All Aboard! Vilnius' Beautiful New Trolleybuses Are Coming...

In May 2023, it was announced that Vilnius Public Transport had signed a contract to purchase 91 Škoda 32Tr low-floor trolleybuses. Built in the Czech Republic, the 91 buses were purchased at a price of 52.3 million euros.
Vilnius Mayor Valdas Benkunskas called the deal the largest-ever upgrade to the Vilnius public transport fleet.
Source information:
www.lrt.lt/en/news-in-english...
madeinvilnius.lt/en/transport...
www.skodagroup.com/press-rele...
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[@honza_88]

This trolleybuses are amazing, i am travelling in them everyday here in Czechia

[@bazinga-tt9pj]

Nice brand continuation, not to mention they will also have the Vilnius trolleybus colour scheme, that was specifically created for the capital's trolleybuses 😊

[@ligametis]

that scheme is fine, looks a bit soviet. but way better than ugly red on busses./

[@anzelmasmatutis2500]

I remember trolleybuses you had to climb few steps and were cramped. This trolleybus will be 3rd iteration.

[@dreamcore7]

Yellow ones?

[@ligametis]

They still are being used

[@javacaffeine]

In Latvia we got new trains from Škoda, where they started to move passangers at november of 2023. The trains had many flaws, where the pantograph would not raise in very cold days, and thus the trains wouldn't move, and the heating wouldn't work. So Škoda had to pay lots of fines, and have czech workers in the central train depot to maintain the trains. Latvia nearly had to send their trains, that we awaited for such a long time, back, because of recieving a product with lower quality than expected. And thus, because of what happened in Latvia with the new trains, Škoda are testing their products more if they are sent to the baltic states, so they wouldn't get bankrupt.

[@bolstein5636]

Nav patiesi. Šis ir tas pats gadījums, kas ar Patria bruņumašīnām. Lai sertifikāciju saņemtu ir jāveic noteikts daudzums km, tas atkarīgs no likumdošanas. Tas ir jāveic katram transportlīdzeklim

[@manometras]

Nice colors, kinda traditional Vilnius look gonna be. I love trolleybuses.

[@PijusONLINE]

Thank you, Taiwan! 🤝

[@werafonas]

They are totally gonna need to keep a few old Skodas. And there is a catch: New trolleybuses are not friendly with ice buildup on wires. So for example in Kaunas (where they changed all old Skodas a few years back) they also have a few oldschool Skodas - just to wipe out all ice in the morning. Really odd that newly build Solaris trolleys cannot work in icy conditions. Maybe there new Skodas gonna tell different story. Only time will tell.

[@litwatram6431]

Škodas require a lower voltage to operate on (20V compared to modern 120V (though the network is still at 600V)), but Vilnius has a special vehicle for it. There is a possibility of a museum vehicle, but all frames on škodas are just rust.

[@jdtravel178]

Thanks For Sharing Brother ❤

[@firepalmmy5933]

can't wait to ride on these bangers

[@Williamg..]

Škoda is the backbone of lithuanian public transportation (noticed some electric trains which are made by škoda)

[@user-lk2od9cu6n]

man patiks troleibuso išvaizda,prisimenu, kaip važinėjau senoje škodoje, dabar tikiuosi atsidurti naujos mašinos salone, viskas puiku,išvaizda patiko

[@litwatram6431]

What's the point of AC if it will work for 7 years at best. Older tri-axle Solaris trolleybuses have air conditioning units, but these trolleybuses are 18 years old and are beginning to look sad maintenence-wise. You can literally count on how many out of 45 trolleybuses of this type have working air-conditioning (none). Newer two axle Solaris trolleybuses are also sometimes riding with all the windows opened and air conditioning broken. It's not about how much cool shit will the new vehicles have, it's about if the transport company will be willing to maintain and upkeep them.

[@simasvilkas2312]

It will be a great trolleybus

[@bolstein5636]

So, the distance driven for reliability is required by law. Each model needs to be certified. In Latvia we have an issue with trying to certify Partia AMV since it needs to drive 250 km on pavement and it has issues with being registered. The same with trains, trolleybuses and anything else

[@DS.J]

It's quite sad that Vilnius Municipality is portraying this purchase of trolleybuses as some sort of "transformation" of public transport. In reality this is a simple maintenance in the grand scheme of things. Public transport vehicles need to be maintained and replaces every ~10 years or so (perhaps ~15 years for trolleybuses). Portraying this very essential action as something newsworthy is just absurd from the municipality. Vilnius is pretty much the last major European capital or major city without some sort of rail rapid transit and this is really really sad. Also, well reflected by numbers of modal share of public transport which is among the very lowest in the EU. It also seems that many Lithuanians, including those who regularly use public transport in Vilnius, simply don't have understanding or reference point of what good public transport is and therefore are not very demanding when it comes to quality and reliability. This is also kinda sad, because if people are not demanding and picky, they will be satisfied with whatever they have, and this is not the best way forward if we want to have a well functioning, efficient and pleasant European city. It merely takes a trip to Warsaw or any other major Polish city to see what good public transport looks like and how local governments invest serious coin into it (not without EU help of course).

[@autobusumegejas]

Yeah it's kinda sad to see the position of Vilnius Municipality regarding public transport. Even Kaunas has bought like 250-300 buses and trolleybuses in the last 5 years or so, and they are doing a research of potential tram network. All in the meantime Vilnius has barely done anything regarding this, once again rejecting the idea of a metro or a tram in the city. The mess in September 2023 aswell... Such a shame to see public transport so left out...

[@meandogassbite]

Does Vilnius really need a rail system? Really? With population of just over half a million? Might as well just set your money on fire.

[@litwatram6431]

​@@meandogassbite Yeah, when "revolutionary" rapid bus routes 1 and 2 G are overcrowded basically every single day, even with

[@meandogassbite]

@@litwatram6431 What?

[@ligametis]

They don't need to be replaced that often if you restore and maintain them. Lisbon uses ancient trams and they are cozy.

[@Hanekin]

Finally Vilnius may catch up with Kaunas in public transport. Looking forward to this.

[@xSandamx]

Nice, finally Vilnius will stop embarrassing Lithuania worldwide with their ancient rust buckets.

[@fokus5097]

Careful now, no one said that old ones going away 😂

[@litwatram6431]

​@@fokus5097 there is no place to outsource spare parts for older trolleybuses and there are also no plans to increase frequencies, so there is no reason to keep the old vehicles.

[@fokus5097]

@@litwatram6431 I hope

[@ligametis]

Embarrassing? Everyone that visits the city love them due to unique historical or retro charm. They take pictures, try to get particularly the old ones. I am proud that such old busses are being used.

[@ligametis]

​@@fokus5097 I hope old ones stay. They look so cute

[@antasosam8486]

For me Tr14 was ok

[@LIthuanianPatriot-vt2dp]

finally they will gonna change busses. Like in the summer it's so hot inside there to point it's hard to breathe. Agree or dissagre, but the according to me old busses sucks because it's not that much seats to sit, and it's rusted, and looks so empty. And because of rust it looks like it's from zombie apocalypse, and yes that old bus looks cute honestly. I think they should be redisigned and being used like again.

[@litwatram6431]

Seat count only matters in long distance transport. On city buses, the most important factor would be overall capacity, because instead of a seat you can squeeze 4 more people there.

[@ligametis]

I find these new ones way more ugly. But they will be a lot more comfortable too. I wish old ones could be modernised

[@litwatram6431]

@@ligametis it's too late. Their body frames (skeletons) are literally fully composed of rust. No one will spend the money to replace almost every single part on those trolleybuses. Yes, it's a great way to raise the qualification of technicians, but in the end it is just too much work to take on.

[@ligametis]

@@litwatram6431 some cities do that, but it is rare. Like Lisbon or San Francisco trams

[@litwatram6431]

@@ligametis Because those are very specific cases. Most routes in Lisbon are very steep and have a lot of sharp curves, so they need very short trams, which no one makes. In SF - both cable cars and historic tram network is more like a tourist attraction.

[@lukaslt4806]

I talked with other trolleybus drivers about cameras instead of mirrors: (i'm not even going to say it nicely) fuck them. When there was testing with 24 meters solaris trolleybus it was said that cameras are just straight up nonsence. Its like watching tv screen all day. That means view via cameras will be worse than on old skodas. Other think is that when driving driver naturaly looks outside to look at the mirrors. Screens will be inside. That is safety risk. And what if cameras start glitching or laging? This is not if, but when. Good luck trying to explain to passengers that you cant drive because the damn camera is broken. Also in the winter mirrors get quite dirty. Its not that you cant see anythink but cleaning at least multiple times a day is required. Its going to be ""fun"" when some dirty snow gets on the camera. It also seem to not have extra mirror for right corner in the front, Its the small one for seeing how close vehicle is to the sidewalk or obsticle. So yea, there will be some driving around but dont be suprised if new trolleybuses be sitting in the depos while old skodas still run. And no, i will NOT work with this nonsense.

[@litwatram6431]

I've heard some newer generation Scania bus drivers from Denmark complain about the cameras as their lens tend to frost up (or freeze?) very quickly and Scania in particular did not mount any heating features to solve this issue.

[@Zorklis]

It's not Evaldas but Valdas Benkunskas

[@LithuaniaExplained]

Oops yes I misspoke. 🙈

[@fokus5097]

I swear to god if they gonna keep old ones anyway 😀

[@ligametis]

I love them, I would be so happy. They are so retro and beautiful 😊

[@gintarasaravicius891]

Kaune tokių laužų kaip VIlniui seniai nera ir nėra čia ko piarisit

[@ligametis]

Daug prarandate. Tie seni Skoda yra gražesni už naujus plastiko gabalus

[@PneumatinisPlaktukas15]

We'll see how long these survive with our "amazing" vehicle maintenance (aka none). Hopefully the interiors will be laid out better than they are in the Solaris Urbino 18 trolleybuses. I hope they will keep some 14Trs running, but their condition is awful.