Battery-electric buses have been increasingly foisted upon transit agencies around the country despite their nascent nature and growing recognition that battery-electric buses — at least at this stage of development — are a serious threat to reliability, service delivery, and the agency bottom line. But there’s an electric bus technology that has existed for almost a century that continues to go untapped at scale. Alan Fisher of Armchair Urbanist dives into how San Francisco is ready-made for electric trolleybuses and has a robust network of them today — just like Seattle — and why they’re better than battery-electric buses. With a little effort, San Francisco could widely expand electric trolleybuses with strategic investments to almost every corner of the city, Fisher shows.
