With Toronto set to introduce a fleet of electric buses, one resident has spoken out against the city's historic decision to discontinue a century-old trolleybus system.
In a TikTok video, The Goose (@the_goose_media) describes the costs incurred by Toronto's failure to maintain its trolleybus transit network.
@the_goose_media How "cheaper" is often more expensive. #toronto #ttc #transit #urbanism #bus #sustainability #technology ♬ original sound - The Goose
The electrified trolleybus first came to Toronto in 1890 and for around 100 years connected the city all the way out to its suburbs.
The Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) renewed its trolleybuses in the 1970s, but by the late 1980s, a lack of maintenance had left both trolleybuses and infrastructure no longer fit for purpose.
Most trolleybuses ended up in museums, storage, or sold for scrap. Toronto's last trolley coach was decommissioned in 1992, according to the Transit Toronto website.
The Goose argues that this was a needless waste of money, now that the TTC is returning to an electrified public transit system.
"The wires came down, the pollution went up, and so did the cost to the city," the narrator said in the video. "A lot of people think that green solutions are too expensive, but they're actually investments which pay off in the long run."
Multiple cities are now reckoning with previous failures to maintain old reliable transport routes.
Edinburgh has spent upward of £1 billion ($1.1 billion) to reintroduce a tram network that was decommissioned by 1956, according to the Guardian and The Conversation. Seville has also committed €19.6 million ($21.1 million) to expanding a tram system that it closed in the 1960s and reactivated in 2007, per Politico.
Prioritizing diesel and petrol-powered vehicles for decades has turned out to be short-sighted, as the push to reduce air pollution now necessitates a return to low-pollution transport.
Both trams and trolleybuses reduce air pollution by relying on electricity. They might even be more sustainable than electric vehicles.
Trolleybuses primarily operate by charging off electric wires, according to the video, but if they need to divert from the track's route, they can switch to a backup battery or diesel.
Electric buses, on the other hand, often rely on lithium-ion battery power.
The process of mining for lithium is getting cleaner and requires less energy than extracting dirty fuels, but it still generates pollution. Lithium batteries also contain compounds like cobalt, which has been linked to water pollution, crop contamination, and child labor abuses in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where it is primarily mined.
The lifespan of these batteries is finite. Estimates put a typical electric bus's usable battery life at around 10-12 years, making it an imperfect solution in the push for renewable energy.
Electrified trolleybuses are far less dependent on big batteries, and they're hardly a relic transportation mode. The Goose points out that they are still prolific in Vancouver.
"I love our trolley bus system in Vancouver," one TikToker wrote in the post's comments. "The only time it's a bit of a problem is when it snows."
"They're the best solution honestly," said another.
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