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A similar approach started to be adopted in the cities of the communist part of CentralEurope at the end of the 1960s where the number of systems dropped significantly as well.The reverse approach was recorded in the Soviet Union, where about half of the currentlyexisting systems were opened during the 1960s-70s.Chart 2 - Number of trolleybus systems in service in decade worldwideThe 1980s can be considered as trolleybus market stabilisation in the then Western Europewhile there was another trolleybus boom in the Soviet Block. Several new systems wereinaugurated in Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland and East Germany (DDR). In Bulgaria andRomania their number increased very significantly in those years.After the revolutionary year 1989, trolleybuses started to face the competitive economicenvironment in the East European countries. Some systems were unable to cope with thenew conditions and have been closed while quite a big proportion of networks has acceptedthe challenge and developed into modern transport systems meeting the up-to-daterequirements of their customers. Major change occurred in East European vehicle productionafter 1990: production of special trolleybus design was replaced by the electrification ofstandardised bus bodies which had been the trend existing in West European countries andthe U.S. since the 1970s.Several new systems have been opened in the “old” EU Member States as well after 1990 –most of them in Italy, one in Sweden; special attention can be given to the optically guidedsystem in Castellon (Spain) and partly rail guided line in the French city Nancy. On theother hand, some of the existing systems were abandoned in Austria, Belgium and even inSwitzerland in recent years.21