Winnipeg Transit has earmarked vacant city land for use as jump-off points in the proposed $45-million southwest bus transit corridor.

Transit spokesman Jarvis Kohut said two parcels near CN Rail's Letellier line in Fort Garry have been set aside for park-and-ride parking lots.

Kohut said the land, near Bison Drive and Markham Road, has been owned by the city for some time.

He said interest in the transit corridor was revived when Mayor Bill Norrie mentioned the idea in his inaugural address to city council.

"I had to go and dust off the plans," he said.

Plans for a rapid transit corridor linking the city's southern suburbs to downtown have been sporadically floated for over a decade.

In May 1975, the city, province, and federal government initiated the $335,000 Southwest Transit Corridor Study.

The study, by De Leuw Cather Canada Ltd. and M. M. Dillon Ltd., concluded a 10.8-kilometre route of dedicated bus lanes could be built along the Letellier line from near the University of Manitoba to CN Rail's East Yards at Main Street and Broadway.

Capital cost of the project in 1976 dollars was estimated at $27 million.

Kohut said the most recent cost estimate is between $40 million and $45 million.

"You get to the point where you look for the most cost-effective alternative to trying to expand Pembina Highway."

Some relocation of the CN Rail line woudl be needed if the project goes ahead, Kohut said.

"We feel the two transportation lines would be compatible."

In the mid-1970s, a series of sparsely attended public information meetings were held to air the study's findings and receive input on the project.

Former mayor Steve Juba said he preferred a fixed-guideway or monorail system over dedicated bus lanes.

At city council's request, the cost of phasing in electrically powered vehicles was investigated in 1978.

Trolley buses were found to be feasible but more expensive than diesel buses.

The southern terminal under revised 1981 plans remains at Bison Drive and the proposed corridor would follow the Letellier subdivision north to Jubilee Avenue, where it would cross over Pembina Highway.

The corridor would continue north through the Fort Rouge yards, about 30 metres east of the CN tracks.

About 300 metres south of Osborne Street, the corridor would pass under the tracks to the west side.

Some reconstruction of Donald Street and land acquisitions would be needed near the CN main line at Donald, the De-Leuw-Dillon report says.

The busway finally would pass over Main Street, west of the railway line, and into the CN East Yards and Union Station.

Stops would be spaced at 1.2-kilometre intervals along the corridor.

The authors of the report estimated 15.6 minutes would be saved in travelling from south Fort Garry to downtown along the corridor, as opposed to the conventional route along Pembina Highway.

Downtown, Graham Avenue between Main and Vaughan Streets, is seen as a transit mall.

The entire route would be restricted to buses and emergency vehicles. No private vehicles would be allowed in the corridor.