page_title: Trolleybuses in Bergen
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Trolleybuses in Bergen / History
caption_attribution_description: Ca 1972 Skoda 9tr trolleybus outside Bergen Technical Museum (http://www.bergenstekniskemuseum.no), possible awaiting restoration. The Skoda 9Tr trolleybus was delivered to 66 cities worldwide from 1961-82, among them the city of Bergen, Norway who bought these simple and very inexpensive models after the bus company was "forced" to continue a trolley service. 20 Skoda 9Tr buses were delivered in January 1973 and according to http://www.home.no/migreg/norsk/ost.html the story tells that they were ready for the museum from the day they arrived ... But the buses soldiered on until 1986, and even though they actually were less advanced than the models the replaced, the sturdy Skodas almost became loved by the citizens of Bergen. The town still operates one trolley line - disliked by many politicians because of the high running costs and loved by local patriots and environmentalists alike.
context_page_description: The Bergen trolleybus system serves the city of Bergen, Norway. It is the only trolleybus system still in operation in Norway and one of two trolleybus systems in Scandinavia.
  It opened on February 24, 1950, as the Bergen Tramway was gradually closed and some of the tram lines were converted to trolleybus. It was built and operated by Bergen Sporvei, and is now operated by its successor, Tide Buss.
  As of 2007, it had six trolleybuses and two dual-mode buses.
context_section_description: The first trolleybus network in Norway, in Drammen, opened in 1909.  Planning for a trolleybus system began in Bergen in 1928, and in 1937 Bergen Sporvei, the company operating Bergen's tramway, began studying trolleybus systems around Europe.  On July 7, 1940 the city council decided to build two trolleybus lines: Line 5, Mulen - city centre - Møhlenpris,  and line 7, Nordnes - city centre - Fjøsangerveien.  In 1942 Bergen Sporvei started converting some of its gasoline buses to trolleybuses, but in 1944 the German occupation forces took the completed bus and moved it to Lübeck, and the company stopped rebuilding.
  The fuel shortage during World War II made trolleybuses extremely popular, since Norway had an abundance of cheap electricity.  After the war the construction of the 4.1-km line 5 started, and in 1950 it replaced tram line 3. By that time, five gasoline buses had been converted, giving a headway of 10 minutes.  A year later, three more buses were bought from Strømmens Værksted and the headway was reduced to 7.5 minutes. The line was popular, and traffic increased. In 1954 the conversion of tram line 2 to trolleybus started, and in 1957 the 6.5-km line 2 opened with 18 new buses. The ridership reached its peak in 1959 with more than ten million passengers per year on the two routes. In 1960 the sale of cars in Norway was deregulated, resulting in fewer public transport riders.
  Through the 1970s Bergen Sporvei tried to end trolleybus operation, but the city council would not allow that. However, in 1995 there was major road works resulting in the closure of line 5.  As of 2007 line 5 was still closed, leaving line 2 the only trolleybus line in Norway.
  Plans related to the new Bergen Light Rail system involve expanding the trolleybus line from Møhlenpris to Oasen and from Mulen to Paradis. In 2019, ten trolleybusses were ordered for NOK 80 million, each with 55 kWh battery. The line is to be extended to Laksevåg.
caption: A Skoda 9Tr, in service in Bergen from 1973 to 1986.
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D300", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Ver.1.10", "Image DateTime": "2010:08:18 11:41:21", "Image Artist": "", "Image WhitePoint": "[313/1000, 329/1000]", "Image PrimaryChromaticities": "[16/25, 33/100, 21/100, 71/100, 3/20, 3/50]", "Image YCbCrCoefficients": "[299/1000, 587/1000, 57/500]", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image Copyright": "", "Image ExifOffset": "472", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 2, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "33572", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "300", "Thumbnail YResolution": "300", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "33700", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "9215", "Thumbnail YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/800", "EXIF FNumber": "14", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "640", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2010:08:18 11:41:21", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2010:08:18 11:41:21", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "22/5", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Flash", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "46", "EXIF SubSecTime": "34", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "34", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "34", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "4288", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2848", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R03", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "33540", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 0, 1, 1, 2]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "69", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF Gamma": "11/5"}