Horse-drawn street tramway
Tranvía urbano de caballos
- Date
- 1832 · confidence high
- Place
- New York (New York and Harlem Railroad), United States
- Credited to
- John Stephenson and John Mason (New York, 1832); precedent of Oystermouth (Swansea, 1807)
- People
- 👤 John M. Mason1770–1829
- Field
- Movement
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What it is
An urban railway on rails set into the street, with animal traction, which reduced friction and allowed larger cars and low fares. The first mass public transport.
The first passenger rail service was the Oystermouth line (Wales, 1807), but the urban tramway proper was born in New York (1832) and reached Europe with Loubat (Paris, 1853) and Train (Birkenhead, 1860).
What it led to
- The expansion of suburbs ('streetcar suburbs') and the separation of home and work
- Steam and electric trams (1880s)
- Urban transport concession companies
- Problems of manure and urban traffic
Built on
- Nantes and Paris omnibus (1826-1828)
- Oystermouth Railway (1807)
- Grooved rail (Loubat, 1852)
Made possible
- Underground urban railway (London Metropolitan Railway)1863
- Electric tram (streetcar)1881–1888
- London Underground
- omnibus