page_title: Trolleybuses in Wellington
section_title: First era
hierarchical_section_title: Trolleybuses in Wellington / History / First era
caption_attribution_description: Catching the miracle: Prototype low-floor trolley 301 has been out of service for over two years. So the surprise of early 2017 was its return to service when closure of the system is imminent. 301 returned to traffic a month ago, but it doesn't appear to have been used much. I saw it a few weeks ago but don't have my camera or phone on me. Luckily today I had my phone and grabbed a shot. Even better is unlike my last encounter 301 didn't scuttle off to the depot. So I managed a sequence of shots on my camera latter in the day. No. 301 was southbound in Willis Street at Bond Street when captured in this photograph. It was built by DesignLine in 2003, as the first prototype for a planned order of new trolleybuses. Two more prototypes, Nos. 302 and 303, were built in 2004–05 (and delivered in May 2005) were again two-axle vehicles. The remaining 57 vehicles in the overall 60-vehicle order were three-axle trolleybuses (numbered 331–387), built in 2007–2009.
context_page_description: Trolleybuses in Wellington were part of the Wellington public transport system from 1924 until 1932 and again from 1949 until 2017. It was the last trolleybus system operating commercially in Oceania and the last major system operating in a country where driving is on the left side of the road.
context_section_description: On 29 September 1924 the first trolleybus route was inaugurated with a single AEC 602 trolleybus running from Thorndon along Hutt Road to Kaiwharawhara (then known as Kaiwarra).
  A trolleybus was chosen over an extension to the Wellington tramway system because a large water main on the route precluded tram track construction. Patronage was not very high, and as bus services in the area were introduced and expanded in the years following, patronage declined further and the service was withdrawn on 30 May 1932.
caption: A DesignLine trolleybus in the city centre in 2017
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