Barnimer Busgesellschaft mbH: Germany’s oldest trolleybus operator

With 1,658 bus stops spread along 55 lines, the Barnim bus company (BBG) provides local public transport services over a wide area, including the district of Barnim and parts of Märkisch-Oderland. Every year, 120 vehicles travel about 5.8 million kilometres to convey approxi­mately eight million passengers. A total staff of 229 plus 15 trainees carry out the daily operations of the transport company and its three depots. The district capital Eberswalde of nearly 40,000 inhabitants has relied on the urban use of electrically powered vehicles since as early as 1901. Although BBG is one of only three remaining trolleybus operators in Germany, the newly acquired fleet places it among the state-of-the-art companies in all of Europe.

The latest generation of trolleybuses are equipped with hybrid electric drives and on-board energy storage, which also utilises the otherwise wasted braking energy.