ABSTRACT
The railless trolley omnibus, or, as it is sometimes called, the trackless trolley omnibus, has been evolved as a compromise between the petrol motor omnibus and the ordinary type of electric tram. The railless system was first introduced in Westphalia in 1903, but it was not adopted in Britain till 1911, when trolley bus routes were opened to public service in both Bradford and Leeds. The advantages claimed for the railless trolley bus may be summarized by comparing it on the one hand with the normal type of tramcar, and on the other with the motor bus. Even the rigid six-wheeler-the law does not allow flexible six-wheelers to be utilized for passenger traffic-of Bradford is capable of seating only sixty passengers, though in practice but fifty-nine seats are provided. Running costs per passenger-mile are lower than with a petrol bus, provided traffic is sufficient to warrant a service of, roughly speaking, four to six vehicles per hour.
