This is interesting. Cambridge and Watertown Massachusetts saw similar service in the 1950s. Eventually the trams (we called them trolleys) were replaced completely by the electric buses. The tracks still existed under the pavement in a few places, and during some recent road work, they work crew "rediscovered" the old tracks. Sadly, they rails were ripped up rather than put to use.
That's Just Awful! Replacing Trams for those Buses is no Joke, If you replace trams in the bigger city that needs The Tram Network, they will probably reject that idea because that's just too stupid
Thanks for this video:)) Too bad, since 1995 its history... I miss the Trolleybus and also the Bus through the tunnel. The O405 GTD were the best buses in Essen, because of the additional doors on the left side.
An excellent historical document. Thanks for the information that off-side doors were fitted in the winter of 1991 so they could handle passengers at two island platforms on the shared tram and bus track in the tunnels. I am in Adelaide where the O-Bahn lives-on as an absolute grade-separation Bus Rapid Transit carrying over 30,000 passengers on a normal day. Here they solved the problem of "Island platforms" by having the buses cross-over. At Tea Tree Plaza Interchange all buses change sides at the Northern and Southern exists. Tea Tree Plaza Bus Interchange O-Bahn Guided Busway AdelaideMetro 2014 Video
Neil Hamilton Thanks Neil. I'm surprised that you do not also use double-articulated buses, maybe though these would be seen as too long within the city centre? My March 1991 Adelaide O-Bahn films which include footage at TTP also show the buses crossing over. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-con6qrgOB24.html ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-UscPevrZ4Ew.html Simon
citytransportinfo One problem is AdelaideMetro management demands each passenger validates their MetroPass or paper ticket each time they enter a bus AND only have one validation machine inside the front door. The current bendy buses have 3 doors that are only used to exit. With only one entry point the single entry buses take up to 5 minutes to fill from empty. The back part of these bus is often un-populated if people do not move down the bus. I have made numerous representations to have validation machines at each door on these buses. Trams are fitted with two validation machines at each of their doorways. The Adelaide O-Bahn buses go into narrow suburban streets with round-abouts and other obstructions that make it difficult to manouvre long vehicles. We are about to get our first double decker bus on a trial basis elsewhere in Adelaide. www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-26/sa-government-reintroduces-double-decker-bus-service/5842274 I am not certain if there is enough headway under the bridges along the O-Bahn to allow double-decker buses to be used there. I understand there is enough room to run overhead wires if the ever decided to introduce trolley buses on the O-Bahn. (as was done here in Essen in the tunnels).
Since 2007 i am working in Essen, and i pass this route and stop nearly every day. But i never noticed the busses as an trolley bus. Not even today. But there are some changes. The A430 is renumbered to A40 and now in this area there are three lanes in each direction. There are also running new tram cars. The Kerb section on the A40 ist still in use but the bus lines have changed and don't use the underground ways anymore.
The buses stopped working as trolleybuses in the early 1990's. EVAG did not want electric buses - they were happy with diesel, even though the trams are electric.
Well, the only connection I can think of, is that ex-DLR trains were sold to Essen and used there as trams (with driver, no full automated driving). ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-t7eW1J6YcUo.html
There is a low level war between people who favour trams and people who see kerb guided buses as a transport solution. Trams / light rail have higher financial overheads - maintenance of the tracks and overhead wires - but attract more passengers, can carry more passengers for the cost of one driver (especially if several trams couple up & travel as if one vehicle) and can travel along dedicated rights of way that are not suited to driver-steered transports. Kerb guidance gives buses the ability to use narrower / space-restricted dedicated rights of way that are not suited to driver-steered transports. Elsewhere the buses usually use roads where someone else pays for all maintenance costs. Also, their lower passenger capacity means that on busier routes more buses and bus drivers are needed to match the carrying capacity of a tram - this adds to the operating costs. Buses are seen as less attractive to people with cars than trams, although some bus companies have got around this issue and found success by using buses with a more luxurious interior specification. A curious anomaly in the public transport industry is that many transport operators who have electric trams (powered via overhead wires) refuse to have pure electric buses - because trolleybuses also need overhead wires! OK, its partly because they also need maintenance crews but the same crew can work on both sets of overhead wires and there is a positive financial balance because pure electric buses are cheaper to operate (far less maintenance required), attract more passengers (the ambience of an electric bus really is nicer - smoother, quieter) and of course by not using fossil-fuel engines there is an air quality benefit. The situation is changing with battery buses but these tend to have lower daily distance ranges (before they need recharging) - especially in cold climate winters. Some bus operators get around battery capacity limitations by taking their buses out of service during the day to top-up charge their batteries, usually to maintain the same service frequency they then need a larger fleet of buses and bus drivers - which is expensive. A better solution to use part-time trolleybuses which top-up their batteries whilst running in trolleybus mode and then can travel in wire-free battery mode. This is called 'in-motion charging' (IMC).
@@CitytransportInfoplus , Thank you very much for the detailed explanation of the situation. However, considering the cost-effectiveness, the trolleybus and diesel bus method seems to be very economical. This is because trams are very expensive to lay rails and maintenance is too. Nowadays, as in Switzerland, there are some that connect three large buses. I feel that it was better to give priority to this. Another RU-vidr saw a video showing the traces of the abandoned railway, but it was kind of so sad that the wood rails dedicated to the tires of the bus were left unattended.
+Jere Cullen At present (Feb 2016) the route to Kray which travels along the middle of the motorway is still there. But there are long-term plans to convert it back to trams.
