Tram, Trolley or Trial
Vienna and Amsterdam have some beautiful new trams. Entering the trams reminded me of entering a metro car, rather than climbing into a monster truck. The floor of the tram is only a few inches off the ground, nearly even with the street curb, which kept me wondering where the wheels and engines were. These things lifted other trams two or three feet into the air.
Inside, the space is mostly open. The connections between the cars are the full width and height of the tram, so the space looks like a room up to five cars long. The Vienna cars zip along in near silence except for the annoucements of the stops. Outside, the trams look like high-tech caterpillars crawling the arteries of the city streets.
Before Vienna, my only experience of trams was on Hong Kong’s the double decker. My conclusion was: better off walking. After stopping every ten feet, the packed tram quickly lurched to top speed, tipping old ladies into me while never exceeding the speed of a baby’s crawl. Had it accelerated to a walking pace, I’m sure the car would have rattled out filling if it still remained on the tracks.