SF Cable Cars: Utterly Bonkers!

From the personal photo archives.....

Quite how the bureaucrats haven't closed this down is anyone's guess: San Francisco Cable Cars.  Controlled by the operator clutching a 1960s style bus handbrake lever on to a cable running up the centre of the road, with passengers hanging off the side of the incredibly low capacity 80 year old plus vehicles.  It is nuts and must be the maddest and most dangerous form of public transport in the western world.  Absolutely fabulous - I went to SF in 2012.

On-street running, rails embedded in the road surface, and the centre 'rail' is actually a hole with a moving cable.

Reversal at termini is via a turntable in the middle of a pedestrianised street!

The nature of the traction means the cars are man handled to reverse.

The pulleys operating the San Francisco Cable Car are open to the public to view as part of the museum of the cable car.

Cable car in operation, the services are operated over the steep inclines between the Market Street commercial centre and the North Beach/Fisherman's Wharf area.

Cable car in motion complete with passengers clinging on the side.

And the rider's view!  Of course when in SF you have to have a go!

Cable car climbing away from Fisherman's Wharf,

Zagrebački Električni Tramvaj / Zagreb's Trams

Zagreb has a compact and very simple tram network.  Nearly all stops are served by more than one line, with a track layout that is basically two north-south routes and three east-west routes with a number of branches to termini, with routes variously routing around that track layout.  It is therefor very easy to learn and to ride around (should you be so inclined).  As is common in central/eastern Europe the termini are usually bus interchanges with a high degree of connections between modes.  The newest trams on the system are 140 of these Koncar/Crotram 2200 5-section low floor vehicles.

Whilst the oldest trams are these mid/late 1970s CKD Tatra T4 usually both a Tatra B4 trailer.

Whilst the majority of the balance is the ubiquitous Tatra KT4YU two section single bogie trams.  These remain fully step-entry, but other operators are adding low floor sections in a new centre section.

My overriding impression of the Zagreb tram network is one that is very well used both peak and off-peak.  This T4 arrived at the Kelacica stop (main square in city centre) with an almost full load in the early afternoon.

This KT4YU is loading at the Ljubljanica terminus to the west of the city centre.  The heavy demand comes primarily from a number of bus interchanges.

The Ljubljanica terminus is also home to a tram and bus depot, with this rather impressive if slightly Eastern Bloc entrance.

This photo at the Ljubljanica turning circle is the only photo I got of the new 3-piece Koncar/Crotram vehicles now entering service in Zagreb.  These add to the 140 5-piece low floor trams already in service: as low floors become the standard I expect Zagreb will need to think about introducing level boarding platforms!

Trams and buses share a turning circle at Ljubljanica.

The Borongaj terminus to the east is also a turning circle for three lines, where two Koncar 2200s stand awaiting their next trip.  It is also the station closes to the Dinamo Zagreb stadium.

A 2200 heading west at the central station.

2200 rattling through the city streets,

Koncar 2200 in the city centre.

Line 2 Koncar 2200.

Line 14 Koncar 2200 in the city centre at night

Unfortunately other parts of the system are combined with regular traffic which causes some degree of delay, bunching and uneven headways,

Tatra T4 at the southern extremity of the Zagreb tram network at Sopot where line 6 terminates.  A lot of the southern part of the network operates on a segregated alignment.

The somewhat simple interior of the Tatra T4.  Single seats (Rowley Seats as they might be known to anyone graduating from Aston Transport Management in the early 2000s) down both sides make circulation in the vehicle easy.

The Tatra T4s are somewhat unloved by their passengers though and most are interiors are in a sad vandalised condition .

Tatra KT4YU passing through the city centre,

Tatra KT4YU heading away from the  Central Station to Ljubljanica

Refurbished interior of a Tatra KT4YU.

A Koncar 2200 rounds a corner towards the station,

Thre is a smart card ticketing system throughout Zagreb.  Fares are selected on boarding the tram at these validation machines.  However single and day tickets are still issued on paper strips and stamped via a more conventional machine.

There is a 4 line overnight network on the Zagreb tram network, with lines numbered 31 to 34.

However at the time of visiting three of the four lines were being operated by buses.  Needless to say we used line 32 to get home!

And this is the departure screen at Zagreb's main railway station. Nothing to do with trams but moderately interesting!

As well as building the city's trams, Koncar have also built diesel multiple units for the urban and inter-urban rail network for HZPP, the Crosation national rail operator.

And finally, this health & safety nightmare.  Balanced on the running rail, over a ditch, wearing trainer,s operating a pneumatic drill with no ear defenders.  Not just that, but the system of allowing trams through involves the tram driver nudging slowly up to the worksite!

I liked Zagreb and its trams: it seems a tram system in good health with plentiful ridership, cheap fares and investing in new vehicles.  I also love photos in front of Communist-era tower blocks!  The only downside is the driving style experienced on most trams, which is full acceleration/full brake, and not a smooth journey at all.....

Belgrade's CAF Urbos Trams

The Belgrade tram fleet primarily consists of ubiquitous CKD Tatra KT4YU vehicles (left) dating from the mid 1980s through to 1997 (where Belgrade received the last ones built) and CAF (Spain) Urbos low floor trams (right) which were first introduced in 2011.

This short blog is primarily regarding the interiors of the CAF Urbos trams.  In common with many major eastern European cities Belgrade has a dense urban tram network with frequent stops and many interchanges with other trams and the urban bus network, which tends to have a greater reach.  Also, like mamy cities in eastern Europe, the last decade has seen the need to replace Soviet-era trams, or trams acquired second hand from western Europe, which in Belgrade included some Duewag vehicles.

And this is the subject of this blog: the tight 2+2 seating throughout the CAF Urbos fleet in Belgrade.  Dense urban public transport networks with a high turnover of passengers very much need to be easy to move through, whether its commuters, shoppers or tourists, different groups laden with luggage, purchases, perhaps mobility impaired, or travelling with prams/pushchairs. 

The Belgrade CAF Urbos are the antithesis of good urban public transport interior design.  They are actually really difficult to move through, unattractive at best to move down inside, and do not lend themselves to scooping up hoards of intending passengers.  One suitcase or one pram should not cause issues and blockages stop after stop, but on my first tram ride in Belgrade (at the tail end of the PM peak) that's exactly what it did.  It was like being on one of the Stadlers in Croydon!

For good measure the operator, GSP Belgrade, has specified a light coloured fabric covered seat for the Urbos trams.  As can be seen, they stain very easily.  First rule of a tram or bus seat cover, it's either easy clean (leather or similar) or dark and heavily patterned!

A much better modern tram interior is this Solaris Tramino, in Poznan.  It has plenty of room to move around in and plenty of opportunity for customers to move away from the doors. The CAF Urbos in the West Midlands on Midland Metro are another example of a suitable urban tram interior design. The older Tatra KT4 trams in Belgrade have 1+1 seating, with very wide aisles and a greater standing and maneuvering capacity.

Also of note in Belgrade is a smart ticketing system, touching a ticket anywhere on the screen validates it.  Even a day ticket should be touched at every boarding.

The Belgrade bus fleet seemed to be primarily Turkish built, with a few western designs probably acquired second hand.  However of interest was this Chinese Higer built electric vehicle, with a roof mounted pantograph for charging.

Close up of the pantograph.  A spot of Googling suggests that five such vehicles have entered service in the last month or so.  In a city with a lot of older diesel buses I'm sure they'll welcome this sort of innovation, lest they get admitted to the EU and need to start meeting more stringent air quality targets!

My usual gratuitous final tram photo.  A CAF Urbos stands at the Belgrade Central Station stop.