{"id":510,"date":"2008-01-21T23:05:00","date_gmt":"2008-01-22T04:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingmontreal.ca\/?p=510"},"modified":"2013-01-21T11:15:49","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T16:15:49","slug":"time-to-bring-back-trolleybuses","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2008\/01\/21\/time-to-bring-back-trolleybuses\/","title":{"rendered":"Time to bring back trolleybuses?"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a><\/p>\n

Before there were bio-buses, there were electric trolleybuses<\/a>. In 1953, when the above photo was taken at the corner of St. Laurent and Van Horne, many of Montreal’s buses were powered by the same overhead catenary as its streetcars, emitting no pollution and very little noise as they travelled through the city. <\/p>\n

While trolleybuses can still be found in some North American cities, Montreal switched to diesel buses a long time ago. Now, with the rising cost of fuel and a better grasp of how air pollution damages the city, the STM is in the process of modifying all of its buses so that they can run on more environmentally-friendly biodiesel<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Maybe it’s time to bring back the trolleybus. Not on every route, of course, but on select routes, like the bus rapid transit line that will be built on Pie IX<\/a> Blvd. sometime in the next few years. Trolleybuses are much cheaper than streetcars and they don’t require nearly as much additional infrastructure. Best of all, they last much longer and require less maintenance than diesel buses—something we ought to consider given the tendency of the STM’s buses to break down<\/a>. <\/p>\n

I’ve spent a lot of time in Vancouver, which has one of the largest networks of trolleybuses in North America. Compared to normal buses, they’re a pleasure to ride: emitting nothing more than a faint hum when they’re in motion, they are dead quiet when stopped. This silence is especially evident on the streets, which are much more pleasant without the diesel roar of passing buses. <\/p>\n

Montreal’s economic and political leaders seem to have their minds set on building new tramway lines. Today, the would-be developer of the billion-dollar Griffintown project made the front page of Le Devoir with a threat to walk away from his real estate venture<\/a> if the city doesn’t commit to building a streetcar line through the middle of it. There’s nothing wrong with tramways, and they have an important place in an expanded public transit network, but let’s not forget about trolleybuses.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
\nTrolleybus on Robson St., Vancouver<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before there were bio-buses, there were electric trolleybuses. In 1953, when the above photo was taken at the corner of St. Laurent and Van Horne, many of Montreal’s buses were powered by the same overhead catenary as its streetcars, emitting no pollution and very little noise as they travelled through the city. While trolleybuses canContinue reading “Time to bring back trolleybuses?”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7835,7837,7840,33,7842],"tags":[8,9,10,1779,36,14,486,125,1778,376,1777,512,302,389,148,1776],"class_list":["post-510","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-green-space","category-history","category-politics","category-transit","category-urban-design","tag-city-hall","tag-development","tag-environment","tag-expanded-public-transit-network","tag-griffintown","tag-historical","tag-le-devoir","tag-montreal","tag-much-additional-infrastructure","tag-north-america","tag-real-estate-venture","tag-st-laurent","tag-usd","tag-van-horne","tag-vancouver","tag-would-be-developer"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nTime to bring back trolleybuses? - Spacing Montreal<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/montreal\/2008\/01\/21\/time-to-bring-back-trolleybuses\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Time to bring back trolleybuses? - Spacing Montreal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Before there were bio-buses, there were electric trolleybuses. 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