44 photos of tramways around the world, for your nerdery pleasure
Paris tramway. Image by the author.
Tramways are dedicated streetcar tracks, either in the center of the street or adjacent to it, ideally with some physical separation from cars. Think of them as protected bikeways but for streetcars.
Tramways are the ideal layout for streetcars. They make streetcars—trams—faster and more efficient compared to the curbside mixed-with-cars-and-parking layout like on DC's H Street.
Here are 44 photos of nice and diverse tramways from around the world, because they're pretty and transit nerdery is fun.
1. Paris, pictured above.
2. Guangzhou, China
Guangzhou. Image by 昇典 葉 (shengdianye) licensed under Creative Commons.
3. Istanbul
Istanbul. Image by TGr_79 licensed under Creative Commons.
4. Salt Lake City, like many US examples this is light rail as opposed to a streetcar, but still a tramway.
Salt Lake City. Credit: Daybreak Dean. Image used with permission.
5. Moscow
Moscow. Image by Artem Svetlov licensed under Creative Commons.
6. Melbourne, Australia, the world's largest streetcar network with over 160 miles of line.
Melbourne. Image by Yarra Trams licensed under Creative Commons.
7. Strasbourg, France
Strasbourg. Image by the author.
8. Amsterdam
Amsterdam. Image by the author.
9. Nice, France
Nice. Image by Michał licensed under Creative Commons.
10. Toulouse, France, with its beautiful grass trackbed.
Toulouse. Image by Stéphane Gallay licensed under Creative Commons.
11. Bordeaux, France, notable for having wireless trams.
Bordeaux. Image by lunavorax licensed under Creative Commons.
12. Brussels
Brussels. Image by André Farhat licensed under Creative Commons.
13. Budapest, where the trams are up to 183 feet long, the longest in the world.
Budapest. Image by steve p2008 licensed under Creative Commons.
14. Minsk, Belarus, on the other hand, runs these 50' trams, much shorter than even DC's 66' streetcars.
Minsk. Image by Artem Svetlov licensed under Creative Commons.
15. Saint Petersburg, Russia
Saint Petersburg. Image by Artem Svetlov licensed under Creative Commons.
16. Heilbronn, Germany
Heilbronn. Image by Cristian Bortes licensed under Creative Commons.
17. Berlin
Berlin. Image by Ben Bodien licensed under Creative Commons.
18. Cologne, Germany
Cologne. Image by Phil Beard licensed under Creative Commons.
19. Shenzhen, China
Shenzhen. Image by Chris licensed under Creative Commons.
20. Hong Kong and its famous double-deckers.
Hong Kong. Image by Fabio Achilli licensed under Creative Commons.
21. Kolkata, India
Kolkata. Image by Veeresh Malik licensed under Creative Commons.
22. Vienna, Austria
Vienna. Image by TGr_79 licensed under Creative Commons.
23. Milan, Italy
Milan. Image by Ian Fisher licensed under Creative Commons.
24. Porto, Portugal, this photo from atop the strikingly beautiful Luis I Bridge.
Porto. Image by Arjan Veen licensed under Creative Commons.
25. Barcelona
Barcelona. Image by Francis Lenn licensed under Creative Commons.
26. Birmingham, UK
Birmingham. Image by metrogogo licensed under Creative Commons.
27. Croydon, UK, near London.
Croydon. Image by Peter Trimming licensed under Creative Commons.
28. Blackpool, UK
Blackpool. Image by Roger Marks licensed under Creative Commons.
29. Dublin
Dublin. Image by William Murphy licensed under Creative Commons.
30. Nagasaki, Japan
Nagasaki. Image by Hans-Rudolf Stoll licensed under Creative Commons.
31. Sapporo, Japan
Sapporo. Image by David McKelvey licensed under Creative Commons.
32. Kagoshima, Japan
Kagoshima. Image by doctorho licensed under Creative Commons.
33. Casablanca, Morocco
Casablanca. Image by Artevia licensed under Creative Commons.
34. Jerusalem
Jerusalem. Image by Chris Hoare licensed under Creative Commons.
35. Seattle
Seattle. Image by Oran Viriyincy licensed under Creative Commons.
36. San Francisco, if it shares with bus, as the street stenciling suggests, this would be a “transitway” instead of purely a tramway.
San Francisco. Image by NACTO licensed under Creative Commons.
37. New Orleans
New Orleans. Image by Mik Scheper licensed under Creative Commons.
38. Boston
Boston. Image by Google used with permission.
39. Baltimore
Baltimore. Image by the author.
40. Minneapolis
Minneapolis. Image by Michael Hicks licensed under Creative Commons.
41. Phoenix
Phoenix. Image by Nick Bastian licensed under Creative Commons.
42. Portland
Portland. Image by the author.
43. Toronto
44. Washington, DC, if our city leaders ever manage to build the K Street Transitway.
K Street, DC. Image by DDOT.
This is of course only a few of the many tramways around the world. Share your favorite in the comments.