Winnipeg's transit system will get a jolt of new technology and features if Mayor Sam Katz gets his way. On Tuesday, he detailed a long list of changes he wants to see, at a cost to the city of $142 million.

Katz says an automated fare-collection system would include new fare boxes, automated transfer dispensers, machines to buy tickets at the bus stop, and smart cards.

If the mayor's plan is approved, some stops would get new heated shelters, and "major enhancements" would be made at the Polo Park Transit Terminal and the Graham Avenue Transit Mall.

Real-time bus schedules would be available on electronic displays on the street, and on cell phones.

On the buses themselves, displays and announcements would signal the next stop.

Cameras would be added to improve safety.

The mayor wants the city to buy 160 new buses – 20 of them electric-diesel hybrids.

Buses would get through traffic faster thanks to more diamond lanes and priority signal lights.

All of these changes are included in the proposed capital budget, which runs through 2011.

City council will vote on it later in February.