Basel
A trolleybus of the last series on the last trolleybus line next to the border crossing Hörnli |
In September 2000 the deconstruction of Basel's trolleybus network started, when the line 34 was turned into a motor bus line again. In December 2004, the line 33 followed. The remaining 4.9 km long trolleybusline 31 stayed in service until the inhabitants of Basel decided to replace the trolleybus by gas buses. Therefore the line was closed down on the 30th June 2008.
Basel's trolleybus network had several specialities:
- When the introduction of the trolleybus was decided, the first two vehicles were already in production as diesel-electric motor buses. So, they could also run on motor bus lines, which hardly happened.
- The two trolleybuses, which were based on burned down motor buses, were the only normal-control trolleybuses in Switzerland. Especially because they looked exactly like normal-control motor buses of that time. (Only Lausanne had a series of trolleybuses with a short hood)
- Between 1973 and 2000 the trolleybus lines 31 and 34 had the same destinations but different routes. This was unique in Switzerland.
- At Hörnli Grenze the trolleybus wires ended directly next to the border crossing. A similar situation existed between 1938 and 1974 at the border of Italy and Switzerland on Como's trolleybus network.
Trolleybus fleet
Numbers | Type | In use | Comments | Preserved vehicles |
---|---|---|---|---|
350-351 | Rigid trolleybus | 1941-1975 | dual-mode buses | |
352-353 | Rigid trolleybus | 1941-1958 | normal-control trolleybuses based on the burnt down motor buses No. 2 and 4. | |
354-355 | Rigid trolleybus | 1948-1975 | ||
356 | Rigid trolleybus | 1955-1976 | Prototype; first trolleybus with light metall body in Switzerland | |
357-368 | Rigid trolleybus | 1956-1995 | 358 (ARBL) | |
901-910 | Articulated trolleybus | 1968-1996 | Two motors; APG-Trolleybus | |
911-920 | Articulated trolleybus | 1975-2000 | VST-Einheitstrolleybus | |
921-922 | Articulated trolleybus | 1986-2000 | Purchased from Kaiserslautern (built in 1982/83) | |
923-934 | Articulated trolleybus | 1992-2008 | No. 923 Prototype, Series from 1995; wheel hub motors |
Note: The trolleybuses of BVB were renumbered several times. The first trolleybuses No. 350-353 were put into service as vehicles No. 10-13. Later they were renumbered as vehicle No. 50-53. The numbers of the following trolleybuses were connected to this. In the beginning of the 1960s the rigid trolleybuses were then renumbered to the numbers above. Most of the articulated trolleybuses as well as some vehicles of the series No. 357-368 were sold to Bulgaria or Romania, where they were in service for several years. Some vehicles out of the series No. 923-934 are still in service in Ruse, Bulgaria.