From the
London Evening Standard:
Trolleybuses could make a comeback in London to solve Oxford Street^s public transport problems, under a bold new vision unveiled by the Standard today.
Powered by overhead electricity cables, the vehicles would be almost silent, emission-free and far cheaper to install than trams, which are being considered as an option to the thousands of buses running up and down the busy shopping street.
The trolleybus would be based on the new ^Boris bus^. However its diesel-engine would be removed and replaced with ^clean^ electric motors instead, and the roof strengthened to house electric ^trolley poles^.
The plans have been put to mayor Boris Johnson and will officially be published tomorrow (wed) by transport experts from Autocar magazine, which wants to see the service running from the new Crossrail station at Tottenham Court Road in the east to Marble Arch in the west.
Under the vision, trolleybuses - which used to run in parts of London from the 1930s to the 1960s until they were superseded by diesel - would run along a clearly marked-out, narrow central corridor the length of Oxford Street in each direction, says Autocar.
Power for the on-board electric motors would come from wires supported by a central pylon system.
Hilton Holloway, Autocar associate editor, said: ^Taking inspiration from the ^shared space^ reinvention of Exhibition Road, the answer to Oxford Street^s woes ^ and many other unattractive shopping centres around the UK▸ ^ is part-pedestrianisation and the replacement of the regular buses with an electric trolley bus service. It would be relatively simple to re-engineer the vehicle to run as a Trolley Bus.^
Added Mr Hilton: ^The unobstructed route along Oxford Street would also allow the bus to brake entirely on its motors, eliminating the tiny particles given off from the pads and discs by friction braking.
"The result would be public transport that is not only free of any kind of air or noise pollution but that is also hugely cheaper than a tram because it doesn^t need tracks to be laid in the road surface.^
At peak times up to 280 buses and hour run through Oxford Circus. This summer, it was announced that the West End Commission would consider plans for a light rail or tram service along Oxford Street, instead.
The idea for a tram along the shopping street was first mooted by Ken Livingstone but was dropped as it was considered too expensive and disruptive.
Autocar magazine says that digging down into the road to lay tramlines is highly disruptive because services such as gas, water, electricity and telephone cables must be moved. But trolleycars would run on the existing road surface.
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