What could be a better place to hold this year’s electric bus conference organised by the trolley:motion association than the Czech capital Prague? Not (only) due to its tourist appeal, of course, but above all because of the opening of the first two lines of a modern battery-powered trolleybus system. This attracted a lot of international attention (we reported here, among other things) in the professional world.
As a result, the Prague DPP actively supported the organisation of the conference, which included a number of interesting presentations and a visit to the new line 59, which started revenue service in March. It is operated with double-articulated battery trolleybuses from Skoda (with bodies from the Polish manufacturer Solaris) – up to 17 of the existing 20 vehicles are in use on the line during the day. The UITP was also present with various representatives and the trolleybus committee – the joined event together with the UITP proved to be a very good idea to combine forces.
As part of the conference, the UITP eBRT 2023 project gave an overview of the objectives and current status of efforts to increase the use and expansion of Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) systems, particularly in Europe, including the various efforts to further develop technology in the field of electric mobility in the bus sector, for example through in-motion charging solutions and enhanced electric road systems in the area of charging infrastructure, but also in the fields of IoT connectivity and vehicle development.
