Trams were a popular public transport system back in the days. The service started off with horse-drawn trams with the first tram being run on the 9th of May 1974, after the Bombay Tramway Company was set up in the year 1873. The Bombay Electric Supply and Tramway Company or BEST as we all call it, was formed in the year 1905 receiving monopoly on supply of electricity and an electric tram service and took over the Bombay Tramway Company’s assets for ₹9,850,000 and the first electric tram was operated 2 years later. These trams were a major part of the traveler’s lives until the railway networks were made better, and thus the tram services then stopped in March 1964.
Today the trams are nothing but another part of our city’s history and is only heard of in the hit song ’60s song, ‘Yeh hai Bombai meri jaan’. However, we might soon get to experience these tram rides as plans are underway for reviving the tram service in southern Mumbai, which might also promote tourism in the city to some extent. Although, bringing back this service would require a lot of changes and improvements so that it does not become a burden on the road transport like it has in Kolkata. The reactions to this phenomenon are mixed with some being excited to see trams back on the road, while others ridicule the idea of bringing “a piece of history” back to life in today’s modern times.
