List of trolley bus systems in Canada

This is a list of trolley bus systems in Canada by province. It includes all trolley bus systems, past and present. Use of boldface for a city name and color highlighting indicates systems that still exist; in the case of Canada, there is only one such system, that of Vancouver.

Toronto Transit Commission Flyer trolley bus no. 9228, operating on route 63-Ossington, 1987.

Alberta

Name of system (current or last)	Location	Date (from)	Date (to)	Notes
Calgary Transit System	Calgary	1 June 1947 ^[1]	8 March 1975 ^[1]
Edmonton Transit System^[fn 1]	Edmonton	24 September 1939 ^[1]	2 May 2009 ^[2]	See also Trolley buses in Edmonton.

British Columbia

Name of system (current or last)	Location	Date (from)	Date (to)	Notes
TransLink^[fn 2]	Vancouver	16 August 1948 ^[1]		Also a demonstration, 5–14 December 1945. See also Trolley buses in Vancouver.

Note: There was also a demonstration trolley bus line in Victoria in 1945,^[3] operated by the British Columbia Electric Railway, from 19 to 30 November 1945.^{[citation needed]}

Manitoba

Name of system (current or last)	Location	Date (from)	Date (to)	Notes
Metro Transit^[fn 3]	Winnipeg	21 November 1938 ^[1]	30 October 1970 ^[1]

Nova Scotia

Name of System	Location	Date (From)	Date (To)	Notes
Nova Scotia Light and Power Company, Limited	Halifax	27 March 1949 ^[1]	31 December 1969 ^[1]

Ontario

Name of system	Location	Date (from)	Date (to)	Notes
Cornwall Street Railway, Light and Power Company, Limited	Cornwall	8 June 1949 ^[1]	31 May 1970 ^[1]
Fort William Transit Company	Fort William	15 December 1947 ^[1]	1970	see Thunder Bay.
Hamilton Street Railway	Hamilton	10 December 1950 ^[1]	30 December 1992 ^[1]
Kitchener Public Utilities Commission	Kitchener	1 January 1947 ^[1]	26 March 1973 ^[1]
Ottawa Transportation Commission	Ottawa	15 December 1951 ^[1]	27 June 1959
Port Arthur Transit	Port Arthur	15 December 1947 ^[1]	1970	see Thunder Bay.
Thunder Bay Transit	Thunder Bay	15 December 1947 ^[1]	16 July 1972 ^[1]	Fort William and Port Arthur merged to form Thunder Bay from 31 December 1969.
Toronto Transit Commission bus system Toronto Transit Commission^[fn 4]	Toronto	18 June 1922 ^[1] 19 June 1947 ^[1]	31 August 1925 ^[1] 16 July 1993 ^[4]	Service suspended 19 Jan. to 4 Sep. 1992.^[5] Final closure on 16 July 1993 (the very early hours of 17 July).^[4]
Sandwich, Windsor & Amherstburg Railway Company	Windsor	5 May 1922 ^[1]	November 1926 (?)^[6]

Quebec

Name of system	Location	Date (from)	Date (to)	Notes
Montreal Tramways Company	Montreal	29 March 1937 ^[1]	18 June 1966 ^[1]	Montreal Tramways Company succeeded by the Montreal Transit Commission, 1951

Saskatchewan

Name of system	Location	Date (from)	Date (to)	Notes
Regina Municipal Railway Regina Transit System	Regina	4 September 1947 ^[1]	28 February 1966 ^[1]
Saskatoon Transit System	Saskatoon	22 November 1948 ^[1]	13 May 1974 ^[1]

See also

•  Buses portal
•  Canada portal

• List of trolley bus systems, for all other countries
• Trolley bus usage by country
• List of street railways in Canada
• List of tram and light rail transit systems
• Lists of rapid transit systems
• Public transport in Canada

Notes

1. Previous operators of the Edmonton trolley bus system were Edmonton Radial Railway, 1939–46, and Edmonton Transportation System, 1946–77.
2. Previous operators of the Vancouver system were British Columbia Electric Railway, 1948–1962; BC Hydro, 1962–73; Greater Vancouver Transit System, 1973–78; Urban Transit Authority, 1978–82; and BC Transit, 1982–99.
3. Formerly known as the Greater Winnipeg Transit Commission (1953–60), which replaced the Winnipeg Electric Company (1924–53). Replaced by Winnipeg Transit in Jan. 1972.
4. Name was Toronto Transportation Commission until 31 December 1953.

Sources

Books and periodicals

• Murray, Alan. 2000. World Trolleybus Encyclopaedia (ISBN 0-904235-18-1). Reading, Berkshire, UK: Trolleybooks.
• Porter, Harry; and Stanley F.X. Worris. 1979. Trolleybus Bulletin No. 109: Databook II. North American Trackless Trolley Association (defunct).
• Sebree, Mac; and Paul Ward. 1974. The Trolley Coach in North America (Interurbans Special 59). Los Angeles, US: Interurbans. LCCN 74-20367.
• Trolleybus Magazine (ISSN 0266-7452). National Trolleybus Association (UK). Bimonthly.

References

1. Murray (2000), p. 78.
2. Trolleybus Magazine (TM) No. 286 (July–August 2009), pp. 87 and 89. National Trolleybus Association (UK). ISSN 0266-7452.
3. Murray (2000), p. 131.
4. TM No. 192, Nov.-Dec. 1993, p. 158.
5. TM Nos. 183, May–June 1992, pp. 53, 69; and 187, Jan.-Feb. 1993, p. 22.
6. Murray (2000) gives a closure date of May 1926.

Further reading

• Baker, John E. 1982. Winnipeg's Electric Transit: The Story of Winnipeg's Streetcars and Trolley Buses (ISBN 0-919130-31-3). Toronto, Ontario: Railfare Enterprises Ltd.
• Hatcher, Colin K.; and Tom Schwarzkopf. 1983. Edmonton's Electric Transit: The Story of Edmonton's Streetcars and Trolley Buses (ISBN 0-919130-33-X). Toronto, Ontario: Railfare.
• Kelly, Brian; and Daniel Francis. 1990. Transit in British Columbia: The First Hundred Years (ISBN 1-55017-021-X). Madeira Park (BC), Canada: Harbour Publishing.
• Leger, Paul A.; and Loring M. Lawrence. 1994. Halifax - City of Trolley Coaches (ISBN 0-9699267-0-7). Windsor, Ontario: Bus History Association.
• Saitta, Joseph P. Traction Yearbook '81; also '82, '83, '84, '85, '86, '87. Merrick (NY), US: Traction Slides International.
• Sebree, Mac; and Paul Ward. 1973. Transit's Stepchild, The Trolley Coach (Interurbans Special 58). Los Angeles: Interurbans. LCCN 73-84356.
• Hatcher, Colin K.; and Tom Schwarzkopf. 2009. Calgary's Electric Transit: an illustrated history of electrified public transportation in Canada's oil capital (ISBN 978-1-897190-55-5) Toronto, Ontario: Railfare.

External links

 

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Trolleybuses in Canada.

• All-Time List of North American Trolleybus Systems
• Tom's North American Trolley Bus Pictures
• Bibliography of the Electric Trolleybus (Richard DeArmond)