Finding the unexpected in the everyday.
December 31, 1952 In Chile, a new transit era began with the debut of trolleybus service in Valparaíso. These trolleybuses were introduced the day after the city’s trams (streetcars) had made their final runs. (Valparaíso’s longtime tram service started in 1863 with the inauguration of a horse-drawn railway; electric trams were introduced into those operations... Continue Reading →
October 29, 1987 A new trolleybus system was inaugurated in Mongolia’s capital city of Ulaanbaatar (also known as Ulan Bator). These trolleybuses have become a heavily used part of the city’s overall transit network, which also includes regular bus lines and a hodge-podge of privately owned passenger vans that are collectively called “microbuses.” The sometimes... Continue Reading →
Photo Credit: Steve Morgan (licensed under Creative Commons) April 23, 1933 The first electric trolleybus system in Ohio began regular operations in Dayton. These trackless trolleybuses -- powered by overhead electric wires rather than gasoline – started their initial runs early that Sunday morning. The day’s edition of the Dayton Daily News outlined one of... Continue Reading →
April 11, 1936 The first trackless trolley line in the Boston metropolitan area made its debut when the Boston Elevated Railway (BERy) introduced trolleybuses on what had been a streetcar route between Harvard Square and Lechmere Square in the city of Cambridge. The first of these orange vehicles left Bennett Street yard (near Harvard Square)... Continue Reading →
Transportation History 