ON THE (TROLLEY) BUSES

Speedy, silent and environmentally friendly, trolley buses were a popular form of public transport until withdrawn in 1968. Fondly remembered 50 years on, trolley buses drew their power from a network of overhead lines running from Hobart and Launceston to their nearest suburbs. The first of these vehicles started running in Hobart in 1935 and Launceston in 1951, eventually replacing trams in both cities and running on special concrete roads in some locations. Macquarie St, pictured, was the busiest route. Ian G. Cooper writes in his book, Tasmania’s Trolley Buses, that history worked against the service, including new housing estates developed far from trolley bus routes, as well as droughtinduced power shortages in 1967. Conventional buses were more flexible and mobile, and seen as the way of the future. Cooper’s book is at Petrarch’s Book Shop in Launceston and at Dymocks in Hobart.