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Last Stop: Moscow parts ways with its iconic trolleybuses

Moscow announced that it will be retiring all its trolleybuses and replacing them with regular buses and electric buses

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One of the first Soviet trolleybuses, undated photo

Trolleybus is seen on Gorky street before reconstruction, 1939

© Fyodor Kislov/TASS

Trolleybuses on Moscow streets, 1960

© Naum Granovsky/TASS

ZiU-9 trolleybus on a trial run in Moscow, 1970

© Vitaly Sozinov/TASS

Trolleybus service was initiated in Moscow on November 15, 1933. Photo: Moscow's trolleybus, 1986

© Emmanuil Yevzerikhin/TASS

A maintenance department of a trolleybus depot in Moscow, 1987

© Pavel Maksimov/TASS

Hungarian-built Ikarus trolleybus being tested on the streets of Moscow, 1986

© Vitaly Sozinov/TASS

Passengers sitting in Moscow's trolleybus, 1990

© Pyotr Nosov/TASS

People walking past old trolleybuses standing at the square outside the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, 2013

© AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin

Vintage trolleybuses going down Moscow’s main streets, 2013

© AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin

Trolleybuses on tour along Moscow's main streets marking the 80th birthday of trolleybus service in the city, 2013

© Sergey Karpov/TASS

Visitors sitting in an old trolleybus standing at a square near the Kremlin in Moscow, 2013

© AP Photo/Pavel Golovkin

Moscow trolleybus produced in 1956 for the exhibition line at VDNKh center

© Sergey Savostyanov/TASS

A vintage trolleybus seen during a parade marking the 82nd birthday of trolleybus service in the city, 2015

© Sergei Fadeichev/TASS

A driver cleaning a trolleybus window ahead of a parade marking the 83rd anniversary of regular trolleybus service in Moscow

© Alexander Shcherbak/TASS

Vintage trolleybuses in Moscow, 2015

© Sergei Fadeichev/TASS

Moscow's trolleybus, 2019

© Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS

On August 25, Moscow authorities announced that city's trolleybuses will be replaced with regular buses and electric buses. "The decision to gradually abandon the [city’s] trolleybus service was not easy for us, but we understand that this is a step forward. The future belongs to innovative electric transport," the head of Mosgortrans, the city's transit agency, told TASS. Trolleybus service was initiated in Moscow on November 15, 1933. The first route linked Belorussky railway station with the village near Sokol metro station. From 1936 on, the trolleybus gradually replaced the tram service. Take a look at Moscow's trolleybuses from the past.

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