Metro Hosting Open House on Trolleybuses

With the recent news going around that Metro’s aging trolley fleet will need to be replaced in a few years, the agency is hosting an open house about the Trolley Bus System Evaluation, a study which will examine alternatives suitable to replacing the trolleys on the current fourteen routes that use them:

This in-depth study will be limited to the current 14-route trolley system, with some variations as appropriate for each technology. The study findings will help the county make an informed decision about the best vehicle technology to use on these routes as the current trolley buses wear out.

The open house will be held at Plymouth Congregational Church on Tuesday, June 22nd, from 5 to 7 pm.  While not a public hearing per se, this is a chance to provide input for those of you who have been adamant about retaining electric trolley technology come 2014.  Last year, Metro’s audit to address the agency’s budget woes was a bit of an eyebrow-raiser for trolleybus supporters, as it happened to emphasize the costliness of ETBs over hybrids.  Still, some of us have been wooed by the marginal cost-benefits of trolleys.