WINNIPEG -- The future of Winnipeg's Rapid Transit system may be taking a detour after the city announced some proposed changes to the bus system.
The new Bus Rapid Transit corridor is set to open in April, but some proposed changes may affect where the future BRT lines will be going.
In 2014, Mayor Brian Bowman promised to build six dedicated BRT corridors. The 2011 Transportation Master plan showed the six dedicated lines; two northern lines, two southern lines, one eastern line and one western line.
A new proposal released as a part of consultations for the upcoming Transit Master Plan shows three longer lines: one line running from Portage Avenue to the current southwest corridor, one line running from Main Street to St. Mary's road, and one line running from Grant Avenue to Regent Avenue.
"We're proposing to build several corridors," said Kevin Sturgeon, the project manager of the Winnipeg Transit Master Plan. "The service that would run on those corridors is linked together through Downtown, so the routes wouldn't terminate Downtown, they would continue on to another corridor."
READ MORE: Take a video tour of Winnipeg's new rapid transit line
The proposal also suggests rapid transit may use major streets instead of separated corridors, meaning buses would be running on transit lanes to bypass congestion.
Sturgeon said the city has a number of plans for the transit routes depending on the street and the context of the neighbourhood.
The proposal also suggests using new frequent and direct lines across the city with service every 10 to 20 minutes.
Advocacy group Functional Transit Winnipeg said the city has to deal with wait times and pass-ups by adding more buses and frequency to the service.
READ MORE: More transit buses too full in 2019 than ever before: city data
"I think there's a realization we got to deal with this first, we got to get this going before we start building on top of it with bus corridors," said Derek Koop, a Functional Transit board chair.
The final version of the Transit review is set to be tabled at City Council in the spring.