Wellington NZ

[captaintrolley]

Wellington NZ just took delivery of their first two BRAND NEW LOW FLOOR Designline Trolleys.

[IRT_BMT_IND]

Any photos?

[captaintrolley]

Photo by Graeme Bennett

[A. Wong]

Cool! The new ones are dual axle.

Here is a comparison shot of their older ones:

(They have reused electronic components)

[Orion VIII]

Looks like an Optima Opus on the front, the side looks like the RTX!

[IRT_BMT_IND]

I personally find them rather ugly. The E40LFR is way nicer IMO.

[captaintrolley]

In this day and age where so many transit properties are using their trolley systems as political pawns, the delivery of new trolleys is always a beautiful sight.

[kitchenerlrt]

It looks funny to me. The bus looks like a cyclops .

[M. Parsons]

Cool! The new ones are dual axle.

And, they are 45' long.

I believe all they are reusing are the electric motors.

[captaintrolley]

# 331 & # 332 in their new livery, one of lush green ferns and one of native sea shells called paua. Photos courtesy of Graham Bennett.

[Bus_Medic]

# 331 & # 332 in their new livery, one of lush green ferns and one of native sea shells called paua.

i guess they have diesel backup?

[M. Parsons]

i guess they have diesel backup?

Battery I believe.

Wellington is on my "To Visit" list... hopefully 2010 or 2011. Along with Melbourne.

[captaintrolley]

Yes, battery back up.

[Bus_Medic]

cool.

any ballpark on the range and speed on battery pwr?

only for pwr failures, wire gaps? or can it carry a load like that for say a wire-less branch/loop?

[A. Wong]

From the trolleybus Yahoo! Group:

Wellington new trolleybus debut 20.11.07

Posted by: "Graeme Bennett" wgbtttco@xtra.co.nz oracletttco

Thu Dec 20, 2007 12:46 am (PST)

Today the new buses 331 and 332 together with preserved BUT 119 had

their debut at Karori Sanctuary.

This location is about half Kilometer from the nearest overhead wires

and the new buses drove there under battery power down a mostly one way

road.

Their performance in this mode was excellent, and we were told they

have an off wire range of 5 Kms

Both buses are wrapped in spectacular New Zealand type colour schemes

One being ferns, and the other the colours of the local sea shell

called paua.

I have posted some shots to FILES trolley bus debut.

A further 3 axle trolley is expected tomorrow from the builders and

meanwhile the second Designline trolley bus to be painted yellow, 303

was completed today, and its place in the paint shop has been taken by

301.

wgb

[Bus_Medic]

From the trolleybus Yahoo! Group:

thanks. 5 kms is rather impressive.

[captaintrolley]

Some very sad news out of Wellington.... (sounds like a repeat of Edmonton)

http://www.stuff.co.nz/dominion-post/news/9830785/The-lines-are-coming-down

[IRT_BMT_IND]

Some very sad news out of Wellington.... (sounds like a repeat of Edmonton)

http://www.stuff.co....are-coming-down

Very unfortunate, though the Wellington trolleybus system has been on thin ice for years. From reading old usenet posts on Google Groups from the 90s, few expected the system to last into the 2000s. Though it's odd given that the fleet is almost brand new and the overhead was almost totally rebuilt.

[captaintrolley]

The sad part is that the buses are fairly new low floors and lots of money spent on recent upgrades. The system is not derelict and falling apart.

[TheAverageJoe]

Some very sad news out of Wellington.... (sounds like a repeat of Edmonton)

http://www.stuff.co....are-coming-down

I just read that last night on the Trolley bus Facebook group.

[captaintrolley]

This appeared in a Wellington Newspaper this week.

[M. Parsons]

Captain! You missed this important news dated May 3 that Wellington's trolleys were going to survive longer than expected! Apparently nothing has really come about with their replacements. Surprised? Probably not.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/national/92140044/wellingtons-trolley-buses-to-continue-as-uncertainty-remains-over-replacements

[captaintrolley]

Seems like I always miss the good news..

[Transit geek]

Has the Wrightspeed re-powering project been abandoned? It would set a fabulous lead for the adoption of E-buses. Like trolleybuses, they're completely emission-free but are autonomous like ordinary buses, plus they'll probably have greater range than one that runs entirely off batteries. And the best thing is, they won't have to send any of their buses to the dump. I'd be shocked to see 10-year-old trolleys scrapped in perfectly mint conditions.

[M. Parsons]

On 2017-6-12 at 10:45 AM, Transit geek said:

It would set a fabulous lead for the adoption of E-buses. Like trolleybuses, they're completely emission-free but are autonomous like ordinary buses, plus they'll probably have greater range than one that runs entirely off batteries.

You contradict yourself- How are they completely emission-free, yet as you said "have greater range than one that runs entirely off batteries"?

The Wrightspeed proposal is to convert them to hybrids. Basically hybrid diesels. Granted, I believe it's more of a micro-turbine than a conventional diesel engine granted.

From Wrightspeeds website:

"The 80kW, fuel agnostic Fulcrum™ Turbine Generator charges on-board batteries, which provide power to turn the wheels and give the buses unlimited range with refueling"

Puullease. A diesel bus has unlimited range with refueling too. And a BYD has unlimited range with recharging. And a trolleybus has unlimited range as long as the wires are energized. 

I for one am skeptical of this Wrightspeed proposal. I just hope that Wellington doesn't rush into this (1 month of testing!?) and purchase basically a prototype fleet. Yes, the hybrid concept is proven but the use of micro-turbines, not so much. Seems a waste to throw away a trolleybus system for that.