| Mendoza trolleybus system | |
| An ex Solingen TS trolleybus (since withdrawn) in Mendoza, 2007. | |
| Operation | |
| Locale | Mendoza, Argentina |
| Open | 14 February 1958 |
| Status | Open |
| Routes | 4 |
| Operator(s) | Empresa Provincial de Transporte de Mendoza (EPTM) |
| Overview | |
| Website | Empresa Provincial de Transportes (Spanish) |
The Mendoza trolleybus system (Spanish: Sistema de trolebuses de Mendoza) is part of the public transport network in Mendoza, the capital city of Mendoza Province, Argentina.
Opened in 1958, the system presently comprises four lines, which link the city centre with some of its metropolitan suburbs.
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The system traces its origins to law no 825, enacted in 1958 with the goal of making a trolleybus system one of the main means of transport in the city and the suburbs surrounding it.[1]
On 14 February 1958, at the intersection of 9 de Julio and Necochea streets, Dr. Isidoro Bousquet formally opened Mendoza's trolleybus system.[2] The first line to be put into service by the system's operator, the Empresa Provincial de Transporte de Mendoza (EPTM), was the Park line, also known as line number 1. To this day, that line still follows the same route (9 de Julio, Colon, Arístides Villanueva, Boulogne Sur Mer, Jorge A. Calle, Perú and Godoy streets).[1]
The Mendoza trolleybus system has grown in recent years, with the authorization of branches connecting Godoy Cruz with Las Heras, and the bus terminal with the National University of Cuyo.
The system currently has four lines.
Mendoza's initial trolleybuses were a fleet of Japanese made Toshiba vehicles. In 1984, the system acquired some Russian Uritzky trolleybuses. These vehicles were then partially replaced in 1988 by 78 second hand trolleybuses that had previously operated on the Solingen trolleybus system in Germany. After these German trolleybuses, known as Trolleybus Solingen (TS) buses, had arrived in Mendoza, the EPTM put 58 of them back into service.[3]
The remaining 20 TS vehicles were used initially as spare parts donors. However, due to a network expansion in about 2005, even more TS vehicles were reactivated. All of the TS trolleybuses were provided with new numbers in Mendoza, and in 1997 they were reliveried in blue. Due to their German origins, they were also known in Argentina as los alemanes (the Germans). TS vehicle no. 37 was given a special task. For a time, it was used for tourist sightseeing tours, with a revised interior design and a special livery.[4]
From April 2009, Mendoza's TS trolleybuses were successively replaced. By early March 2010, there were only eleven TS vehicles still in use. Their final operating day was 1 May 2010.[5] It is proposed to return one of them to Germany, for preservation by the Obus-Museum Solingen e. V.[3]
The replacements for the TS vehicles were 80 second hand Flyer E901A/E902 vehicles from the Vancouver trolleybus system in Canada.[6] They began to arrive during December 2008, together with a variety of parts, and started entering service a few months later.[7] The Flyer vehicles were intended to allow the EPTM to improve trolleybus services, and to operate extensions of new lines that were already in service.
Media related to [//commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Trolleybuses_in_Mendoza Trolleybuses in Mendoza] at Wikimedia Commons
This article is based upon a translation of the Spanish language version, and of part of the German Wikipedia article Trolleybus Solingen, as at September 2011.
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