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ON THE ROAD: Stagecoach's new-look trolley bus gets a test-drive around the Wellington suburb of Kilbirnie, followed by one of the older models it may replace.
ROB KITCHIN/Dominion Post

End of section for old trolley buses?
11 March 2003
By KIM RUSCOE

A new state-of-the-art prototype trolley bus has arrived in Wellington and is expected to go into service within three weeks.

Stagecoach engineering director Alan Cannell said the new-style buses would cost about $250,000 each, eventually replacing the company's aging 59-strong trolley bus fleet.

The existing fleet ranges in age from 16 to 20 years.

If all went well with the prototype, the first batch of replacements would arrive towards the end of the year, Mr Cannell said.

It features side-opening sliding doors, a low floor, stepless entry, "kneeling" and wheelchair facilities.

Electric fan heaters replaced the old tube ones and new design fibreglass "bendy poles", which came off overhead wires less often and allowed drivers to go faster around corners, had been installed.

"This is pioneering stuff," he said. "We're cutting new ground."

The prototype was essentially a new body fitted with parts recycled from an old trolley bus, such as the motor, axle and electric control system.

A second prototype using an old body and new, improved components had been built at the company's Kilbirne workshop and would be trialled during the next three weeks, alongside the new-look bus.

The aim was to eventually combine the two prototypes into one, Mr Cannell said.