List of trolleybus systems in France

A Limoges trolleybus at the Montjovis stop in Limoges.

This is a list of trolleybus systems in France by région. It includes all trolleybus systems, past and present.

 Alsace

Name of System	Location	Date (From)	Date (To)	Notes
	Mulhouse	9 Oct 1908 5 Jul 1946	14 July 1918 1968
	Strasbourg	27 May 1939	31 Mar 1962

 Aquitaine

Name of System	Location	Date (From)	Date (To)	Notes
	Bordeaux	May 1940	1954

 Bourgogne

Name of System	Location	Date (From)	Date (To)	Notes
	Dijon	7 Jan 1950	30 Mar 1966

 Bretagne

Name of System	Location	Date (From)	Date (To)	Notes
	Brest	29 July 1947	1970
	Saint-Malo	1906 10 Jul 1948	5 Jun 1907 30 Sep 1959

 Centre

Name of System	Location	Date (From)	Date (To)	Notes
	Tours	5 Oct 1947	29 Jun 1968

 Franche-Comté

Name of System	Location	Date (From)	Date (To)	Notes
	Belfort	4 Jul 1952	1 Aug 1972

 Haute-Normandie

Name of System	Location	Date (From)	Date (To)	Notes
	Le Havre	1 Aug 1947	28 Dec 1970
	Rouen	2 Jan 1933	26 Jun 1970

 Île-de-France

Name of System	Location	Date (From)	Date (To)	Notes
	Fontainebleau	15 Jul 1901	1913
	Paris	15 Apr 1900 1912	12 Nov 1900 1914	at Saint-Mandé. at Saint-Mandé. 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

Name of System	Location	Date (From)	Date (To)	Notes
	Nîmes – Remoulins	10 Jul 1924	31 Dec 1927
	Perpignan	21 Sep 1952	Jun 1968

 Limousin

Name of System	Location	Date (From)	Date (To)	Notes
	Limoges	14 Jul 1943		See also Trolleybuses in Limoges.

 Lorraine

Name of System	Location	Date (From)	Date (To)	Notes
	Forbach	19 May 1951	1 Nov 1969
	Metz	14 Sep 1947	30 Apr 1966
	Nancy	27 Sep 1982		Dual-mode (trolley/diesel) operation until about 2000. See note.

• Note for Nancy: TVR opened 28 Jan 2001,^[1] replacing dual-mode bus operation. Operation suspended 9 Mar 2001 - 13 Mar 2002 because of technical problems. 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 covers a portion of the route, and the vehicles are able to operate away from the guide rail in electric mode, using trolley poles, and thus the system is trolleybus,^[2] despite the Nancy operator's marketing it as the tram. TVR systems elsewhere use pantographs, and consequently are not commonly regarded as trolleybus systems (see note at bottom of list).^[2][3]

 Midi-Pyrénées

Name of System	Location	Date (From)	Date (To)	Notes
	Montauban	Jan 1903	1904

 Pays de la Loire

Name of System	Location	Date (From)	Date (To)	Notes
	Le Mans	13 Nov 1947	1969

 Picardie

Name of System	Location	Date (From)	Date (To)	Notes
	Amiens	1946	Feb 1963

 Poitou-Charentes

Name of System	Location	Date (From)	Date (To)	Notes
	Poitiers	9 Aug 1943	3 Mar 1965

 Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur

Name of System	Location	Date (From)	Date (To)	Notes
	Aubagne – Cuges-les-Pins	19 Sep 1927	20 Jul 1958
	Marseille	13 Jun 1903 26 Apr 1942	1 Sep 1905 25 Jun 2004 [4]	First system connected Allauch and La Rose. 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

Name of System	Location	Date (From)	Date (To)	Notes
	Chambéry	6 Oct 1930	Jun 1940
	Grenoble	1 Aug 1947	24 Jun 1999
	Lyon	1 September 1905 4 Sep 1935	10 September 1906 -	First system located at Charbonnières-les-Bains. See also Trolleybuses in Lyon.
	Modane - Lanslebourg	20 Aug 1923	Jun 1940
	Moûtiers – Salins (-les-Thermes)	15 Apr 1930	Mar 1965
	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,^[2][3] 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.^[2]

See also

• List of trolleybus systems, for all other countries
• List of town tramway systems in France
• List of light-rail transit systems
• List of rapid transit systems
• Trolleybus usage by country

Sources

Books and periodicals

• 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

1. Trolleybus Magazine No. 237 (May–June 2001), p. 67.
2. 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.
3. Box, Roland (ed.). "Is it a Bus? Is it a Tram". Trolleybus Magazine No. 230 (March–April 2000), p. 26. National Trolleybus Association. ISSN 0266-7452.
4. Trolleybus Magazine No. 258 (Nov.-Dec. 2004), p. 137.

Further reading

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

External links

• Media related to Trolleybuses in France at Wikimedia Commons