All About Inventions and Discoveries
The Romance of modern scientific and mechanical Achievements

Dawn of the Electric Traction Era 109 immediately beneath the overhead wires. Thus the trolley-bus, as it is called, has full command of the width of the street, is able to thread other traffic, and does not monopolise any part of the highway as is the case when a pair of rails is laid down. Thus the new vehicle has a mobility which is denied its tram rival. It is even attempting to threaten the motor-bus. As in the case of the latter, a breakdown does not affect the whole of the system, but merely the vehicle which has become incapaci- tated. Its trolley pole can be removed from the con- ductor, allowing other cars to pass, while the derelict may be towed into the sanctuary of a quiet street to be repaired, or may be hauled back to the garage to be overhauled. This is the great advantage of the trolley-bus over the tram-car, and it serves to bring electric traction for public vehicles more into line with the petrol motor-bus which has played sad havoc with the prosperity of the tramway. But, nevertheless, the trolley-bus cannot compete with the motor-bus, because the latter can go anywhere so long as there is a passable road surface to provide a grip for its wheels. If one street is closed it can swing to the right or left and follow a parallel thorough- fare. But the trolley-bus, in common with its electric contemporary, is condemned to the highway along which its overhead conductor is strung. Consequently, all things considered, the trolley-bus does not repre- sent a decisive factor in intra-mural communication, since it possesses at least one of the worst disadvan- tages of the electric tram-car. Its true province would seem to be in rural districts, or as a means of locomotion in quiet residential areas of limited traffic