An opinon piece that appeared in today's Wellington Dominion Post on the flash-chage electric buses that have been trialed in Geneva and which may now be considered as a replacement for Wellington's trolleybuses:
The city of Geneva has recently introduced the TOSA. This is a futuristic-looking electric bus which operates without overhead wires in the central city.

Sleek, quiet and contemporary, the TOSA has passed its first trials and is about to go into more active service.

Powered by electricity, it is charged before the start of a shift and between routes at the terminus, and is then topped up with a "flash charge" lasting just 15 seconds at each bus stop.

It charges while passengers are boarding and alighting with no delays.

The connection to an overhead docking station is automatic, meaning that the driver is not distracted from the core tasks of passenger service and safety.

There are no overhead wires required, diminishing visual pollution and the TOSA is light, without the heavy batteries characteristic of some types of electric buses, making it more roomy for passengers and less cumbersome in the street.

The TOSA is just one of many and varied prototypes of new generation electric buses that are coming into service around the world.

The public case seems to be building against trolleybuses in the city.

That's because they use much of the same supply infrastructure as the trams which left our streets in the 1960s and which is now at the end of its life.

They also suffer from the perception of being slow, heavy, prone to breakdown causing traffic jams and expensive to buy and maintain.

What continues to attract us is their electric propulsion.

First and foremost electricity is clean and renewable.

It is almost silent in an era when people want less noise pollution in city streets.

Electric-powered vehicles can accelerate quickly making them effective where they stop often.

It would be unthinkable to not have electric trains in Wellington.

It is generally true that electric systems are currently more expensive to introduce and run than fossil fuel.

A refurbished trolleybus system would be particularly expensive, but there are other, new and cost-effective electric technologies currently being proven around the world.

The development of low emission public transport systems is well advanced in the EU.

Both electric and hydrogen options are being considered. It is generally accepted that these options and their diesel equivalents will be cost comparable within 10-15 years (if not before).

We would agree with the public comments of Zane Fulljames of NZ Bus, the local bus operators, that the real goal is to get more Wellingtonians onto public transport.

To achieve this we need the right routes (and road design), timetables, fare and ticketing systems, but what people ride in - the actual bus - is also a vital part of the package.

New modern eco-friendly TOSA-like vehicles would attract Wellingtonians onto public transport. It happened with the trains, both here and Auckland, but if they fail the reliability test they can lose patronage very quickly.

Public transport infrastructure provision requires us to look 30 or 40 years into the future. The relatively lower cost of fossil fuelled buses is true now, but how long will that remain the situation in the future? New Zealand already generates 75 per cent of its current electricity requirements from renewable energy and will push renewable sources to 90 per cent levels by 2025.

This is a unique situation and differentiates us from the rest of the world.. We are clearly well placed to take advantage of new electric technology.

The TOSA is the product of customised design by four organisations taking into account local circumstances and requirements. Extra money spent on good design is saved many times over through the life of the asset, and the TOSA is cost competitive with diesel, claim the promoters, even in today's conditions.

Like any modern city, our needs are complex. It is likely a mix of bus types will be required.

The TOSA does not operate in isolation. The most judicious approach would be to have a mixed fleet as we have at present and gradually adjust it as technology, renewable energy sources and economics evolve.

New generation electricity- powered vehicles, while not new, are still in a relatively early stage of development. The technology will rapidly mature as cities like Geneva and Wellington take them on.

Having part of our fleet on new generation electric buses would get us onto the new technology escalator.

There will be compatibilities with related technologies such as private electric vehicles and light rail as they become more affordable in decades to come.

Our business is electricity which puts us in the position of being able to use our international connections to contribute to finding Wellington's best solution.

The run down of the trolleybus infrastructure has placed us in the position where, ironically, we have choices.

Let's take a leaf out of the book of Geneva's city leaders and work collaboratively on the factors that will get more Wellingtonians into public transport. A diesel-only solution will not provide all the answers. - By Greg Skelton who is the chief executive of Wellington Electricity Lines Ltd. which supplies the electricity and feeder systems for the trolleybuses but not the overhead wire network. (Dominion Post, 12/5/2014)