Wybrane aspekty funkcjonowania komunikacji trolejbusowej w Gdyni

Abstract

Trolley bus transport is found at present only in three cities in Poland: Gdynia, Lublin and Tychy. This article presents historical development as well as certain current aspects of the functioning of this means of transport in Gdynia. Gdynia is a city where trolley buses have been used constantly for the last 60 years. There have been periods of development and regress of the trolley bus system. The years 1943-1957 was the time of building the traction and its reconstruction after the war damages, opening of the first lines and completing the rolling-stock. The height of thr development of trolley bus transport in Gdynia were the years 1958-1970, when the rolling-stock was modernised and increased. This made possible the establishing of new lines and further development of the trolley bus system. Unfavourable politics of the state in the 1960s and 1970s contributed to a decline of this means of transport in the years 1972-1980. In some cities in Poland it was eliminated completely, in Gdynia the length of trolley bus lines was reduced, most of the lines were closed down, the number of passengers fell, but thanks to a growing ecological awareness trolley buses were not altogether dispensed with. The revitalisation of trolley bus transport began after 1980. Part of the previously destroyed traction was rebuilt, new lines from the centre of the city to new residential districts in the north and south of the city were opened. After 1990, with the aim of adapting public transport to the rules of free market economy, a number of changes were introduced in the organisational structure of the whole public transport in Gdynia. Restructuring was conducted in a few stages. The year 1998 was decisive for the trolley bus transport, because in this year the Trolley Bus Transport Company was isolated from the City Public Transport Company. This article also discusses the present shape of the trolley bus system and characterises the changes in the rolling-stock, the length of the trolley-bus lines and the number of passengers in the years 1993-2002. In the final section the perspectives and possible ways of further development of the trolley-bus transport in Gdynia have been outlined.