The Subotica tram system was a tram system in

Subotica Subotica ( sr-cyrl, Суботица, ; hu, Szabadka) is a city and the administrative center of the North Bačka District in the autonomous province of Vojvodina, Serbia. Formerly the largest city of Vojvodina region, contemporary Subotica is ...

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hung ...

. It was in operation from 7 September 1897 to 2 April 1974. The first tram line went from the Sombor gate to the present day NAP gas station in Mali Bajmok over Rudic street, follogin Korz to Lake Palić. One tram from the system remains to this day, at the corner of Rudić street.

Origins

The Subotica tram, put into operation in 1897, ran on electricity from the start. While neighbouring cities' trams at this date were often still horse-drawn, this gave the Subotica system an advantage over municipalities including Belgrade,

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; hu, Újvidék, ; german: Neusatz; see below for other names) is the second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the P ...

Zagreb Zagreb ( , , , ) is the capital and largest city of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb stands near the international border between Croatia and Sl ...

, and

Szeged Szeged ( , ; see also other alternative names) is the third largest city of Hungary, the largest city and regional centre of the Southern Great Plain and the county seat of Csongrád-Csanád county. The University of Szeged is one of the m ...

. Its existence was important to the citizens of Subotica, as well as tourists who came to visit.

Demise

Many tram systems in the former Yugoslavia closed in the 1950s. Subotica's system met the same fate, though later. Bus transport was seen as a cheaper alternative, and removing tramlines a way to free up space for cars. So, on the second of April, 1974, at 17:40, the tram was discontinued. John Hartley Williams wrote a poem about the line, the "Lament for the Subotica-Palić Tramway".

Future plans

There have been some efforts to investigate the reintroduction of the tram to the city. The city itself lacks funds to rebuild a system, so funding would have to come from other sources. Plans envisage the construction of a system of a similar length to the original one. In the 2010s, the neighbouring city of

started making pre-feasibility studies about a regional

Tram-train A tram-train is a type of light rail vehicle that meets the standards of a light rail system (usually an urban street running tramway), but which also meets national mainline standards permitting operation alongside mainline trains. This al ...

system, that could be extended across the border to Subotica.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Subotica Tram System Tram transport in Serbia Subotica