Trolleybuses in Ruse

The first trolleybus in the city of Ruse departed in 1988, along the route starting from the Western Industrial Zone. Lines were operated using ZiU-682 trolleybuses. In the following years, as the city was developing, so did the cable network. It was extended throughout the central areas and the industrial zones, replacing many bus routes with trolleybuses. In the beginning, solely Soviet ZiU trolleys were used. While in later years, newer models were also delivered from the same factory in the Russian Federation. Retired trolleybuses from the Swiss cities of Basel and Winterthur were introduced to the network in the late 1990s.

On 1 November 2008, Ruse municipality concluded a concession contract with the Bulgarian branch of the Israeli transport company Egged. Under the concession, management of the trolleybus network in the city became the responsibility of the private Egged Ruse transport holding. In several stages, from 2008 to 2013, the entire stock of vehicles was replaced with the purchase of second hand trolleybuses from the Czech Republic, Germany, Italy, and Switzerland. In 2015, around 70% of the overhead wire network was replaced under the integrated urban transport project. The project also focused on replacing a number of trolleybus pillars and their repainting.

After nearly nine years of operating under a private holding, the trolleybus transport was once again transferred to the local municipality on 31 August 2017.[1] The municipally-owned company operating the trolleybus lines in the city is named "Municipal Transport Ruse". One of the short-term goals of the city was to ensure the proper operation of the trolleybus system. For this purpose, 5 additional used FBW 91T trolleybuses were purchased from Lausanne, Switzerland, as well as 12 Skoda 21 TrACI vehicles from Plzeň in the Czech Republic. Under present conditions, not all of the trolleybus overhead network is being used and there are plans to increase the number of trolleybus lines in the city. Some of the trolleybus wires between the central station and the gray mill have fallen into disrepair.

The Ruse trolleybus lines as of 2019 are:[2]

• 02: "Treti Mart" Blvrd. – "Sent Uan" Str. – "Nikolaevska" Str. – "Skobelev" Blvrd. – "Lipnik" Blvrd.
• 09: Charodeika South-Residential District – "Hristo Botev" Blvrd – "Stefan Stambolov" Str. – "Treti Mart" Blvrd.
• 13: Druzhba 3 Residential District – "Dame Gruev" Str. – "Tsar Osvoboditel" Blvrd. - "Lipnik" Blvrd. – Ruse Sorting yard.
• 21: Charodeika South-Residential District – "Tsar Osvoboditel" Blvrd. – "Lipnik" Blvrd. – Ruse Sorting yard.
• 24: Druzhba 3 Residential District – "Tsar Osvoboditel" Blvrd – "Skobelev" Blvrd. – "Treti Mart" Blvrd.
• 27: Druzhba 3 Residential District – "Hristo Botev" Blvrd. – "Syedinenie" Blvrd. – "Tutrakan" Blvrd.
• 29: Charodeika South-Residential District – "Hristo Botev" Blvrd. – "Syedinenie" Blvrd. – "Pliska" Str. – "Tutrakan" Blvrd.

As of 2019, the Ruse trolleybus fleet has 47 trolleybuses:

• FBW 91T - 13 units;
• Iveco 2470 Socimi - 12 units;
• Renault ER100H - 8 units;
• Škoda 14Tr - 2 units (one out of service);
• Škoda 21TrACI - 12 units

• Ruse Central railway station
• List of trolleybus systems

Media related to Trolleybuses in Ruse at Wikimedia Commons

• "Trolleybus city: Ruse (Bulgarien)". Trolleymotion.
• Ruse database / photo gallery and Ruse trolleybus list at Urban Electric Transit – in various languages, including English.