The uneven development path of Bulgarian trolleybus transport - Leading back to the future?

Although the history of trolleybus transport in Bulgaria dates back to the early 1940s, this form of public transportation evolved effectively in the 1980s, when more than a dozen of networks emerged in the country. Unlike several systems in other socialist countries, all but one Bulgarian trolleybus networks withstood the financial distress and physical degradation of the period of social and economic transformation during the 1990s and early 2000s. Accordingly, by the time of EU accession in 2007, Bulgaria had the highest number of operating networks among the member states and the trolleybus cities aspired to benefit from the structural funds of the European Union for modernising and expanding their operations. Paradoxically, during the first ten years of Bulgarian EU membership, several networks were closed down and despite the recent upgrade of a few systems, the current prospects for the trolleybus transport in the country do not match the optimistic and promising outlook for electric public transport in the EU. In order to understand and assess this development, the paper provides an analysis of the pattern and dynamics of the trolleybus transport evolution in Bulgaria as well as of the socio-economic and political conditions and factors that have shaped it. The focus is set on the common aspects of the various Bulgarian systems and the relevant processes at the national scale impacting their development, but particular attention is paid also to the context and salient features of some individual cases. On this basis, the general perspective for the Bulgarian trolleybus transport is assessed, also against the backdrop of larger-scale agendas and processes. The Bulgarian case can be especially informative for local and national authorities in Eastern European and Central Asian countries, where numerous trolleybus systems with a similar development path are present.