Winnipeg Transit System could cut its diesel fuel use by 3.8 million litres (835,899 gallons) a year by putting 120 trolley cars back on city streets, a civic committee was told yesterday.
As well, the proposal to convert three bus lines to trolleys would benefit both the province and the country, transit director Rick Borland told executive policy committee.
Councillors referred the matter to works and operations committee with little discussion.
The lower fuel use would mean a saving of $1.2 million annually to the city at the 1981 diesel fuel price of 31.9 cents a litre.
A consultants' study said the cost of diesel fuel will continue to rise under the national energy program, and by the end of the decade it will hit 45 cents a litre in 1981 dollars. Borland estimated its real cost at that time would be $1 a litre.
The proposal recommends seeking up to 75 per cent of the financing for the conversion program from the federal and provincial governments, and asking the province to put decade-long