A RIPTA trolley bus inches up Wickenden Street in Providence in 2003. The buses do not fare well in ice and snow, General Manager Alfred J. Moscola says.

PROVIDENCE JOURNAL FILES / KRIS CRAIG

PROVIDENCE — The green trolleys that haul passengers around Providence and Newport are coming to the end of the road, and the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority is leaning toward replacing them with something different.

Not that much different, apparently, but different.

The agency’s general manager, Alfred J. Moscola, said at a RIPTA board meeting yesterday that the 20 trolleys are both near the end of their lives and a pain in the neck to operate and maintain. “We’re not going to continue with CNG trolleys,” Moscola said, referring to their fuel, compressed natural gas. Moscola said he’s looking for a diesel bus that can do the same job, probably cheaper, while keeping a distinctive appearance.

RIPTA has cleaned up its diesel engines by switching to low-sulfur fuel and installing filters that intercept the soot that makes up particulate pollution. That undermines one of the trolleys’ main attractions, the fact that CNG is a clean-burning fuel.

But Moscola said that using compressed natural gas also means shuffling the trolleys around to special fueling stations like one on Allens Avenue.

He said the trolleys also need “heavy duty maintenance” compared with conventional buses. They have a service life of only 10 years, which is about to end, compared with the 12-year lifespan of a conventional bus. The wood trim on the trolleys’ outside helps give them a distinctive look, but Moscola said it’s also a nuisance to maintain.

They also don’t do well in bad conditions. When there’s ice and snow, Moscola said, “generally we have to take them off the road.”

All in all, he said, the trolleys are “a big burden.”

Trolleys are also expensive. Moscola said buying a new one like the present ones would cost $380,000, while a much larger, full-size bus costs only $245,000. Moscola said he wants a replacement vehicle with a standard bus engine, frame and power train.

RIPTA bought the air-conditioned, handicapped-accessible trolleys, made by the Chance Co., of Missouri, in 1999 with a grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation.

One of their major attractions is that they look different, even a bit festive, like a real, vintage trolley that happens to have run on wheels rather than tracks and has its own source of power rather than using electricity from overhead wires.

Board member William Kennedy said he likes the trolleys. “I think it’s part of Rhode Island,” he said.

However, RIPTA may be able to have it both ways: a replacement vehicle that will satisfy the agency’s need for a sturdy workhorse without losing the distinctive appearance of the trolleys.

Moscola said he thinks he can find a vehicle “that looks like a trolley, but it will be a standard bus.”

RIPTA Chairman Thomas Deller sounded agreeable.

“I’m not convinced that the bus has to look like a trolley,” Deller said, but he went on to say that he’d like a vehicle that really “makes a statement” by “looking different” than a regular bus.

Moscola said he needs to get moving, because it takes 15 months to buy a new bus. He said he wants to get the specifications together in the next month or two so the agency can put the replacement trolleys out for bids.

blandis@projo.com