Reasons to Increase
Trolleybus Use in Edmonton

• Edmonton already has extensive trolleybus infrastructure in good condition
  
• The City has made a sizeable investment in this technology over the past 20 years, and the existing system is valued at over $73 million
  
• There is good potential for expansion of the system in well-travelled transit corridors
  
• Electricity prices show greater stability than oil prices: The base cost of oil to the City rose 107.5% between 2000 and 2006, whereas electricity costs only rose about 30% over the same period. Trolleybuses offer a proven alternative to diesel buses which will prove increasingly cost effective as diesel prices rise. If the cost of diesel fuel continues to rise at its current rate, taxpayers will need to contribute more than $80 million more over the next ten years to keep Edmonton's diesel fleet on the road
  
• The electric motor is at least twice as energy efficient as the diesel engine. Technological advancements in high efficiency power generation mean that trolleybuses will be able to make a greater contribution to reducing our consumption of fossil fuels in the future than diesel buses. Trolleybuses are 100% sustainable over the long term, diesel buses are not
  
• The operation of trolleys results in less common air contaminant emissions per km than are produced by internal combustion buses; trolleys are environmentally superior
  
• Trolleys produce no in-street emissions
  
• In-street diesel bus emissions cause cancer and are linked to asthma, chronic respiratory disease and heart disease; there is no safe level of diesel exhaust exposure
  
• Trolleys have lower health costs associated with their operation
  
• Trolleybuses have greater potential to reduce greenhouse emissions in the long-term
  
• It is possible to make trolleys totally emission-free with wind power technology
  
• Trolleybuses produce markedly less noise, contributing to better communities
  
• The goals of the Transportation Master Plan with respect to limiting the environmental and community impacts of transportation support the continued and expanded use of trolleybuses
  
• Trolleybuses are favored by citizens and have a greater potential to increase transit ridership than diesel-powered vehicles
  
• Trolleys are currently cost-competitive with diesel buses. Increasing the number of trolleys on the road will reduce per-unit operating costs on the trolley fleet
  
• The popularity of the trolleybus around the world has been growing over the past 20 years
  
• All other trolley systems in Canada and the U.S. have moved in the direction of renewing their trolleybus fleets with new trolleybuses
  
• Although cleaner than diesel buses, none of the existing and new alternative technologies (CNG, hybrid) can really compete with the trolleybus in terms of the overall toxic emissions profile, load capacity, reliability. Fuel cell buses are currently unproven, but are not likely ever to match the trolley in terms of energy efficiency