The street tram / streetcar

What it is

The street tram is a passenger vehicle running on rails set into the road, offering a smoother and higher-capacity ride than the omnibus because steel wheels on steel rails reduce friction. Horse-drawn streetcars ran in New York from around 1832, and the first successful electric tram line opened in Berlin-Lichterfelde in 1881 under Werner von Siemens, drawing current from the rails and later from overhead wires. Electrification made the tram fast, cheap to run and widely adopted across cities by 1900.

Why it matters

Cheap, frequent rail transit pushed development outward along its lines, creating the 'streetcar suburb' and ribbon-like corridor growth radiating from the centre. It set the template for transit-shaped urban expansion before the car.

Plans it shaped

• Seattle South Lake Union Urban Center Plan (2004–)
• Toyama Compact City Strategy (2005–)
• Florence Tramway & PGTU (2006–)
• Izmir Kordon & Tram Plans (2010s–)
• Karlsruhe Kombilösung & urban realm (2010s–)
• Cagliari Waterfront & Metrotram (2010s–)
• Tampere City Centre Development (2010s)
• Bergen Bybanen Corridor Urbanization (2010s–)
• Kraków Transport & Spatial Strategy (2014)
• Addis LRT Corridor Plans (2015–)
• Hamilton LRT Corridor Plan (2015–)
• Gold Coast City Plan (2015)