Tram Travel - The greener way to explore

It’s long been my habit to explore somewhere new by public transport, rather than sitting on a coach with forty other people, listening to a guide reeling off schoolroom facts. It’s usually much cheaper, too, which has something to do with it.

Most cities have a particular bus or tram route that is outstanding in this respect; I prefer trams, because, for some reason, I’m a sucker for them.
One of the best I’ve come across is the Route 1 of the Hague Transport Company (HTM), in Holland. This joins the Dutch administrative capital at The Hague (or, in Dutch, Den Haag) with two of its outlying suburbs, the seaside resort of Scheveningen, with its outstanding beach, and the quaint, old fashioned town of Delft.

Don’t ask me how much the fare is, though. Explaining the fare pricing system concisely is a bit like explaining the offside rule in soccer. Let’s just say I bought a 15-unit strippenkaarte for €6.70, and, after my return trip, I still had three units left.
Having taken the ride, you don’t have to ride the No. 1 tram back to Scheveningen, even if you’re staying there. I changed to a No. 9 in The Hague, which, on its way to Scheveningen, goes past the entrance to the delightful miniature Holland at Madurodam.

Another place you can ride the tram to the beach, is in the Australian city of Adelaide.
The Glenelg Tram is the remnant of the city’s once extensive tram system, probably saved because, for much of its route, it is completely separate from the road.

For many years, they have used trams built in the 1920s known as ‘rattlers’, but these are now being replaced by modern vehicles; the tramway is also being extended half a mile northward, to terminate at the railway station, instead of leaving from Victoria Square in the city centre. But, the tram does not cost one cent more than the city’s buses or urban trains. When you buy a ticket in Adelaide, you buy time, not distance, and it’s good for trams, buses and trains within that time.

Britain wasn’t so lucky with its trams. Although they are now making a comeback, the withdrawal in the 60s was so widespread that the seaside resort of Blackpool was the only town to retain them throughout. Local buses vary widely in reliability and price, depending upon where in the country you are.
There are, however, two routes which stand out for scenic quality. I’m sure most British people will have their own personal favourites, but mine are Cumberland Motor Services’ route from Lancaster to Keswick, in the northwest of England, and Wilts and Dorset’s route from Salisbury to Swindon, which sometimes passes the ancient stone circle at Avebury.
Neither service is particularly cheap, but they are cheaper than some tourist coaches.
Where Britain does win out in the budget stakes is the National Express long-distance bus service. Although their white livery is a familiar site on Britain’s motorways, there never seems to be one going exactly where you want to go, when you want to go. But, the fares are inexpensive, and, if you are more than 60 years old, you almost always pay only half price.

Britain isn’t alone in providing an inexpensive intercity bus service, though. In Spain, I rode the excellent Continental Auto bus from Soria to Madrid, a distance of about 170 miles, and it cost me only 13 euros! And, when I got to Madrid, I found the Metro subway system would take me anywhere in the city, including out to the airport, for only one euro!

Of course, the main purpose of public transport these days is to discourage the use of private motor vehicles. This was the reason for the inauguration of Belgium’s Kusttram, or coastal tram. Belgium has a coastline of only 37 miles, and, when you take away the space required by the ports of Oostende and Zeebrugge, it doesn’t leave a lot of beach for a population of nearly 10 million.

So, to relieve the congestion, the Flanders transport authority, called simply De Lijn (The Line) built a tramway along the coast, from De Panne, in the south-west, by the French border, to the north-west, at Knokke.
But, tram rides weren’t all they sold. You can go into a De Lijn office, or any ticket outlet, and buy tickets for many attractions along the coast, which will be coupled with the ticket for your tram ride there … and available at a considerable discount. Being rather a tram afficionado, I’m always on the lookout for unusual trams, as well as vintage ones. In the German city of Dresden, they’re still running Czech-built trams dating from 1929. They did buy some more built 70 years later, in the same factory, but saw no reason to get rid of the old ones, so the two run side by side.

Another place to see a vintage tram in the city streets is Innsbruck, in Austria. Normally, the city is served by a network of modern, efficient trams, and, if you buy an ‘Innsbruck Card’ it entitles you, among other things, to unlimited use of public transport - including the funicular railway, and the chairlift up a nearby mountain … within the period of validity of the card.

The city transport authority, the IVB, frequently get one of their ‘nostalgia trams’ out of the Transport Museum, and run it along their routes. They don’t advertise it very widely, just say on their timetables that a vintage tram may operate at certain times. The only indication that it will actually happen is when you see something that looks like an Edwardian public toilet schlepping down the track towards you!

I rode such a tram on what’s arguably the IVB’s most scenic route, across Alpine meadows to the ski resort of Igls. And, the main attraction for the budget traveller was that it didn’t cost one penny piece more than the same ride on a regular tram would. That was nothing in my case. I had an ‘Innsbruck Card’!

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