years.
Other sources of energy as propane may not be viable for a city the size of Winnipeg. Al Cormier, spokesman for the Canadian Urban Transit Association, says the city has only one alternative to diesel -- electrification.