Due to a combination of factors, including electricity rationing and thefts of overhead wiring during periods of civil unrest, diesel buses began to be used on the trolleybus line around June 2015 and by October 2015 they were providing about half of the service.

Ordered in December 1998, all 45 were delivered in 2003, but construction of the line had fallen behind schedule by then, so the vehicles were stored for an extended period, until the first section of the route was completed.

Like other BRT systems, the vehicles operated in their own exclusive lanes over the route's entire length, to avoid delays from traffic congestion and reduce travel times.

For most of its life, the trolleybus system was served only in peak periods and during limited hours on weekends, specifically 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Monday to Saturday and 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Sunday.

[1] Construction continued on the extension from there to a new terminus at the upper end of the also-under-construction aerial cableway (Line 3), which was to be named Los Conquistadores (but was later renamed Domingo Peña).

[1] On 29 August 2015, Line 1 was extended by 2.1 km from Mercado Periférico to Domingo Peña, at the upper end of the cableway,[5] which had opened in December 2014.

However, the dual-mode buses operated in diesel mode between Mercado Periférico and Domingo Peña, as the overhead trolley wires along the latter section had not yet been installed.

Line 3, the aerial cableway, connects San Jacinto, in the Chama River valley below the city, to an upper terminus in central Mérida and is about 1 km long.

However, the dual-mode buses operated in diesel mode between Mercado Periférico and Domingo Peña, as the overhead trolley wires along the latter section had not yet been installed.