Just curious because I ride the trolleybuses a lot and they seem, at least to me, like they're already the solution to electrifying bus transit in Vancouver. What was Translink's rationale for going with battery busses instead of adding trolley wires to new routes and electrifying using a method they already have experience with instead of relying on proprietary and presumably very expensive fast charging points?
What do you think? Should they still go with trolleybuses for electrification or use battery busses instead?
Actually, does anyone know how Translink's battery electrification project is coming along? I haven't seen the battery busses on the Marine Drive corridor for a while and can't tell if they're still running them. Is the pilot project over and do they plan on implementing it for real?
All the trolley bus routes were originally streetcar routes built out a century ago. Tbh I'm not aware of them ever installing new trolley bus routes.
Trolley lines are going to be expensive to install and maintain. Even without fast chargers they still need similar equipment to convert to DC for the trolley wires.
A quick search gave me a TransLink report which probably has some good details: https://www.translink.ca/-/media/translink/documents/about-translink/policies/translink_low_carbon_fleet_transition_plan_2020_02_24.pdf