Auckland Farmers Trolley Bus No 3 - Artefact of the Month; September 2006 

MOTAT’s Farmer’s trolley bus went into service in 1938 when the Farmers department store in Hobson Street replaced their courtesy motor buses with modern trolley buses.

These were operated under contract to the Auckland Transport Board as the ‘Farmers Free Buses’. The four trolley buses operated a one kilometre long loop from Farmers in Hobson Street, down Victoria Street, turning into Queen Street and finally traversing steep Wyndham Street back to the Farmers store.

The trolley buses operated until 1967 when the decision was made that it would be uneconomic to overhaul the entire fleet. Of the other three buses in the fleet, No 1 also came to MOTAT, No 2 went to the Wellington Tramway Museum and No 4 to the Tramway Historical Society at Ferrymead in Christchurch.

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