Whatever happened to trolleys?

[Tornado]

They seem safer, cleaner and cheaper to run than other forms of public transportation, so what brought about their downfall practically everywhere in America except San Francisco and New Orleans?

 

[daan]

Aaah, we know them as trams.

This is a trolley to a Brit.

I suppose they are limited in routes, by the fact that they need rails. Buses can get around easier. The tram is making a comeback in Britain though and they seem to be quite popular in mainland Europe. After they died out, it used to be only along the front in Blackpool you could get one, but quite a lot of big cities are regaining a tram network now.

 

[Sureboss]

Manchesters got the biggest in Britain hasn't it?

 

[Duke]

The big problem with trams/trolleys is the investment in infrastructure and the loss of flexibility outweighs any improved energy efficiency you might gain.

Even light rail is expensive to construct, and it's really difficult to maintain the surrounding paving. So maintenance costs go up; also, car, bicycle, and pedestrian use of the streets is compromised by the rail system. The overhead wires are also a maintenance and safety issue, beyond the difficulty and expense of installing them. Plus, they're just plain ugly.

For a while, Philadelphia used trolleys and "trackless trolleys", which were electric buses powered by the same catenary wire system, but able to run without rails. But even those were hampered by their inflexibility.

If a bus route needs to change to accommodate new use patterns, you just drive the buses on a different path. But when that involves construction work over and through busy city streets, it's very difficult and expensive to adapt to shifting patterns.

 

[daan]

I like the idea of the O-bahn system in Adelaide. "Normal" buses that have a guided rail system for certain parts of the route, but can still go on normal roads too.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O-Bahn_Busway

 

[Famine]

The big problem with trams/trolleys is the investment in infrastructure and the loss of flexibility outweighs any improved energy efficiency you might gain.

Even light rail is expensive to construct, and it's really difficult to maintain the surrounding paving. So maintenance costs go up; also, car, bicycle, and pedestrian use of the streets is compromised by the rail system. The overhead wires are also a maintenance and safety issue, beyond the difficulty and expense of installing them. Plus, they're just plain ugly.

For a while, Philadelphia used trolleys and "trackless trolleys", which were electric buses powered by the same catenary wire system, but able to run without rails. But even those were hampered by their inflexibility.

If a bus route needs to change to accommodate new use patterns, you just drive the buses on a different path. But when that involves construction work over and through busy city streets, it's very difficult and expensive to adapt to shifting patterns.

Sheffield's Supertram construction took forever and caused massive disruption. The service itself, once finished was rubbish too. Then, once all the council money had been poured into it, Stagecoach took it over and it became brilliant. There is absolutely NO better, cheaper way of moving around the centre of Sheffield than Supertram.

 

[wfooshee]

They seem safer, cleaner and cheaper to run than other forms of public transportation, so what brought about their downfall practically everywhere in America except San Francisco and New Orleans?

They might be cheaper to run, but they're definitely not cheaper to build. Other points have already been raised, like ugly overhead wires, inflexibility of routes, conflict with other traffic on the same roadway. As for using them, there's really nothing as convenient as jumping on a passing trolley as you wander through town. Where they're used they seem to run more often than buses.

If you need rail, you have put it on a separate infrastructure to make it efficient. Thus subways or elevated railways. No conflict with regular surface traffic, no lights to obey, crosswalks to watch out for, etc.

 

[ExigeEvan]

I hated the trams when I was in Rotterdam. If it wasn't dive bombers on bicycles it was the silent assassins that are the trams sneaking up behind you.