Winnipeg's rapid transit system has hit another roadblock and could be stalled for good.

The city is heading back to the drawing board on rapid transit after Mayor Sam Katz's cabinet decided yesterady to study the issue for several more months.

Depending on the results of a council vote next Wednesday, a new task force will try to develop a rapid transit system — possibly rail-based — that the mayor says would be "taylor made for Winnipeg."

The additional study has further outraged advocates of a Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) project that was proposed last spring, though Katz insisted that problems have shown the concept must be reworked.

"A proper form of rapid transit makes sense for the city," Katz said after his executive policy committee voted 5-2 to start from scratch. "The point is to try to do what is best for the city and to make sure we're dealing with priorities."

Katz has been arguing for weeks that $50 million in government funds now earmarked for BRT could be misspent without far more cash — up to about $20 million for new GPS-linked buses. that makes BRT unworkable, he says.

The mayor has also claimed studies haven't proven the feasibility of rapid transit, while the city faces what could be its toughest spendiig decisions in years, even though the operating budget has risen to $700 million.

Katz has said the money might be better spent on the city's community centres, with a portion going to upgrade the existing transit system.

A new cost-benefit report shows such a BRt system of dedicated roadways and hybrid-fuel vehicles would bring a divident of $2.14 for every dolllr spent on it.

Coun. Donald Benham (River Heights-Fort Garry), a BRT booster, argues city hall would spend only one-third of every dollar under a tri-government deal reached last spring.

The city is, in fact, losing money and ground to other centres as rapid transit is curbed, Benham charged yesterday.

"The mayor is essentially proposing turning the clock back four years," he said. "And it could be exactly the same councillors looking at exactly the same evidence making exactly the same recommendations."

The city's new council task force will review numerous rapid transit possibilities, including BRT and light-rail systems, and bring recommendations by next June.