Public Transport Seminar on Trolleybus

On 20 October the UBC Commission on Transportation in cooperation with the CIVITAS TELLUS project organized in Gdynia the Public Transport Seminar on Trolleybus Systems. The place of the seminar was not accidental. Gdynia is an active city and has gained about 100 million EUR of European funds for significant infrastructure projects. It is also one of the three cities in Poland that has a trolleybus system. Moreover, it is the only one that is developing it rapidly.

Deputy Mayor of Gdynia Marek Stepa and Chairman of UBC Commission on Transport Lisa Sundell (City of Göteborg) opened the Seminar.

The first presentation was made by Marcel Rommerts representing European Commission, DG TREN. He underlined the role of clean and efficient public transport systems. In fact almost 80% of EU citizens live in urban areas. For better living conditions it is very important to secure a very high quality of public transport systems that would provide an alternative to individual car users. He gave an example of Arnhem City where trolleybuses are part of an attractive urban image.

Guido Bruggeman presented the areas of activity of the EBRD. His analysis showed that there are 366 trolleybus systems in Europe, mostly in the developing countries outside the EU (ie. Russia, Ukraine, Romania). From his point of view cities sometimes have too many urban transport systems (ie. tramway, bus, trolleybus). This creates serious problems in fulfilling all of the investment needs and in strengthening competitiveness of the public transport system. Klas Sörensson (Skonetrafiken) and Leila Nielsen (Arriva) presented the process of building the first trolleybus system in Landskrona, Sweden. Three trolleybuses of Solaris/Ganz operate the line between the railway station and Landskrona city centre. Bernt Nielsen, Director of Public Transport of Göteborg titled his presentation as "Why did Göteborg not introduce trolleybuses?" He said that the strategic decision of the city was introducing CNG fuel into the public transport. Main advantages of CNG are in his opinion lower emissions than traditional diesel engines, lower investment costs compared to the trolleybuses as well as the higher flexibility of services.

The second part of the seminar contained presentations of the cities that have a long experience in developing and maintaining trolleybus systems.