Trams in Nice was the first-generation tramway system serving the city of Nice, France, which operated from 27 February 1879 to 10 January 1953. The creation of the Compagnie des Tramways de Nice et du Littoral (TNL) was encouraged by the rapid rise in population of Nice and surrounding towns and villages. The TNL's aim was to build a network linking Nice to several towns along the coast on a network. Its lines included: *

Cagnes-sur-Mer Cagnes-sur-Mer (, literally ''Cagnes on Sea''; oc, Canha de Mar) is a French Riviera town in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. Geography Cagnes-sur-Mer is a town in south-eastern ...

– Nice – Beaulieu – Monte Carlo – Menton *Nice's urban tram network.

History

The tramway began operations on 27 February 1879 using horsecars. All lines were electrified in 1900 and operated by single-car tramcars. In 1930 the TNL was operating 144 km of lines, 183 tramcars and 96 trailers. At

Cagnes Cagnes-sur-Mer (, literally ''Cagnes on Sea''; oc, Canha de Mar) is a French Riviera town in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. Geography Cagnes-sur-Mer is a town in south-eastern ...

, passengers could board trams of Trams in Cannes and travel to

Juan-les-Pins Juan-les-Pins (; oc, Joan dei Pins) is a town in the commune of Antibes in the Alpes-Maritimes department in Southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera, it is situated between Nice and Cannes, to the southwest of Nice Côte d'Azur Airport ...

, Cannes and Mandelieu. Unfortunately, the coastal line had heavy bus competition. Coastal lines were replaced by buses as early as 1929, the entire suburban network disappeared in 1934 with many comments from the press saluting the disappearance of this ''old'' mean of transport. Nice Town-Hall decided to slowly close the tramway network and by 1939, only 4 lines remained open. Due to World War II and the requisition of

bus A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

es, two lines were reopened. The network was then operated by 48 tramcars and 22 trailers. A few tramcars were rebuilt in 1942. After World War II, the badly maintained tramways were showing their age, which was surprising for such a popular mode of transport in a touristic city such as Nice. Tramways were replaced by trolleybus lines from 1948 and the last tram ran on 10 January 1953.

References

*''Les Tramways de Nice et de la Côte d’Azur'' (in French) by Jean Robert.

External links

* {{Coord missing, France Nice Transport in Nice Metre gauge railways in France Nice