The ones in SF, at least, are quite resilient. I’ve ridden them several times and never had any problems. They have a lot of flex in the base to accommodate turns and lane changes. Also, the busses (at least some of them) are hybrid, somehow (either a battery or an engine), because some routes are only half on the wires (for that one, the bus driver does have to get out and un/re-hook the poles, but only twice a loop).
