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List of trolleybus systems in France

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File:Irisbus Cristalis ETB 12 n°115 TCL Place Carnot.jpg]]

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File:Réseaux de trolleybus en France.png

This is a list of trolleybus systems in France by region. It includes all trolleybus systems, past and present. Bold text indicates a system that is still operating.

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Alsace

class="wikitable" width=100%
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! width=20% | Location

! width=15% | Date (from)

! width=15% | Date (to)

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rowspan="2" | Gleislose Bahn Mühlhausen

| rowspan="2" | Mulhouse

| 9 Oct 1908

| 14 July 1918

| rowspan=2 |See also Trolleybus de Mulhouse {{in lang|fr}} for the first system, German denomination Gleislose Bahn Mühlhausen for the first system, because Mulhouse was part of German Empire until 1918.

5 Jul 1946

| 1968

 

| Strasbourg

| 27 May 1939

| 31 Mar 1962

|  

Aquitaine

class="wikitable" width=100%
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| Bordeaux

| May 1940

| 1954

|  

Burgundy

class="wikitable" width=100%
width=15% | Name of system

! width=20% | Location

! width=15% | Date (from)

! width=15% | Date (to)

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| Dijon

| 7 Jan 1950

| 30 Mar 1966

|  

Brittany

class="wikitable" width=100%
width=15% | Name of system

! width=20% | Location

! width=15% | Date (from)

! width=15% | Date (to)

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| Brest

| 29 July 1947

| 1970

|  

rowspan="2" |  

| rowspan="2" | Saint-Malo

| 1906

| 5 Jun 1907

|Electrobus designed by Louis Lombard-Gérin made by Compagnie de Traction par Trolley Automoteur, and run by Société des Tracteurs Breton.Bruce, Ashley R. Lombard-Gerin and Inventing the Trolleybus. (2017) Trolleybooks (UK). {{ISBN|978-0-904235-25-8}}.{{cite web |last1=Prentice |first1=John R. Prentice |title=Tramway Information |url=https://www.tramwayinfo.com/Tramframe.htm?https://www.tramwayinfo.com/trampostcards/Postc223.htm |website=www.tramwayinfo.com |publisher=Prentice |accessdate=24 September 2020}}

10 Jul 1948

| 30 Sep 1959

|

Centre-Val de Loire

class="wikitable" width=100%
width=15% | Name of system

! width=20% | Location

! width=15% | Date (from)

! width=15% | Date (to)

! width=35% | Notes

 

| Tours

| 5 Oct 1947

| 29 Jun 1968

| See also Trolleybuses in Tours.

''{{flag|Franche-Comté}}''

class="wikitable" width=100%
width=15% | Name of system

! width=20% | Location

! width=15% | Date (from)

! width=15% | Date (to)

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| Belfort

| 4 Jul 1952

| 1 Aug 1972

|  

Upper Normandy

class="wikitable" width=100%
width=15% | Name of system

! width=20% | Location

! width=15% | Date (from)

! width=15% | Date (to)

! width=35% | Notes

 

| Le Havre

| 1 Aug 1947

| 28 Dec 1970

|  

 

| Rouen

| 2 Jan 1933

| 26 Jun 1970

|  

Île-de-France

class="wikitable" width=100%
width=15% | Name of system

! width=20% | Location

! width=15% | Date (from)

! width=15% | Date (to)

! width=35% | Notes

 

| Fontainebleau

| 12 Jun 1901

| 30 Aug 1913

| Louis Lombard-Gérin, first commercial trolleybus route.

rowspan="2" |  

| rowspan="2" | Paris

| 2 Aug 1900

| 12 Nov 1900

| at Vincennes, Lombard-Gérin.

1912

| 1914

| at Saint-Mandé. Mercedes-Stoll. Also Jan 1922 demonstration.

 

| ♦ Vitry-sur-Seine

| 7 Apr 1925

| 8 Jul 1935

|  

 

| ♦ Porte de Champerret – Bezons / Argenteuil

| 8 Jan 1943

| 31 Mar 1962

|  

 

| ♦ Porte de Choisy – Choisy-le-Roi and Porte d'Italie – Thiais

| 16 Jan 1950

| 31 Mar 1966

|  

Languedoc-Roussillon

class="wikitable" width=100%
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! width=20% | Location

! width=15% | Date (from)

! width=15% | Date (to)

! width=35% | Notes

 

| Nîmes – Remoulins

| 10 Jul 1924

| 31 Dec 1927

|  

 

| Perpignan

| 21 Sep 1952

| Jun 1968

|  

Limousin

class="wikitable" width=100%
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! width=20% | Location

! width=15% | Date (from)

! width=15% | Date (to)

! width=35% | Notes

style="background:#CFECEC"

|  

| Limoges

| 14 Jul 1943

|  

| See also Trolleybuses in Limoges.

Lorraine

class="wikitable" width=100%
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! width=15% | Date (from)

! width=15% | Date (to)

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| Forbach

| 19 May 1951

| 1 Nov 1969

|  

 

| Metz

| 14 Sep 1947

| 30 Apr 1966

|  

style="background:#CFECEC"

|  

| Nancy

| 27 Sep 1982

|  

| See Trolleybuses in Nancy. Dual-mode (trolley/diesel) operation until about 2000.{{efn|TVR opened 28 Jan 2001,Trolleybus Magazine No. 237 (May–June 2001), p. 67. replacing dual-mode bus operation, and closed on 12 March 2023. TVR, Transport sur Voie Réservée, is the Guided Light Transit system, using a centre guide rail and marketed as "Trams sur pneus" (trams on tyres). In Nancy, TVR surface guidance only covered a portion of the route, and the vehicles were able to operate away from the guide rail in electric mode, using trolley poles, and thus the system was trolleybus,Webb, Mary (ed.) (2009). "World Urban Tram and Light Rail Systems" and "World Urban Trolleybus Systems" (lists). Jane's Urban Transport Systems 2009-2010. Coulsdon, Surrey (UK): Jane's Information Group. {{ISBN|978-0-7106-2903-6}}. despite the Nancy operator's marketing it as the tram. TVR systems elsewhere used pantographs, and consequently were not commonly regarded as trolleybus systems.{{cite magazine |editor-last=Box |editor-first=Roland |title=Is it a Bus? Is it a Tram? |magazine=Trolleybus Magazine |issue=230 |date=March–April 2000 |page=26 |publisher=National Trolleybus Association |ISSN=0266-7452}}}}

Midi-Pyrénées

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! width=20% | Location

! width=15% | Date (from)

! width=15% | Date (to)

! width=35% | Notes

 

| Montauban

| Jan 1903

| 1904

| Lombard-Gerin.

Pays de la Loire

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width=15% | Name of system

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! width=15% | Date (from)

! width=15% | Date (to)

! width=35% | Notes

 

| Le Mans

| 13 Nov 1947

| 1969

|  

Picardy

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width=15% | Name of system

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! width=15% | Date (from)

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| Amiens

| 1946

| Feb 1963

|  

Poitou-Charentes

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! width=15% | Date (from)

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| Poitiers

| 9 Aug 1943

| 3 Mar 1965

|  

Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur

class="wikitable" width=100%
width=15% | Name of system

! width=20% | Location

! width=15% | Date (from)

! width=15% | Date (to)

! width=35% | Notes

 

| Aubagne – Cuges-les-Pins

| 19 Sep 1927

| 20 Jul 1958

|  

rowspan="2" |  

| rowspan="2" | Marseille

| 13 Jun 1903

| 1 Sep 1905

| First system, Lombard-Gerin, connected Allauch and La Rose.

26 Apr 1942

| 25 Jun 2004 Trolleybus Magazine No. 258 (Nov.-Dec. 2004), p. 137.

| Second system included an interurban line to Aix-en-Provence.

 

| Nice

| 30 Apr 1942

| 12 Sep 1970

|  

 

| Toulon

| 7 May 1949

| 19 Feb 1973

|  

Rhône-Alpes

class="wikitable" width=100%
width=15% | Name of system

! width=20% | Location

! width=15% | Date (from)

! width=15% | Date (to)

! width=35% | Notes

 

| Chambéry

| 6 Oct 1930

| Jun 1940

|  

 

| Grenoble

| 1 Aug 1947

| 24 Jun 1999

|  

rowspan="2" |  

| rowspan="2" | Lyon

| 1 September 1905

| 10 September 1906

| First system, Schiemann, located at Charbonnières-les-Bains.

style="background:#CFECEC"

| 4 Sep 1935

| –

| See also Trolleybuses in Lyon.

 

| Modane - Lanslebourg

| 20 Aug 1923

| Jun 1940

|  

 

| Moûtiers – Salins (-les-Thermes)

| 15 Apr 1930

| Mar 1965

|  

style="background:#CFECEC"

|  

| Saint-Étienne

| 1 Jan 1942

|  

| System included an interurban line to Firminy.
See also Trolleybuses in Saint-Étienne.

  • Note: The TVR, or GLT, system in Caen and the Translohr system in Clermont-Ferrand are not listed, as they not commonly considered to be trolleybus systems, since their vehicles use pantographs to collect current and therefore are not able to operate away from the surface guideway while remaining in electric mode. The GLT vehicles in Nancy, by comparison, are able to do so, as they use trolley poles to collect current, so the Nancy system is considered to be a trolleybus system.

See also

{{portal|Buses|France}}

Notes

{{notelist}}

Sources

=Books and periodicals=

  • Bruce, Ashley. Lombard-Gerin and Inventing the Trolleybus Trolleybooks, 2017, {{ISBN|978-0-904235-25-8}}.
  • Murray, Alan (2000). World Trolleybus Encyclopaedia. Reading, Berkshire, UK: Trolleybooks. {{ISBN|0-904235-18-1}}.
  • Trolleybus Magazine, various issues. National Trolleybus Association (UK). Bimonthly. ISSN 0266-7452.

=References=

{{reflist}}

Further reading

  • De Coster, Roland; Hamal, Thierry; and Stas, Dominique (eds.) (1997). TRAM 2000 - Flash 1997: France. Brussels, Belgium: TRAM 2000 asbl.

External links

  • {{commonscat-inline|Trolleybuses in France}}

France

Category:Public transport in France

Trolleybus