Edmonton Trolley Facts

Trolleybuses have operated in Edmonton since 1939. They have become an icon of Downtown Edmonton, like the High Level Bridge or the MacDonald Hotel. Edmonton has the longest continuously operating trolleybus system in Canada and is one of two cities operating these electric vehicles.

Edmonton currently has around 130 km of overhead infrastructure to operate trolleybuses. In addition, there are 8 rectifier substations used to convert AC current to DC current that is then fed into the system. The cost to build such a system today would be in excess of 90 million dollars.

Edmonton currently owns 98 trolleybuses that were bought new in 1982 at a cost of $210,000 each. The vehicles have comparatively low mileage; some have seen little use. There are 45 of these vehicles sitting in storage.

A survey of Edmontonians in 1992 showed that they preferred trolleybuses to diesel buses and would rather see their money invested in trolleys than in more diesels. This result is consistent with the findings of surveys taken in a number of other North American cities where trolleybuses operate.

ETS had planned a number of extensions to the trolley system to be completed in the 1980s. These would have taken trolleys to West Edmonton Mall, Abbottsfield and Northgate. The Department of Transportation and Streets, following their takeover of transit operations in 1984, succeeded in persuading City Council to cancel these extensions in 1985.

In March, 1993, City Council directed ETS, the Department of Transportation and Streets and Edmonton Power to make maximum use of Edmonton's trolley system and vehicles.

Despite this directive, planners decreased trolley utilization from 53 vehicles in 1993 down to 37 vehicles today. They have also steadily reduced the number of transit kilometres operated by trolleys from about 4 million scheduled annual kms in 1993 down to 2 million scheduled annual kms today. In recent years, the administration has only operated about half of the scheduled trolley kms using trolleys, preferring to use diesel buses instead. Two significant sections of overhead are currently not used or barely used in revenue service (Highlands, Southgate), as planners chose to use diesel buses to operate the service in these areas.

The Department of Transportation and Streets stated in a document presented to the Transportation and Public Works Committee of City Council on November 7, 2000 that it "does not support increasing the usage of trolleybuses". In 2004, administrators commissioned a consultant's report on the trolley system. The report erroneously stated diesel fuel prices were stable, it dismissed the value of vehicles with zero in-street emissions on the claim that future diesels would offer lower emissions than rural power generating facilities. It concluded trolleys were more expensive to operate based on a comparison of new diesel buses to 23-year-old trolleys and an analysis that buried actual diesel operating costs in system averages. No life cycle cost analysis was done. On this basis, administrators recommended to City Council that they approve the expenditure of $13 million to dismantle all 130 kms worth of trolley infrastructure and eight substations, valued at $73 million, on the claim that this would save the city money. The consultants' report was done extremely poorly and contained numerous oversights and serious errors in its analysis. Cost savings claims were also found to be dubious. On July 27, 2004, Edmonton City Council voted to continue the operation of trolleybuses, as follows:

1. That Edmonton Transit continue to operate trolleys until 2008.

2. That the Administration arrange to have a demonstration of low-floor trolley and hybrid buses to be utilized within the system for information gathering.

3. That expansion of the trolley fleet to Northgate be considered in the 2006 budget.

4. That a report be provided to Council in 2008 regarding the continuation of trolleys based on: service levels, and environmental concerns in light of the demonstration of low-floor trolley and hybrid buses, and other options.

5. That Administration continue to look at ways to maximize the cost-benefit of trolleys.
   

Since the consultant's report was released in January 2004, diesel fuel prices have almost doubled, area power plant emissions per kWh have been reduced considerably, and experts on urban sustainability are now stating grid connected electric vehicles like trolleybuses, streetcars and electric light rail offer the best options for long-term sustainability.

Edmonton is the only city with trolleybuses in North America that has made no long term plans for the future of its trolley fleet. All other North American cities with trolleybuses either have bought new accessible trolleybuses or are in the process of doing so; many have expanded their overhead wire networks.

The world is looking for ways to cope with the price impacts of peak oil.
Will Edmonton clue in to the fact that trolleybuses are a key to the solution?
Stay tuned!