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25. 1038 speeds by at 75 km/h southward via Gagarina Ul., toward the Yugo-Zapad area (the South-West neighborhood). At the same time, 1132 heads in the opposite direction, toward the city center, via the unmarked semi-improvised bus lane. Gagarina Ul. is supposed to be a one-way outbound street, with no traffic allowed in the city-bound direction. When the city-bound traffic was allocated to another street near by, there was no funds to relocate the overhead. Thus, the city-bound overhead is still there and public transit still uses the street for inbound trips.
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26. Trolleybus 1023 is one of the oldest ZIU-9 trolleybuses. Most of the older vehicles were locally rebuilt - the lofty structure on the roof housing the electric equipment is the result of such modernization. 1023 passes a three-way intersection at Gagarina Ul. and 50 Let Oktyabrya Pr. It operates via Line 7 that loops clockwise around the South-West area. Here the trolleybus is at the beginning of the loop around the neighborhood.
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27. 1038 is serving Line 8 that operates in tandem with Line 7, but follows a counterclockwise pattern in the South-West area. Here it stops at the beginning of the loop.
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28. The Yugo-Zapad Terminal on 50 Let Oktyabrya Pr., even though located in the middle of the continuous loop around the South-West area, has a dispatch outpost. Consequently, selected runs scheduled for a layover, or runs directed so by a dispatcher, pause at the dispatch with passengers on board. Thus, only very few runs continue via the loop uninterrupted. Note another rebuilt trolleybus in the back.
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29. Some runs simply discharge passengers, as they get held for longer layover. There is no by-passing wire, thus all trolleybuses layover with their poles down.
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30. Upon routine en-route maintenance inspection, some trolleybuses get tied up here for much longer. 1038 was just seen fully operational (see photo 25, 27), speeding at 75 km/h. Provided it's age, may be it shouldn't have done that.
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31. This photo is purposely shot at a specific angle for the purpose of demonstrating the structural curvature of the bodyframe on some overworked trolleybuses.
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32. A loop at the end of 50 Let Oktyabrya Pr., at Engelsa Ul., also goes by name Yugo-Zapad Terminal. It is the official terminal for regular runs of Lines 13 and 18 that do not get held by the dispatch at the 'first' Yugo-Zapad Terminal, 2 stops down the line. Occasionally, the loop also accommodates short turns of through Lines 7, 8, 9 and 15 for service patching purposes.
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33. Transportnaya Ulitsa, even though considered the official city street with non-transit vehicular traffic, it literally passes through the Depot 1 yard. Trolleybus Lines 1 and 2 also pass through the Depot yard, with passengers on board. Both services terminate here, and were the first lines the network was opened with in 1966. With system's gradual development, however, Lines 1 and 2 were surpassed by other services extending into vital neighborhoods. Nowadays these lines are operated rather sporadically, mostly by way of depot runs. Lines 1 and 2 were briefly suspended in the late 1990s, but were reestablished upon new vehicles being delivered in 2001. Note the streamlined body of the vehicle in front.
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34. 1187 leaves the Yugo-Zapad neighborhood as it operates the long suburban Line 18. Even though the sign in the back says "student driver", this trolleybus was driven at speeds close to the point of self-disintegration of the trolleybus. The driver later admitted that the sign meant to scare other drivers away. This was the 3rd such stunt observed in Saransk within a day. Also note the curious traffic sign above.
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35. 1187 passes the Depot 1 via Osipenko Ul., en-route to Orbita. From here on the trolleybus line continues via a rural highway. As of the date of this photo, the suburban Orbita extension was the latest to be built in Saransk, opened in 1999. It is about 12 km. long. Upon the opening of the extension, Line 18 was introduced, even though it is uncertain whether Line 17 ever existed in Saransk.
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36. The Orbita extension mainly serves the flashy exhibition grounds of the Mordovia Republic, but has no viable ridership when the exhibition is inactive. On regular bases Line 18 is operated with a single trolleybus on a strangely derived headway of 53 min, with no timetable made available to public. On the given day, at one point the operation was briefly suspended due to a breakdown of the single trolleybus assigned to the line, with no adverse consequences whatsoever. The unusual feature of the line is the excellent quality of the road surface allowing for racing speeds.
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38. The rural Orbita Terminal, one stop beyond the exhibition grounds. There is no pavement within the loop, thus trolleybuses literally ride over dirt surface. By some weird course of events, the old and decrepit 1187 has the 2nd highest noted number within Depot 1's fleet (1188 is the highest).
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39. A large fleet of the newly acquired Mercedes-Turk buses might appear to be a potential danger to the trolleybus system. Yet, as the trolleybus network is closely monitored by the local government, and since both bus and trolleybus systems remain in public ownership, there appears to be very limited competition between the modes.
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