The Edmonton

trolley bus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...

system formed part of the

public transport Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whic ...

network in

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

Alberta Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

between 1939 and 2009. Operated by

Edmonton Transit System The Edmonton Transit Service (ETS) (previously known as Edmonton Transit System) is the public transit service owned and operated by the City of Edmonton in Alberta, Canada. It operates Edmonton's bus and light rail systems. In , the system had ...

(ETS), the system had, at its peak, a fleet of 137Bramley, Rod (July–August 2009). "Edmonton Council Votes to Close System". ''Trolleybus Magazine'' No. 286, pp. 74–82. National Trolleybus Association (UK). . trolley buses, and a total route length of .

History

Trolley bus service in Edmonton started on September 24, 1939, operating on route 5 from 101 St/Jasper Ave to 95 St/111 Ave. By the end of October of that year, service had started on another route running to 99 St/Whyte Ave via the Low Level Bridge. In Edmonton, trolley buses were often referred to simply as "trolleys". The trolley bus system used a mixture of Ohio Brass and K&M Elastic (Swiss) suspension for holding up the

overhead wire An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, electric multiple units, trolleybuses or trams. The generic term used by the International Union of Railways for the te ...

s. The 49 vehicles remaining in use in 2008 were from an order of 100 manufactured in 1981–82 by Brown Boveri & Company (BBC), using bodies and chassis supplied to BBC by GM. These 100 vehicles for Edmonton were the only trolley buses ever built with the GM "New Look" body, whereas more than 44,000 motor buses were built to that design. In 2007, a low-floor model of trolley bus was leased from

Coast Mountain Bus Company Coast Mountain Bus Company (CMBC) is the contract operator for bus transit services in Metro Vancouver Regional District, Metro Vancouver and is a wholly owned subsidiary of the South Coast British Columbia Transportation Authority, known local ...

, Vancouver's bus operating company, for a one-year period, for testing of possible benefits of low-floor trolley buses over hybrid diesel buses. During its time in Edmonton the bus was numbered 6000, but its Vancouver number, 2242, was restored when it returned to there. On June 18, 2008, city council voted 7 to 6 in favour of phasing out the trolley bus system in 2009 and 2010. However, city council decided in April 2009 that trolley bus service would be discontinued earlier than originally planned, in order to reduce the city's expected $35 million deficit in 2009. The last day of service was May 2, 2009.''Trolleybus Magazine'' No. 286 (July–August 2009), pp. 87 and 89. National Trolleybus Association (UK).

Fleet

Depots

*Cromdale Garage – formerly an

Edmonton Radial Railway The Edmonton Radial Railway (ERR) (also known as the Street Railway Department) was a streetcar service that operated in Edmonton, Alberta, from 1908 to 1951. It was Edmonton's first public transit service, and later evolved into Edmonton Transit ...

trolley bus / streetcar barn, then bus facility and historic fleet storage. Has since been demolished, site being repurposed by ETS. *Ferrier Garage – formerly a trolley bus garage; remains in use as a bus facility. *Mitchell Garage – constructed in 1981 and was equipped and opened as a trolley bus garage in 1983; closed in June 2007,''Trolleybus Magazine'' No. 275 (September–October 2007), p. 109. National Trolleybus Association (UK). then becoming a bus-only facility. *Westwood Garage – formerly a trolley bus garage, opening in 1961 and closed as an active garage when the trolley bus system closed in 2009; remained in use as a bus facility until 2020. *Strathcona Garage – opened as a trolley bus garage in 1951, closed in 1986; now home to

Old Strathcona Old Strathcona is a historic district in south-central Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Once the commercial core of the separate city of Strathcona, the area is now home to many of Edmonton's arts and entertainment facilities, as well as a local s ...

Farmer's Market and

Edmonton Radial Railway Society The Edmonton Radial Railway Society (ERRS) restores and operates Heritage streetcar, historic streetcars in Fort Edmonton Park and across the High Level Bridge (Edmonton), High Level Bridge. It is named after the Edmonton Radial Railway, which ...

High Level Bridge Streetcar The High Level Bridge Streetcar is a historic streetcar ride over the High Level Bridge in Edmonton, Alberta. It travels from Whyte Avenue in Old Strathcona, to Jasper Plaza south of Jasper Avenue, between 109 Street and 110 Street, in downto ...

storage.

Preservation

At least five of Edmonton's 1982 BBC HR150G trolley buses have been preserved by museums or museum-type groups. Those at museums are No. 125, at the

Seashore Trolley Museum Seashore Trolley Museum, located in Kennebunkport, Maine, Kennebunkport, Maine, United States, is the world's first and largest museum of mass transit vehicles. While the main focus of the collection is Tram, trolley cars (trams), it also incl ...

(in Kennebunkport, Maine, United States); No. 181, at the

Illinois Railway Museum The Illinois Railway Museum (IRM, reporting mark IRMX) is the largest railroad museum in the United States. It is located in the Chicago metropolitan area at 7000 Olson Road in Union, Illinois, northwest of downtown Chicago. Overview ...

(in Union, Illinois, U.S.); and No. 189, at

the Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft The Trolleybus Museum at Sandtoft is a transport museum which specialises in the preservation of trolleybuses. It is located by the village of Sandtoft, near Belton on the Isle of Axholme in the English county of Lincolnshire. Description Th ...

(U.K.).Isgar, Carl F. (January-February 2010). "Preservation Update". ''Trolleybus Magazine'' No. 289, p. 11. No. 132 has been preserved by the Transit Museum Society in Vancouver.''Trolleybus Magazine'' No. 294 (Nov.-Dec. 2010), pp. 134–136. In addition, a BBC is expected to be added to the City of Edmonton's collection of historic vehicles, which already includes three vintage trolley buses: Pullman 113 (ex-116) and CCF-Brills 148 and 202. No. 199 has been preserved by the Reynolds Alberta Museum in

Wetaskiwin Wetaskiwin ( ) is a city in the province of Alberta, Canada. The city is located south of the provincial capital of Edmonton. The city name comes from the Cree word , meaning "the hills where peace was made". Wetaskiwin is home to the Reyn ...

. No. 152 was expected to be preserved for the future public transit museum in Sofia, Bulgaria. A group of enthusiasts managed to raise the $10,000 needed for its purchase, but the trolley bus had already been scrapped in early 2018.

References

External links

* * {{Urban Electric Transit , id = 1095 , title = Edmonton , trolleybus = yes Bus transport in Alberta Edmonton Transit Service History of Edmonton