History of the April issue tram

Reconstruction of Hon-cho Dori Avenue and streetcars (around 1930)

　Yokohama has developed since the opening of the port of late Tokugawa shogunate to this day, but the transportation system that has supported the development and expansion of the city is streetcars. The streetcar was called the "chinchinchin train" because of the sound of the horn, and was indispensable to the lives of citizens.

　The streetcar was not public from the beginning, but started with the opening of the Yokohama Electric Railway between Kanagawa and Oebashi Bridge in 1904. After World War I, the management of Yokohama Electric Railway became unstable. The city of Yokohama acquired the Yokohama Electric Railway in 1921, and the "Yokohama Electric Railway" started because of the great impact on citizens' lives, including the consideration of strikes and fare hikes.
In 1923, the Great Kanto Earthquake occurred, and the tram lost more than half of the vehicles, but the improvement of railway tracks was promoted through reconstruction projects, and new routes were created in various parts of the suburbs. The distance of the track was more than twice as much as before the earthquake, and the street line network was almost completed at this time.

Citizens who gathered at the farewell ceremony of the streetcar (Ashinabashi) Showa 47 (1972) Provided by Goro Someya

　The streetcars were destroyed many times by air raids by the Pacific War (1941-1945), but they recovered immediately after the war and reached the largest scale in the 1955-1964.
　However, as the city of Yokohama becomes wider, it becomes difficult for low-speed trams to play a role as urban traffic, and as rapid economic growth progresses, it finally reaches its limits as a means of transportation within the city. Was.
　From the latter half of the Showa era, the main players in transportation from the suburbs to the city center were the Japanese National Railways (now JR) and private railway high-speed trains. The city of Yokohama started construction of the subway, a municipal high-speed train, and at the same time, the tram line was gradually removed, and in 1972 the Yokohama tram finished its role and completely disappeared.
　Today, subways and buses are used as transportation to support citizens' lives instead of streetcars.

　Through this interview, I was able to reaffirm that the transportation that I usually use for granted has grown along with urban development, despite being burned down in wars, etc., and has been created over many years. . In 2020, the operation of Bayside Blue (articulated bus) began, and municipal transportation is active not only as a "foot of life" but also as a "foot of sightseeing". What kind of history will you create in the future?