Trolleybuses were introduced in the Finnish capital in the 1940s.
In 1946, the City of Helsinki acquired three second-hand buses from Stockholm.
A trolleybus line was built between Meilahti and Eira in 1948.
The route was opened on February 5th, 1949. Blue trolleybuses made by the Finnish state-owned automobile manufacturer Valmet were introduced into the city transit scheme in the same year.
The trolleybus route was extended a couple of times in the 1950s, and in 1959 the capital city witnessed the first rush-hour traffic conditions.
The old trolleybuses operated on the line 14. Three trolleybuses leased from the Soviet Union operated on the same line from May to November of 1973.
In 1974 the trolleybus services were closed down when the rolling stock became too old.
In 1979, services were started again with a bus developed by the Finnish companies Strömberg, Suomen Autoteollisuus, and Wiima. Officially, traffic began on June 26th.
February 22nd, 1985 was the last day for the old trolleybuses to operate in Helsinki. The capital considered its decision on the fate of the trolleybus traffic for a long time. The death blow was delivered by the City Board in December 1985.
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