Re: 50 years of Trolley Buses in Wellington NZ

[B.Hamilton@irl.cri.nz (Bruce Hamilton)]

Bill <wguest@xtra.co.nz> wrote:

>No, you are not. They are a grand idea that has had its day. They cost
>ratepyers $1,000,000 pa more to run than diesel buses would over the same
>routes. They were useful in the era of Bedfords, Leyland Leopards, and other
>horrific diesel dirtspewers, but they do not match the new MAN diesels for
>comfort, convenience, or cost.

I'm curious where those numbers came from. The last costing that I recall 
showed that the costs were similar, and when pollution was considered
the trolley buses were competitive. IIRC, the WRC subsidies were for
services that had low passenger carrying rates, not trolleybuses.
Incidently, I thought that some of the newer diesels had encountered 
serious operating cost increases - as several incited complaints
about toxic smoke, and the cost of repairing was high.

I used a trolley bus last week from town to home - five sections
and ~20 minutes for about $1.40, for a distance that had taken me 
1.5 hours to stroll that morning. It still is a nice trip and I
enjoy the quiet high torque purr of the bus as it accelerates from
stationary without the stroppy roar and belching smoke of the 
majority of the poorly-tuned diesel engines.
 
         Bruce Hamilton