Farewell to the MBTA Trackless Trolleys

March 12th, 2022.

An end of an era.

An end of an 86 year era.

The MBTA has made the decision to get rid of the Trackless Trolleys due to the roadway work in Cambridge and Watertown, with substitute diesel service for two years and an eventual replacement of XE40s, or battery electric buses. This is a step in the wrong direction, due to the fact that this requires new diesel infrastructure to a zero emission fleet of buses. This is a backwards move on the T’s part due to the fact that the T has a fleet of over 1000 diesels, so why not replace those first other than the zero emission buses we already have? Granted, the Neoplan trackless trolleys are beyond their useful life, however, why not get in motion charging, battery assisted XTE40s?

IMCs can charge on the overhead wire and can go 10-15 miles off wire, so they could be used on diversion and also be used on other Harvard routes, such as the 74, 75, 77, 96, and even the Red Line shuttle. The Ts main argument against this is to say that their wire wasn’t maintained well enough (lol), so why not replace some of the wire on the 71 and the 77A while the roadway work takes place like they did with the 73 a few years ago? Why not span new wire, not just in the Harvard area but all over Boston? But that is something the T would never do in a million years.

Anyway, I didn’t expect to rant in this whole description but I wanted to dedicate footage that I’ve taken from August of 2021 to February of 2022 along the 71, 73, 77A and even Huron/Aberdeen to commemorate these iconic buses.

Long live the Trackless.