Talk:Tag:route=trolleybus

Is this really different than route=bus?

The route relation type route=bus is used for buses powered by electric batteries, fuel cells, CNG, diesel, gasoline and other methods. There are now electric buses that recharge at certain locations using overhead wires but then run off the wire for most of the route. I understand that trolleybuses have overhead wires usually, but does this really require a different type of relation? It looks like many of these buses are just mapped as route=bus. --Jeisenbe (talk) 04:39, 11 January 2020 (UTC)

@Jeisenbe: I think this a classic "it's actually a spectrum" problem. There are many places, where regular buses and trolleybuses are treated as different modes of transport and, for example, have different fares and overlapping route numbers (one that comes to mind is Rīga, Latvia: route numbers 1, 3, 4, 5, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 18, 22, 23 and 25 are both trolleybus and diesel bus routes, which are entirely distinct – trolleybus 1 runs from Pētersalas iela to Valmieras iela, while diesel bus 1 goes from Abrenes iela to Berģuciems); so removing the differentiation between route=bus and route=trolleybus would make using OSM for Rīga public transport info pretty useless and confusing. But even in Rīga, it isn't as clear cut, as trolleybus routes 4, 9 and 27 have sections without wires.

In some countries, trolleybuses are legally treated differently than regular buses. For example in Austria, in some certain circumstances, trolleybuses are treated by law as trams.

So I don't think removing the distinction would be a good idea, although it's true that in the past one or two decades, several forms of buses have appeared, which very much blur the line between a "regular" bus and trolleybuses.

My proposal for a definition would be that any bus route, that is regularily operated with buses that – even only for a short stretch – use overhead wires for electrical supply when driving, is a route=trolleybus route; whereas if the buses are charged at stops only (even if that's an overhead thingy) or only overnight at the depot, it's a route=bus route. -- Metrophil (talk) 20:55, 15 March 2021 (UTC)

Electrical parameters of the used system

As for electric railways it must be possible to show data of the used voltage (usually between 500 and 600 volts), frequency (0 hertz, as usually DC is used) and count of overhead wires (usually 2). Trolley bus lines should be - as electric railways - displayed on maps of the power grid as https://www.flosm.de/html/Stromnetz.html?lat=48.7428368&lon=9.31403559&r=7577.6000&st=0&sw=powercable,powerline,powerline110k,powerline115k,powerline20k,powerline220k,powerline220v,powerline225k,powerline30k,powerline380k,powerline3k,powerline400k,powerline420k,powerline500v,powerline50k,powerline6k,powerline750k,powerline765k,powerlinedchigh,powerlinedclow wie elektrifizierte Bahnlinien erscheinen.