page_title: Trolleybuses in Dayton
section_title: Dual-mode buses
hierarchical_section_title: Trolleybuses in Dayton / Fleet / Current fleet / Dual-mode buses
caption_attribution_description: Greater Dayton RTA trolleybus 1404, a 2014-built Gillig/Kiepe dual-mode trolleybus, westbound on route 4, on Third Street at Williams Street, in a pouring rain.
context_page_description: The Dayton trolleybus system forms part of the public transportation network serving Dayton, in the state of Ohio, United States. Opened on April 23, 1933, it presently comprises seven lines, and is operated by the Greater Dayton Regional Transit Authority, with a fleet of 54 trolleybuses.
  One of only five such systems currently operating in the U.S., and the only one in a city without a subway, light rail, or streetcar system, the Dayton trolley bus system is the current manifestation of an electric transit service that has been operated continuously in Dayton since 1888 — longer than in any other city in the United States. By the 1970s, Dayton was already the smallest U.S. city still operating a trolley bus system. For both of these reasons, the city's trolley buses are locally considered an icon of Dayton.
context_section_description: In May 2013, RTA placed an order with Vossloh Kiepe for four prototype low-floor, dual-mode buses, the first of which (No. 1401) arrived on September 29, 2014, and the other three between November 2014 and January 2015.   Gillig provided the bus bodies, using its "BRT" model, into which the Vossloh Kiepe propulsion equipment was installed.  All four are capable of operating as trolley buses, but for operation away from the trolley wires, two use a diesel-powered generator to power the traction motors (similar to a hybrid bus) and two use batteries only.  Vossloh Kiepe referred to the technology as "NexGen", for Next Generation, a branding that RTA has also used when referring to the new vehicles. The prototype buses began to enter service in early 2015, running in both trolley mode and diesel or battery mode, for evaluation.  It was planned that after testing, which was expected to last about one year, RTA would choose between the two designs and consider placing an order large enough to replace its entire ETI trolley bus fleet. In 2015, RTA had already included in its budgeting for future years $43 million for an eventual purchase of 41 more Gillig/Vossloh Kiepe dual-mode buses, for delivery by 2019, if testing of the four prototype vehicles showed the design to be reliable and worth the cost. Of the two alternative designs, the one using batteries for operation away from the trolley wires was chosen at the conclusion of testing; they carry RTA fleet numbers 1403 and 1404.
  In fall 2016, RTA's Board of Trustees approved moving ahead with an acquisition of at least 26 additional dual-mode buses, once federal officials approved the final design; that approval was received at the beginning of 2018.  In January 2018, RTA placed an order with Kiepe – which meanwhile had been sold by Vossloh and renamed Kiepe Electric – for 26 production-series dual-mode buses of the same type as prototypes 1403–1404, with bodies and chassis supplied by Gillig as a subcontractor to Kiepe.  The first unit is expected to arrive in spring 2019. The final assembly of all but the first two or three vehicles was originally planned to take place in Dayton, but that plan was later dropped, in exchange for an accelerated production schedule.  In November 2018, RTA placed an order with Kiepe for an additional 15 buses of the same type.  
  In April 2018, prototype No. 1404 was repainted in a new green-and-silver paint scheme which RTA intends to use for the new vehicles on order.
caption: No. 1404 in the new green-and-silver paint scheme, on route 4 in 2018
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "", "Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot SX260 HS", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2018:05:18 09:47:14", "Image ExifOffset": "222", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/200", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF SensitivityType": "Standard Output Sensitivity and Recommended Exposure Index", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0230", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2018:05:18 09:47:14", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2018:05:18 09:47:14", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "245/32", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "29/8", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, compulsory flash mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "9/2", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1468", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "945", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "692459/60", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "692459/60", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}