Trolleybuses in Santos
The Santos trolleybus system forms part of the public transport network in Santos, a municipality in the state of São Paulo, Brazil. Opened on 12 August 1963, it presently comprises only one line, and, along with the two São Paulo metropolitan area trolleybus systems, is one of only three trolleybus systems still operating in Brazil. History Beginnings Initially, only a few trolleybus lines were opened in Santos. They were operated by a batch of Fiat-Alfa Romeo vehicles and equipment based in the Port of Santos during the first year of operation of the service. At that time, trams were still circulating in Santos. Due to the technical characteristics of the trolley, the then SMTC (Serviço Municipal de Transportes Coletivos) (English: Municipal Collective Transport Service) installed trolleybus lines in streets and avenues where there were no tram lines, apart from some inevitable exceptions. Although both the trams and trolley buses were powered by direct current electricity, the voltage of the two systems was different: the trolleybuses used two overhead wires: the positive and negative, whereas the tram network used only one wire, the positive pole, with the rails as the negative pole. In many narrow streets, it was not technically feasible