Trolleybuses in Yerevan

Yerevan trolleybus system
A trolleybus in Yerevan, 2023.
Operation
Locale	Yerevan, Armenia
Open	1949 (1949)
Status	Open
Routes	7
Owner(s)	Yerevan Municipality
Operator(s)	Yergortrans
Statistics
2019	174,000 annual passengers

The Yerevan trolleybus system (Armenian: Երևանի տրոլեյբուսային համակարգեր) forms part of the public transport network in Yerevan, the capital city of Armenia. Since the closure of the Gyumri trolleybus system in 2005, it has been Armenia’s only trolleybus system.

History

A trolleybus at downtown Yerevan

Opened on 16 August 1949, the system was once much more extensive than it is today. At its greatest extent, the system had 20 lines, operated by a total of 300 trolleybuses, the vast majority of which were either Czech made Škoda 9Tr or 14Tr units, or Soviet made ZiU-682 models.

In recent years, the system has shrunk, and most of the Soviet era trolleybuses have been replaced by newer vehicles.

Lines

As of 2011, the system was made up of the following lines: 1, 2, 9, 10 and 15. In July 2023, 2 new lines were introduced as new buses arrived to the fleet. Lines 2a and 10a are extended versions of lines 2 and 10, the lines continue without wires which was made possible with the new buses.

Fleet

The Yerevan trolleybus fleet still has a significant number of Škoda 14Tr units in service. However, the use of the remaining Škoda 14Tr units will end by December 2024 and will be replaced by 15 new Chinese made trolleybuses. The Škoda 9Trs and ZiU-682s have all been withdrawn.

The former trolleybuses in the fleet were mostly Russian made LiAZ-5280 vehicles. The second hand Berliet ER100 trolleybuses originally used on the Lyon trolleybus system ended in 2023.

In 2019, it was announced that daily ridership of the system was 14,500. Former deputy Mayor of Yerevan, Hrachya Sargsyan, stated that 101 new trolleybuses for new routes is planned. In 2023, 15 new Yutong trolleybuses joined the system and there are plans to buy an additional 15 new units.

Accident

On 16 September 1976, a trolleybus operating alongside Yerevan Lake went out of control and fell from the dam wall into the lake. The sound of this accident was heard by Shavarsh Karapetyan, a multi-champion finswimmer, who was training with his brother Kamo, also a finswimmer, by running alongside the lake. The trolleybus lay at the bottom of the reservoir some 25 meters (80 ft) off the shore at a depth of 10 meters (33 ft). Karapetyan swam to it and, under conditions of almost zero visibility due to the silt rising from the bottom, broke the back window with his legs. The trolleybus was crowded, it carried 92 passengers and Karapetyan knew he had little time, spending some 30 to 35 seconds for each person he saved. Karapetyan managed to rescue 20 people, but this was the end of his sports career: the combined effect of cold water and the multiple wounds he received left him lying unconscious for 45 days, with subsequent sepsis (due to the presence of raw sewage in the lake water) and lung complications preventing him from continuing his sports career.

See also

• List of trolleybus systems
• Transport in Armenia
• Trolleybuses in former Soviet Union countries
• Trolleybus usage by country
• Yerevan Metro

References

Books

• Leibovsky, Vadim (1988). Shavarsh's Twenty Lives (in Russian). Moscow: Fizkultura i sport.

External links

Media related to Trolleybuses in Yerevan at Wikimedia Commons

• "Trolleybus city: Yerevan". Trolleymotion.
• Yerevan database / photo gallery and Yerevan trolleybus list at Urban Electric Transit – in various languages, including English.
• The trolley-bus and Shavarsh Karapetyan