The Fribourg

trolleybus A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or trol ...

system (french: Réseau trolleybus de Fribourg) forms part of the

public transport Public transport (also known as public transportation, public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) is a system of transport for passengers by group travel systems available for use by the general public unlike private transport, typi ...

network in

Fribourg , neighboring_municipalities= Düdingen, Givisiez, Granges-Paccot, Marly, Pierrafortscha, Sankt Ursen, Tafers, Villars-sur-Glâne , twintowns = Rueil-Malmaison (France) , website = www.ville-fribourg.ch , Location of , Location of () () ...

, capital of the canton of

, Switzerland. The system also serves the neighbouring municipalities of

Villars-sur-Glâne Villars-sur-Glâne (; frp, Velârs-sur-Gllânna ) is a municipality in the district of Sarine in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland. Geography Villars-sur-Glâne has an area, , of . Of this area, or 29.3% is used for agricultural purpose ...

and

Givisiez Givisiez (; frp, Gevesiér ) is a municipality in the district of Sarine in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland. It was formerly known in German as ''Siebenzach'', but this usage is no longer common. History Givisiez is first mentioned in ...

, using one line in each case.

History

The current system is the second of two trolleybus systems to operate in Fribourg. The first opened on 4 January 1912 and connected the town with

Farvagny Farvagny (; frp, Farvagni) is a former municipality in the district of Sarine in the canton of Fribourg in Switzerland. The former municipalities of Farvagny-le-Grand, Farvagny-le-Petit, Grenilles and Posat merged in 1996 to form it.

. The solitary route, long, was largely rural, and the fleet comprised just three vehicles. It closed on 21 May 1932. It was the first trolleybus system in Switzerland and was the country's only such service for its entire 20-year existence. The Lausanne trolleybus system opened a few months after closure of the Fribourg–Farvagny line. The second Fribourg trolleybus system opened on 31 January 1949 and gradually replaced the Fribourg tramway network, the last line of which closed on 31 March 1965. The individual line sections of the Fribourg trolleybus system went into operation as follows:

Lines

The present system is made up of the following

cross-city route A cross-city route is a public transport route linking one suburb (or satellite) of a city or town with another, usually relatively distant, suburb (or satellite). Such a route can be operated by various forms of public transport, including co ...

s, including dual-mode line 1:

Fleet

Retired fleet

In the past, at one time or another the trolleybus fleet has included two-axle vehicles made by several different manufacturers, including

Vétra Vétra (or Vetra), or more formally the ,Dölling, Gerhard (1993). ''Straßenbahnatlas Schweiz 1993'', p. 12. Berlin: Arbeitsgemeinschaft Blickpunkt Straßenbahn e.V. .

Renault Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French multinational automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of cars and vans, and in the past has manufacture ...

, Vétra-

Berliet Berliet was a French manufacturer of automobiles, buses, trucks and military vehicles among other vehicles based in Vénissieux, outside of Lyon, France. Founded in 1899, and apart from a five-year period from 1944 to 1949 when it was put into 'a ...

, Saurer,

Henschel Henschel & Son (german: Henschel und Sohn) was a German company, located in Kassel, best known during the 20th century as a maker of transportation equipment, including locomotives, trucks, buses and trolleybuses, and armoured fighting v ...

and

Volvo The Volvo Group ( sv, Volvokoncernen; legally Aktiebolaget Volvo, shortened to AB Volvo, stylized as VOLVO) is a Swedish multinational manufacturing corporation headquartered in Gothenburg. While its core activity is the production, distributio ...

.Murray, A.G. (March–April 1986). "Trolley Bookshelf" (long, detailed book review of ''Fribourg en Tram'', by S. Jacobi

985 Year 985 ( CMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. Events By place Europe * Summer – Henry II (the Wrangler) is restored as duke of Bavaria by Empress Theoph ...

. ''Trolleybus Magazine'' No. 146, pp. 46–47. National Trolleybus Association (UK). . All of these were purchased new except for the four Henschels (nos. 43–46), which came secondhand from the

Giessen Giessen, spelled Gießen in German (), is a town in the German state (''Bundesland'') of Hesse, capital of both the district of Giessen and the administrative region of Giessen. The population is approximately 90,000, with roughly 37,000 univer ...

, Germany, trolleybus system (in whose fleet they had been nos. 19–22). The first

articulated An articulated vehicle is a vehicle which has a permanent or semi-permanent pivot joint in its construction, allowing it to turn more sharply. There are many kinds, from heavy equipment to buses, trams and trains. Steam locomotives were sometim ...

vehicles were purchased in 1988–89. Numbered 101–112, they were

Hess Hess or Heß may refer to: * Hess (surname), also ''Heß'' in German, people with the surname Hess * Hess, Oklahoma, a community in the United States * Hess Educational Organization, the largest private provider of English instruction in the Rep ...

-bodied Volvos with

ABB ABB Ltd. is a Swedish- Swiss multinational corporation headquartered in Zürich, Switzerland. The company was formed in 1988 when Sweden's Allmänna Svenska Elektriska Aktiebolaget (ASEA) and Switzerland's Brown, Boveri & Cie merged to crea ...

electrical equipment, and they were also dual-mode. They used their diesel engines to operate unwired extensions – sections not equipped with

overhead wires An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, trolleybuses or trams. It is known variously as: * Overhead catenary * Overhead contact system (OCS) * Overhead equipment ...

– of trolleybus route 2, beyond Moncor to Les Biches and Les Dailles. In 2005, the route section to Les Dailles was fitted with trolleybus wiring, allowing trolleybuses to serve route 2 entirely in electric mode, except for certain weekday trips to Les Biches, which section remained unwired.''Trolleybus Magazine'' No. 263 (Sep.-Oct. 2005), p. 121.

Current fleet

A total of 21 vehicles is available to operate trolleybus services in Fribourg, all of them

low-floor Accessibility is the design of products, devices, services, vehicles, or environments so as to be usable by people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design and practice of accessible development ensures both "direct access" (i. ...

articulated buses:

References

Notes

Books

External links

* * {{Use dmy dates, date=January 2012 Transport in Fribourg

1912 establishments in Switzerland 1949 establishments in Switzerland