Scientific American short article on trackless trams as a way to lower initial infrastructure costs. BTW = We used to call electric buses using overhead dual conductors " Trackless trolleys "
Will Trackless Trams Gain Traction in the U.S.? - Scientific American
Simply rebranding electric busses. That will not hold up once people see an artists rendering or a photo. Of course, that presumes people know what an electric bus is, so he might get away with the con.
From article:
LOL, in Florida or Arizona maybe. Not in the 12" of snow we got overnight here…
Texas is currently paralyzed by snow too.
We called them “trolleybuses” out here. I’m still angry that Edmonton got rid of ours.
Everything that was old is new again.
Not really trackless. The track is painted lines on the pavement.
Exactly. All the expansion of the Baltimore mass transit system from the late 30’s to the early 50’s was with trolley buses rather than tracks in the street.
And by the early 60’s both were pretty much gone. And now we have some tracks in the street again?
Maybe we should have just kept them then?
Sheldon
Should have kept them as the Northern Central.
Yes that too. And that rocket ship interurban to Annapolis, try to get from Camden Station to downtown Annapolis in one hour today…
Both are walking trails now…
Sheldon
Don’t overlook all the trackless trolley’s that used to circulate on various routes in downtown Baltimore.
The B&A went to busses in about 1953 - 68 years ago (my Aunt use to ride the railroad from Linthicum to downtown until the end - My Grandfather used it regularly from his home in Severna Park to Camden Station)
Further up the chain in this post, that was my comment that Overmod only partly quoted.
I pointed out that virtually all of the late 30’s thru early 50’s expansion of BTC transit in Baltimore was trolley buses. Baltimore had trolley buses from 1938 until 1959.
I grew up in Severna Park, and I remember the B&A still running freight to Annapolis when I was a child.
And as a teen and young adlut, I was a member of the Severna Park Model Railroad Club, located in the old station.
Sheldon
Memphis probably had even more than Baltimore did, so it’s “really treading on sore water” (as a colorful friend of my father once said) to bring them up nostalgically.
We kinda-sorta have some of the effect with hybrid buses … but all the overhead-wire infrastructure is long gone, and its perceived benefit vs. costs to restore would be slim.
In 1980 or 81 I was a passenger on a trolleybus in San Franciso. The dtiver pulled to the curb and ran into a store leaving the polls up.
Another trolleybus came up behind but could not pass because of the raised polls. The driver of that bus got out, lowered the polls then continued on his way.
The driver on my bus returned and tried to pull out. The look on his face was priceless.
“…ran into a store.”
Glad it was the driver that entered the store and not the trolleybus with him.