Following on from last week’s news item about new Solaris-Skoda trolleybuses in Prague, this image by David Jordan shows an earlier generation of Eastern European trolleybus. The Skoda 14Tr was produced in Plzen in the Czech Republic between 1981 and 1998 and, with a total of 3,263 constructed, was once the standard trolleybus in operation across Eastern Europe. However, in 2024, the only remaining examples running regularly in any quantity can be found in Vilnius, the capital of Lithuania, where, due largely to a sustained period of political indecision over a number of years regarding the future of the system, around half of the city’s current fleet is still made up of examples of this type. This example, built in 1988, and now no less than 36 years old, is still in operation, although imminent deliveries of new low-floor Skoda vehicles purchased as part of a long-awaited investment in the future of trolleybus operation will soon see it replaced. Looking smart and well maintained in the operator’s established cream and red livery in September 2023, bus number 1514 is seen crossing the Žaliasis tiltas (Green Bridge) on service towards the city centre.
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