Thread by @mumbaiheritage

Tramway service in Mumbai.
In 1873, Messrs. G. A. Kittridge and Messrs. Stearns Hobart & Co were granted rights to construct, maintain and operate Tramways on streets of Bombay.  A Company called The Bombay Tramway Company Ltd was floated in New York, but registered in Bombay

The Tram Lines were built with teakwood and were 7 Ft long & 6 inches wide and were about 4 Ft apart. Belgian steel rails were placed on top of these teakwood sleepers.

Trams were of 3 types-
•Closed double-horse cars
•Open double –horse cars
•Open single-horse cars

The first batch of cars were imported from America

Bombay Tramway Company started operating with 200 horses. By the end of tramline’s life, horses were around 1360

The first section between Colaba & Pydhonie was opened to public on 9th May, 1874.
•3 Annas were charged to covered this distance, and half an Anna from Victoria Terminus to Pydhonie. In 1899, uniform fare of 1 Anna was introduced

In 1899, the Company applied for sanction of Corporation to convert the Tramways from horse to electric traction. But the Company collapsed and was taken over by the Bombay Electric Supply & Tramways Company Limited (BEST Company Limited).

ARRIVAL OF ELECTRIC TRAM
•The first electric tram car  arrived in the city in 1906.
•On 7 May 1907, the tram car started its first journey outside the municipal office, went to Crawford Market, and returned to the point it had started from.

Two compartment trams were soon introduced to accommodate more passengers

Double-Decker Trams were introduced in 1920 as the crowd increased. At that time, Mumbai was the first Indian city to have double-decker public transport

With the introduction of motor buses in 1926, the Tram passengers began to reduce and BEST had to reduce the number of tram routes due to insufficient traffic

On the basis of a survey conducted in 1952, BEST ordered to reduce the number of tram routes due to insufficient traffic. Tramways had now become outdated mode of transport. Bus began plying on these routes

A BEST double-decker bus with front door entry.
Double-decker buses were introduced in 1937 to cope better with the growing traffic

1928: A sight-seeing coach of Bombay Electric Supply & Tramways Co. Ltd (now BEST Undertaking)

Semi-Articulated Double-decker trailer bus of BEST (1967-1986.
BEST introduced 10 articulated buses in Mumbai in 1967. Seating capacity was 100 passengers. The engine, a tractor, could be detached from body of bus

A Skoda electric trolley-bus of BEST.
12 such buses were imported from Czechoslovakia in 1962.
A trolleybus is an electric bus powered by two overhead wires, from which it draws electricity using two trolley poles.

As the number of Tram routes closing increased, only one remained finally, between Bori Bunder & Dadar. On 31st March 1964, at 10 p.m., the last tram, packed to capacity, left Bori Bunder. It was the end of an era