Tramways

There is little difference, historically, between tramways in Europe and streetcar systems in North America. They both followed similar development paths and heavily influenced one another. Initially, tramways were built to make horse traction more efficient. On the dirt roads of the 19th century, two horses could pull a maximum of 20 passengers in a bus, but 50 in a tram running on smooth rails. At that time, tramways provided transport for middle-income people and the poor walked everywhere.

What changed the characteristics of the tramway was the advent of electrification, which allowed bigger trams to carry 100 passengers, still with a crew of two, and to operate faster services, reducing unit operating costs and, therefore, the fare charged.

Probably the biggest difference between Europe and North America is that most tramways were taken into public ownership in Europe at the beginning of the 20th century, while in North America many streetcar systems remained privately owned and operated until the middle of the century. In Europe, many tramways were operated as part of the social policy of city councils to enable poor people to travel, and the availability of tramways enabled city-center slum dwellings to be replaced by suburban public housing. Tramways being run as departments of the city council usually meant that no financial depreciation was made, and maintenance was often neglected to the point where total replacement was required.

At this point, tramways were often closed and replaced by cheaper buses. The argument was that [Page 1421]roads were already being maintained, so they might as well be used by buses.

This experience was common in the United Kingdom (UK), Denmark, France, Ireland, Italy, Spain, and Sweden. Unfortunately, the tram passengers did not all switch to replacement buses, and, in most places, bus patronage was less than 70 percent of what it was on the clanking and slow trams.