On Sep 18, 10:09*am, Basil Jet wrote:
Reading about buses that can alternate between battery power and wired
recharging has given me an idea. There are roads near regional centres
that are used by many bus routes, for example Cranbrook Road Ilford,
Romford Station - North Street, Hoe Street Walthamstow, Station Road
Chingford. With a list of only one or two roads per borough, I think
that most bus routes in suburban London use one or more of these
streets. I am wondering if battery technology is near to reaching the
point where wiring only these streets would allow wholesale conversion
of the bus network to rechargeable battery power.

They do this in Budapest. The trolleys can go off-line so to speak as
part of their route. It works very well.

And the latest and very new system is in Wellington, New Zealand.
Stagecoach inherited the previous operation, where trolleybuses were
successful due to the steep volcanic hills in and around the city. But
for some reason Stagecoach scrapped the lot (in Auckland too). Then
the trolleys were re-instated in Wellington by a new company.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trolleybuses_in_Wellington

CJB.