Old Vancouver Trolleys Going to Argentina

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/st...d8-411ad353013a
As reported in the story above, Vancouver has sold 80 of their old E900 trolleys to a city in Argentina, reportedly for twice their scrap value. This is significant to Edmonton, as with the recent vote to phase out trolleys, the active BBC fleet has been reduced to 29 buses, out of 100 originally ordered. A large number of the other 71 have met their final fate, being stripped, parted out and crushed. No attempt has been made to sell these buses to other cities. While there may be no market for them in North America; Vancouver shows that there is a market for them overseas. There is no reason for Edmonton to not follow suit, especially as the BBC trolleys being scrapped are in better shape than most of the E900's in Vancouver. As it stands, Edmonton is missing an opportunity here to make a small profit on the disposal of old equipment, instead of just letting it go to waste.

Corporate Marketing Trumps Saftey

Look at the shot of the new Glaval Bus to the left, and you will notice that it has two orange poles on either side of its front. This poles are there to help with visibility in poor lighting conditions, improving saftey for the bus and people around it. Recently, however, these poles were painted a dark blue. The most likey reason is branding, as the colours of ETS are blue and silver. Of course, the blue paint now used on the poles isn't reflective, but I guess having a consistent corporate image is more important than such minor concerns as safe operation.