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Why does Belfast not have trams?

In 1905, the Belfast Corporation took over and electrified the city's tram network. The trams were partially replaced by trolleybuses from 1938, and finally replaced by buses in 1954.



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The advent of personal motor vehicles and the improvements in motorized buses caused the rapid disappearance of the tram from most western and Asian countries by the end of the 1950s (for example the first major UK city to completely abandon its trams was Manchester by January 1949).

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The advent of buses and large-scale competition meant that buses often ran the same routes as the trams and would jump in front to grab customers, and buses were able to move into Dublin's expanding hinterland more quickly and at less cost than the trams, and the belief that trams were outdated and old technology, ...

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But the trams had become a political football (in Leeds it was Labour that did for them, in Liverpool it was the Conservatives). They were unwanted clutter from the past at a time when operating costs of public transport networks were rising and meeting housing targets was the big priority for investment.

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Trams were seen to impede on the freedom of private car owners in the city: the authorities believed that removing the tramways and replacing them with buses would allow for easier transport in and around Glasgow.

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Operating systems
  • Blackpool.
  • Edinburgh.
  • South London.
  • Manchester.
  • Nottingham.
  • Sheffield.
  • Tyne and Wear.
  • West Midlands.


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Belfast is compact and walkable, so getting around the city is easy on foot, by bike or by taxi.

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Between 1992 and 2004, five other English cities saw new tram networks open: Manchester, Nottingham, Sheffield, Croydon and Birmingham. Bristol narrowly lost out due to delays in drawing up plans, rows about where the route should end, and cost overruns in other cities.

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The tram system was gradually phased out between 1949 and 1962 (in favour of trolley and diesel-powered buses), with the final trams operating on 4 September 1962. By that time only one route remained in operation, the number 9 which ran from Auchenshuggle to Dalmuir.

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The report was finally published in August 2023. The report concluded that failings by the City of Edinburgh Council and its arms-length companies were to blame for the delays. Much of the criticism was directed against Transport Initiatives Edinburgh (TIE), the company that was initially in charge of the project.

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The Environmental Reasons For Trams And Trains In Europe Rail systems are so popular in Europe because they can get loads of passengers to their respective destinations en masse — with much less of an impact on the environment.

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The Environmental Reasons For Trams And Trains In Europe Rail systems are so popular in Europe because they can get loads of passengers to their respective destinations en masse — with much less of an impact on the environment.

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In 2005, UK transport minister Alistair Darling cancelled the Leeds tram project. His reasons for cancelling the Leeds tram project were rising project costs.

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The last Edinburgh tram ran on 16 November 1956.

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An extensive tram network covered large parts of London for several decades during the first half of the twentieth century. By the 1950s, however, trams were seen as old fashioned and were gradually phased out to create more room for buses and cars.

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