Stephen Rees's blog

Vancouver trolley buses grounded by glitch

Which, as far as I know, is the first problem that has affected trolleybus service. Contrast with the introduction of the previous generation (the buses now being replaced) which had to be virtually rebuilt before they became reliable.

Maybe too it has to do with our risk averse culture, or the cautious nature of bus drivers. But it does seem odd that it has only now come to light after some four months in service.

And replaced by diesels? What, the old trolleys have already been sent for scrap?

UPDATE January 31

There is more detail in the Vancouver Sun story  today

TransLink has few spare buses on hand because it hasn’t been able to afford to buy enough to keep up with demand.

“We’re working on that,” Snider said. “We’ve basically retired a lot of the old trolleys, and the ones that are retired are not fit for service.

“We still have some older trolleys that can go into service, we’re trying to pull some diesels in, we’re just seeing where we can get some extra resources for this afternoon’s rush hour. Right now we don’t know, exactly.”

TransLink’s Drew Snider