An articulated trolleybus in Arnhem, Netherlands

A trolleybus (also known as electric bus, trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tram or simply trolley) is a bus powered by two overhead electric wires, from which it draws electricity using two trolley poles. Two poles are required in order to accommodate the return current, which cannot pass to the ground as in the case of an electric tram or streetcar since trolleybuses use rubber tires, rather than steel wheels on rail. from the Dutch wikipedia. ... from the Dutch wikipedia. ... A Volvo articulated bus in contract service for Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia, operated by Virginia Overland Transportation in 2003 Articulated buses, also known as bendy buses, accordion buses or jointed buses, have an increased passenger capacity. ... Arnhem is a municipality and a city in the east of the Netherlands, located on the Lower Rhine, and the capital of the Gelderland province. ... TheBus, established by Mayor Frank Fasi, is Honolulus only public transit system. ... This is a hub page for electricity. ... Trolley poles are usually tapered cylindrical poles of wood or metal, used to transfer electricity from a live overhead wire to the control and propulsion equipment of a trolley car, tram or trolley bus. ... A modern tram in the Töölö district of Helsinki, Finland Map showing the tramway system in Oslo, Norway Volkswagen Cargo-Tram in Dresden. ... a historic postcard showing electric trolley-powered streetcars in Richmond, Virginia, where Frank J. Sprague successfully demonstrated his new system on the hills in 1888 A streetcar is a railway vehicle designed to carry passengers on tracks, usually laid in city streets. ... Firestone tire A tire (U.S. spelling) or tyre (UK spelling) is a roughly toroidal piece of material placed on the circumference of a wheel, either for the purpose of cushioning or to protect the wheel from wear and tear. ...

Background

Ganz-Solaris trollino type low-floor trolley in Debrecen, Hungary.

The trolleybus's development dates to the early 1900s, when it seemed to be a natural compromise between the electric streetcar and the petroleum-powered bus. Trolleybus systems could avoid obstacles in the street which a streetcar could not, and did not require as much capital investment as a streetcar line. Debrecen ▶(?) (approximate pronunciation: deh-breh-tsen, Debreţin in Romanian, Debrecín in Slovak, Debreczyn in Polish) is the second largest city in Hungary after Budapest. ... // Events and Trends Technology Lawrence Hargrave makes the first stable wing design for a heavier-than-air aircraft Orville and Wilbur Wright make the first documented flight in a powered heavier-than-air aircraft Mass production of automobile Wide popularity of home phonograph Panama Canal is built by the United...

Some cities, led by the Brooklyn-Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT—New York), subscribed to the all-four concept of using buses, trolleybuses, trams (in U.S. called streetcars, trolleys or light rail) and rapid transit subway and/or elevated lines (metros) as appropriate for routes ranging from lightly-used to heaviest trunk line. Buses and trolleybuses in particular were seen as entry systems that could later be upgraded to rail as appropriate. Although the Brooklyn system under the BMT built only one trolleybus line, other cities, notably San Francisco, California and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, built larger systems and still maintain "all-four". If you include cable cars as another mode, San Francisco could be called "all-five," as the cable cars do provide a general transportation function in addition to being a tourist attraction. A 1914 map showing what was at the time the proposed expansion for the BRT. The only major differences from what was built is that a new 60th Street Tunnel was used rather than the Queensboro Bridge, the Manhattan-side Brooklyn Bridge connection was never built, and several lines ended... All-four is an urban transport scheme first annunciated by the Brooklyn_Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT—New York City) in the 1930s in which different transportation technologies are chosen and implemented in an integrated system. ... A modern tram in the Töölö district of Helsinki, Finland Map showing the tramway system in Oslo, Norway Volkswagen Cargo-Tram in Dresden. ... a historic postcard showing electric trolley-powered streetcars in Richmond, Virginia, where Frank J. Sprague successfully demonstrated his new system on the hills in 1888 A streetcar is a railway vehicle designed to carry passengers on tracks, usually laid in city streets. ... This article refers to the mass transit vehicle running on rails. ... This article is about light rail systems in general. ... Metro and Subway redirect here. ... Metro is: a general term, synonymous with rapid transit, subway or underground, for an urban underground rail public transit system (see list of rapid transit systems); any of several specific public transport systems, including: Bi-State Development Agency in Missouri and Illinois, d/b/a Metro since 2003 Buffalo Metro... Main article: New York City A map of New York City, highlighting Brooklyn. ... Nickname: The City by the Bay Motto: Official website: http://www. ... Nickname: City of Brotherly Love Motto: Philadelphia maneto (Let brotherly love continue) Official website: http://www. ... Cable Car in San Francisco A San Francisco cable car A cable car or cable railway is a mass transit system using rail cars that are propelled by a continuously moving cable running at a constant speed. ...

Advantages

New trolleybus near Harvard Square, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Trolleybuses are particularly important in hilly cities, as electric power is more effective than diesel in climbing steep hills, and trolleybuses' rubber tires have better adhesion than streetcars' steel wheels upon steel rails. This is especially important in hilly cities such as San Francisco and Seattle, USA. Download high resolution version (1280x960, 642 KB)New (2004) Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Neoplan trolleybus number 4120, operating near Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ... Download high resolution version (1280x960, 642 KB)New (2004) Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Neoplan trolleybus number 4120, operating near Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. ... Harvard Square, May 2000 Chess players in Harvard Square in August of 2005 Harvard Square is a large triangular area in the center of Cambridge, Massachusetts, at the intersection of Massachusetts Avenue, Brattle Street, and John F. Kennedy Street. ... The diesel engine is a type of internal combustion engine; more specifically, it is a compression ignition engine, in which the fuel is ignited by being suddenly exposed to the high temperature and pressure of a compressed gas, rather than by a separate source of ignition, such as a spark... This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... This article is about the city. ...

Like other electric vehicles, trolleybuses are often seen as more environmentally friendly than hydrocarbon-based vehicles (gasoline, diesel, alcohol, etc.), but the power is not "free", and instead has to be produced at centralised power plants, with its attendant transmission losses. On the other hand, centrally-produced power has the advantage of being more efficient, not bound to a specific fuel source, and more amenable to pollution-control as a single-source supply than individual vehicles, each with their own power generation, exhausting noxious gases and particulates at street level. General Motors EV1 An electric vehicle is a vehicle whose motion is provided by electric motors. ... Hydrocarbons are refined at oil refineries and chemical plants In chemistry, a hydrocarbon is any chemical compound that consists only of the elements carbon (C) and hydrogen (H). ... A power station (also power plant) is a facility for the generation of electric power. ...

One advantage is that they can generate electric power from kinetic energy whilst braking, a process known as regenerative braking. Kinetic energy (also called vis viva, or living force) is energy possessed by a body by virtue of its motion. ... Regenerative braking is any technology which allows a vehicle to recapture and store part of the kinetic energy that would otherwise be lost to heat when braking. ...

Vancouver's third generation of trolleybuses (New Flyer / Vossloh Kiepe)

Another area where trolleybuses enjoy a special niche is in locations where hydropower is abundant and cheap. Examples of this are the extensive trolleybus systems in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and Seattle, Washington, USA. The latter city doubly benefits, due to the steep road grades near the Downtown waterfront and on Queen Anne, First, and Capitol Hills. Image File history File links Vancouver_trolley2101_050720. ... Image File history File links Vancouver_trolley2101_050720. ... Hydraulic turbine and electrical generator. ... This article refers to the city in British Columbia, Canada. ... Motto: Splendor Sine Occasu (Latin: Splendour without diminishment) Official languages English Capital Victoria Largest city Vancouver Lieutenant-Governor Iona Campagnolo Premier Gordon Campbell (BC Liberal) Parliamentary representation  - House seat  - Senate seats 36 6 Area Total  â€¢ Land  â€¢ Water    (% of total)  Ranked 5th 944,735 km² 925,186 km² 19,549 km... This article is about the city. ... Official language(s) None Capital Olympia Largest city Seattle Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 18th 184,824 km² 385 km 580 km 6. ... Downtown Seattle, from top of Space Needle (looking south) Map of downtown Seattle Downtown is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington. ... Waterfront, by definition is the land alongside a body of water, or the dockland district of a town. ... Queen Anne Queen Anne Hill is the highest named hill in Seattle, Washington, with a maximum elevation of 456 feet (139 m), though the highest point in the city is the aptly named High Point in West Seattle, at 520 feet (158 m). ... First Hill is a neighborhood in Seattle, Washington, named for the hill on which it is located. ... Capitol Hill Capitol Hill is the most densely populated neighborhood in Seattle, Washington. ...

Trolleybuses are used extensively in large European cities such as Athens, Moscow, Kiev and Belgrade, as well as smaller ones, like Lausanne, Salzburg and Nancy. Cities, especially located on hills, have choosen trolleybuses over traditional buses because the electric engine is capable of producing much more power than a diesel engine. Moreover, the electric engine can be temporarily "overpowered", that is more than the average power can be obtained from the engine for a short period of time, e.g. when climbing a steep hill. Also, realizing the advantages of these zero-emission vehicles, some other European cities have started to expand their systems again. Other cities such as Lecce will introduce new trolleybus systems. Athens (Greek: Αθήνα Athína IPA ) is the capital of Greece and one of the most famous cities in the world. ... Moscow (Russian: Москва́, Moskva, IPA: (help· info)) is the capital of Russia and the countrys principal political, economic, financial, educational and transportation center, located on the river Moskva. ... A monument to St. ... Mayor Nenad Bogdanović Area 359. ... Lausanne (, ) is a city in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, situated on the shores of Lake Geneva (French: Lac Léman), and facing Évian-les-Bains (France). ... Flag of Salzburg Salzburg (population 145,000 in 2005) is a city in western Austria and the capital of the federal state of Salzburg (population 520,000 in 2003). ... Nancy (pronounced in French) is a city and commune which is the préfecture (capital) of the Meurthe-et-Moselle département, in the Lorraine région of northeastern France. ... Holy Cross church, Lecce Roman Amphitheatre, Lecce Lecce is a small city situated in the south of Italy, in the region of Apulia. ...

Some have suggested that the trolleybus will become obsolete in a future hydrogen economy. However direct electric transmission, as used in trolleybuses, is far more efficient (by a factor of two or more) than conversion of energy into hydrogen, transportation and storage of the hydrogen and its conversion back into electricity by fuel cells. // A hydrogen economy is a hypothetical future economy in which the primary form of stored energy for mobile applications and load balancing is hydrogen (H2). ...

China is experimenting a new form of electric bus that runs without powerlines. This bus runs on power stored in large onboard supercapacitors, which are quickly recharged whenever the electric bus stops in any bus stop. A few prototypes were being tested in Shanghai in early 2005. A supercapacitor or an ultracapacitor is an electrochemical capacitor that has an unusually large amount of energy storage capability relative to its size when compared to common capacitors. ... Shanghai (Chinese: 上海 pinyin: (help· info); Shanghainese: Zanhe ) , situated on the banks of the Yangtze River Delta, is Chinas largest city. ... 2005 (MMV) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Problems with trolleybuses

Muni Trolleybus crossing tracks of the San Francisco cable car system

One problem with the trolleybus, compared to trams or light rail, is the double-wire overhead power lines. Whereas the single overhead line of a rail system is relatively inconspicuous, trolleybus powerlines are much more complex and unsightly, notably at intersections where a number of lines cross. Trolleybus operated by MUNI in San Francisco Photograph taken by chris_j_wood on the 26th May 2003, with original filename DCP_0826. ... Trolleybus operated by MUNI in San Francisco Photograph taken by chris_j_wood on the 26th May 2003, with original filename DCP_0826. ... Two forms of public transport operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni): on the left, a bus (the 38 Geary line) and, on the right, the F Market historic streetcar. ... San Francisco Cable Car No. ...

As trolleybuses do not follow a track, it is possible for them to come off the route and hence off the electric powerlines above, and then get stuck. Some transit systems, such as Muni in San Francisco, have gotten around this problem by installing battery packs on their trolleybuses to allow them to drive for short distances in case they cannot follow the standard route. Boston is using dual-mode buses on its new Silver Line that run on overhead electricity on a fixed right of way and then transition to city streets using diesel power. In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, whose five trolleybus lines have been suspended for partial reconstruction, new trolleybuses on order will also have a means of operating short distances without wire. In Athens, which has an extensive trolleybus system, in 2003-2004 all trolleybuses were replaced with new vehicles that are equipped with a diesel motor that allows them to run off-line for a considerable distance. Two forms of public transport operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni): on the left, a bus (the 38 Geary line) and, on the right, the F Market historic streetcar. ... Nickname: City on a Hill, Beantown, The Hub (of the Solar System), Athens of America Motto: Official website: www. ... A dual mode bus is a bus that can run on power from two different sources, typically electricity from overhead lines and fossil fuel. ... Map The Silver Line is the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authoritys (MBTAs) sole Bus Rapid Transit line, running in two, unconnected sections, from Dudley Square in Roxbury to downtown Boston, Massachusetts and from South Station to several points in South Boston and to Logan Airport in East Boston. ... Diesel or Diesel fuel is a specific fractional distillate of fuel oil (mostly petroleum) that is used as fuel in a diesel engine invented by German engineer Rudolf Diesel. ... Nickname: City of Brotherly Love Motto: Philadelphia maneto (Let brotherly love continue) Official website: http://www. ... Athens (Greek: Αθήνα Athína IPA ) is the capital of Greece and one of the most famous cities in the world. ...

In more general terms, trolleybuses suffer from being "neither fish nor fowl" in current transportation planning. Except in the cases mentioned above where they have special advantages, they have difficulty competing with the efficiencies of light rail on the one hand, or the flexibility and low start-up costs of conventional buses on the other. This article is about light rail systems in general. ...

While at one time numerous cities operated this mode of transport, it is uncommon today in North America, though it is still a common form of transport in many European and Asian cities, generally occupying the niche between street railways and diesel-powered buses.

Preservation

They are preserved in museums like the East Anglia Transport Museum in England. The East Anglia Transport Museum is located in Carlton Colville near Lowestoft in Suffolk. ...

The Illinois Railway Museum also maintains an historical collection of Electric Trolley Buses from Chicago Illinois, Dayton Ohio, Cleveland Ohio, Des Moines Iowa, and Milwaukee Wisconsin.

See also

• Gyrobus
• List of cities with trolleybuses
• List of cities that no longer have trolleybuses
• Overhead lines
• Tourist trolley
• Soviet trolleybus vehicle ZiU-5

This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... This is a list of cities with trolleybuses as part of their public transport system. ... This is a list of cities that had trolleybuses at a time in the past, and do not have them anymore. ... An electric multiple unit pulling into Tile Hill station; Coventry, England. ... A Tourist trolley, also called a road trolley, is a bus (usually diesel fueled) made to resemble an old-style streetcar. ...

External links

• The Electric Trolleybus Web Site
• Budapest Trolleybuses
• Transport Photogallery
• British trolleybuses
• Arnhem Trolleystad
• Trolleybuses in Europe
• ((Spanish)) Sistema de Transporte Eléctrico del Distrito Federal (Mexico)
• London Trolleybus Photos on the Tramway Information Website
• West Ham's Cedes Stoll Trolleybus
• Polish Trolleybuses (in polish) — very multimedia-intensive
• Transit World - Has photos of Trolleybuses in Vancouver & Edmonton (Canada), and Wellington (New Zealand)
• Trolleybus Town Eberswalde (former East Germany) — available in English, German and Russian.
• ((German)) Trolleybus in Berlin (Germany)
• ((Russian)) Trolleybus cities of Russia
• Sandtoft Trolleybus Museum
• ((Russian)) /((Ukrainian)) "Seventy years of Kiev trolleybus", Zerkalo Nedeli (the Mirror Weekly), December 10-16, 2005, in Russian and in Ukrainian.

Zerkalo Nedeli (Дзеркало тижня - Dzerkal Tyzhnia Ukrainian: Weekly Mirror) is Ukraine’s most influential analytical weekly. ...

References

• All Time List of North American Trolleybus Systems, accessed January 30, 2004
• British trolleybuses

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