The TTC proposed a series of changes to the city's express bus network Thursday, including the addition of five new routes in the next five years.

The three-stage plan would begin by moving some existing articulated buses from regular routes to express ones, TTC chair Josh and TTC CEO Andy Byford announced at Lawrence West station. The articulated buses can carry 77 passengers, roughly 45 per cent more people than their standard 12-metre counterparts.

The 2018 capital budget would also call for the purchase of 38 more articulated buses.

The second part of the plan, set to begin in 2019, would create five new express bus routes — a boost to the 34 existing express routes.

The new routes would run along Lawrence Avenue West, Markham Road, Dufferin Street, Islington Avenue and Weston Road.

The TTC is also proposing changes to a number of existing express routes, including Keele, Wilson, York Mills, and the University of Toronto Scarborough Rocket, among others.

In the third stage of the plan, between 2022 and 2026, they recommend that an additional eight routes be added, though neither Byford nor Colle said what those might be.

The recommendations will go to the TTC board for review on June 15.