We’re on the road to recovery:
who still uses trams?

Although public transport was initially monopolistic after the war, the flourishing automobile industry soon broadened the scope of private transport and thus led to escalating competition.

In 1956, the transport expert from Essen, Oskar Willenberg, published a brochure entitled "Is the tram an outdated mode of transport?". Following comprehensive surveys in the USA, he drew the conclusion that the construction of additional roads would generate additional traffic flows.

In 1955, Willenberg called for private road users in the city centres to use public transport. His proposals to improve the inner city traffic situation were as follows:

• the trams should be provided with their own tracks.
• to keep traffic flows moving, every tram stop should have a traffic island.
• public transport, which the majority of citizens depend upon, be it for journeys to work, to their homes or to the shops, must be accorded top priority in traffic.

41 years later, the city planner’s vision of functioning inner city traffic had burst like a soap bubble. Traffic congestion in cities is associated with the problems of noise, exhaust gases and takes up a vast amount of space. A revival in the use of public transport as an efficient means of alleviating this life-threatening situation has taken place. Willenberg’s theories are just as valid today as they were when he published them.