Ulm / Neu-Ulm: Are trolleybuses the solution for local transport in Ulm and Neu-Ulm?

Plus

Trolleybuses ran through Ulm and Neu-Ulm until 1963. They are to be introduced soon in Berlin. Is technology coming back here? You see problems in town halls.

On April 24, 1947, the first trolleybuses drove over the Gänstorbrücke from Ulm to New Ulm, another line followed, and additional ones were considered. They were not introduced; instead, this technology ended again in October 1963. The concept is now considered modern again. The Berliner Verkehrsgesellschaft (BVG), for example, is planning to use trolleybuses again in the future. How is it in Ulm and Neu-Ulm?

“Trolleybuses have been introduced relatively successfully in other cities,” says Ulm’s building mayor, Tim von Winning. However, this special transport system is not suitable for the twin cities. Because new overhead lines and an own workshop would be necessary again. With the trams and the city buses you would then have three different systems, that would be too much and too complicated for the size of Ulm and Neu-Ulm.

–

The trolleybuses, also known as trolleybuses, have advantages over trams, for example because they can bypass an obstacle and because, thanks to an additional drive, a continuous overhead line is no longer necessary. But they are also less comfortable and less popular than trams and not as flexible as conventional buses.

Trolleybuses were only vague considerations in the plans of the city of Neu-Ulm

“That probably has no added value,” says Jörg Oberle, urban planner at the city of Neu-Ulm. The concept was used as a tram replacement in the post-war period. But the added value compared to normal buses is limited, and the necessary infrastructure is extremely complex. “The topic will not play a role for us,” says Oberle. There were vague considerations, but they were rejected again, adds the Neu-Ulm traffic planner Andreas Borgmann.

–

In other cities it is apparently seen differently. For example in Berlin, where a new trolleybus network is to come. A spokesman for the BVG reports that the use of trolleybuses in the Spandau area is still in an early planning phase. A corresponding concept is currently being developed, which will then be coordinated with the responsible senate administration. “The exact start of operations can only be realistically estimated after the preliminary planning has been carried out,” the spokesman continued.

Trolleybuses operate in three German cities

The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung praised a little more than two years ago that the cities of Solingen, Eberswalde and Esslingen had always held on to their trolleybuses: In the fight against CO₂ and other emissions, the technology, which has been tried and tested for decades, turns out to be an opportunity for climate-neutral local transport.

Trolleybuses have not only been established in these three German cities for many years, but also, for example, in Salzburg and many cities in Eastern Europe. “The trolleybus is as much a part of Salzburg as the Mozartkugel,” said Martin Laimböck, head of trolleybus at Salzburg AG, in May 2020 in an interview with the Salzburg news. But what Ulm’s building mayor Tim von Winning claims for the Ulm tram should play a role there: if transport systems are established and popular with the citizens, they are used a lot. Then they represent added value for inner-city mobility and are also more economically viable.

Trolleybuses drove through Ulm and Neu-Ulm for 15 years

“Ongoing disruptions at the crossing points of the overhead lines of trolleybuses and trams were the decisive factor in switching from trolleybus to omnibus operation in the medium term,” reports Daniel Riechers in his 1997 book “100 years of trams Ulm / Neu-Ulm, which im Ulm city archives and it sounds regrettable when Riechers concludes: “Back then, nobody spoke of environmental protection.” Neu-Ulmer Zeitung the farewell round after 15 years on October 23, 1963 was worth a 15-line message: The trolleybus must give way to a traffic-related development and, as in other cities, will be retired, it says.

Also read:

We want to know what you think: Die Augsburg General therefore works with the polling institute Civey together. Read here what the representative surveys are all about and why you should register.

Topics follow

– .