Experimental Bus Foreshadows Chaotic Square Cluttered Up With Self-Steering Trolley Buses

Adding complications to the traditionally chaotic traffic situation on Harvard Square, wire stringers, perched atop construction trucks, have been laying the overhead foundations for a new trolley bus line. The buses will operate between the Square and Lechmere.

The trolley bus system has been successfully installed in several New England towns and in Providence. Powered with a motor similar to that of an ordinary trolley car, these vehicles ride on rubber tries, are steered like a bus, and can wander 12 feet each side of the trolley.

Because there are no tracks which act ordinarily as a ground wire, two overhead cables are needed with careful insulation between them to avoid short circuit.

It's Fun

It's fun to be a Cambridge trolley car conductor these days, with an opportunity of running experimental trolley bus number 8001 around a specially constructed loop in the Charles River Yard. Between runs, this prize possession is kept inside the shed, but at least once an hour, some accredited conductor is allowed to climb into the control seat and take her for a trial spin.

It's Difficult

A test of skill is provided, too, in navigating the bus around the loop. At the very start, a narrow door presents no mean obstacle, and is immediately followed by a difficult curve which exacts close concentration to keep the trolleys on their cables. Then comes the straightaway in which the maximum speed of 88 m.p.h. can almost be reached before the brakes must be applied.