Dayton's Trolley Buses, 1991

Return to Dayton, Ohio Index

Dayton, Ohio, is the only midwestern city to have retained its electric trolley bus system. For many years the former president of the transit company, who subsequently served on the public company's board of directors, protected the system against development interests who wanted to do away with it and replace the electric buses with diesels. They felt that fixed-route transit interfered with their desire to build sprawl wherever they could obtain the cheapest land.

After the death of the former company president, it looked for a while as though the trolley-bus opponents would have their way. When the demise of the system appeared imminent, I drove to Dayton to take some photos of the buses in operation. Fortunately, the citizens of Dayton protested vigorously against dieselizing the entire system. One of the objections cited was a movement toward ever more strict clean-air standards across the country, and the contribution that electric transit could make toward meeting those standards. The opponents of clean, quiet mass transit did not prevail, and soon a section of cantenary that had been interrupted was restored and a line was extended, and new trolley buses were ordered.

My Dayton photos from that day-trip:

Return to Dayton, Ohio Index