The Dayton, Ohio, Electric Trolley Bus (ETB) System
A Local Legacy

Prepared for the Library of Congress 2000 Bicentennial
Harvey I. Hylton, P.E.     February 2000

While thousands of US cities operate public mass transportation systems, only five (5) cities still utilize the unique Electric Trolley Bus (ETB) as the core vehicle in their fleets. A mid-sized midwestern city, Dayton, Ohio, is one of the five. The following narrative will attempt to describe this unique mode of public transport, and discuss the tortuous path by which the Dayton system has survived into the Twenty-First Century.


Table of Contents

1. Background

2. Enter the Electric Streetcar

3. Enter the Electric Trolley Bus

4. Company overviews
    Dayton Street Railway Company (DSR)
    Oakwood Street Railway (OSR)
    Peoples Railway Company (PRC)
    Dayton-Xenia Railway Company (D-X)
    City Railway Company (CRC)
    City Transit Company (CTC)
    The Christmas Bus -- A Dayton Tradition

5. Transition from Private to Public Operation

6. The Fight to Keep the ETBs

7. The Fleet
    New ETB Purchases 1933 - 1998
    Used ETB Purchases
    Seasonal Trolleys


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