Budget cuts involve electric trolley buses

San Francisco's Municipal Railway -- the local public transit agency -- announced a plan to cut jobs and service on some routes to save money. Curiously, two of the routes being cut -- the 4-Sutter and the 7-Haight -- are electric trolley buses.

Much quieter and cheaper to maintain than deisel buses, the trolleys (not to be confused with streetcars or the famous cable cars) are powered by electric power from a San Francisco-owned hydropower system in the Sierras. At the same time, there's a ballot proposition in next week's election to eliminate SF's noisy, expensive, outmoded diesel buses. So I wonder about the timing.