IN PICTURES: When electric trams ruled York’s roads

Trams on Queen Street passing into Station Road, 1934. Picture: Explore York Libraries and Archives

THERE’S a lot of talk in York at the moment about how the city council can reduce car journeys in the city, so as to cut congestion and reduce carbon emissions.

The council wants to cut emissions from transport by 71 per cent by 2030 – it says that’s the only way York can meet its commitment to be carbon neutral by then.

The plan will involve cutting car journeys by at least 20 per cent – along with doubling walking and cycling and a 50 per cent increase in bus use.

The big question is how to achieve this cut in car journeys.

The council has ruled out a congestion charge for now. Instead, Cllr Kate Ravilious, the joint executive member for environment and the climate emergency, says a range of options might be considered – including freight delivery hubs, more priority routes for buses and cyclists, changes to parking and stronger enforcement of traffic regulations.

It’s not as if any of this is really new, however. City fathers have been struggling with the problem of how to keep traffic moving in York’s narrow, constrained streets since the days of horse drawn carts and trams.

Back in 1909, the York Corporation – forerunner of today’s council – proved that it was able to think big.

It bought out the York Tramways Company – which operated horse-drawn trams – and, in the space of a year, installed an entire network of electric tram routes serving most of the city.

It involved a major programme of work – as revealed by some of the photos on these pages today, which all come from Explore York’s wonderful digital archive. But the upshot was that by 1910 York had a working electric tram system.

The system eventually expanded until there were no fewer than 45 trams operating on six main routes out from the city centre to Acomb, Dringhouses, Fulford, Haxby Road, Hull Road and South Bank. The corporation also had four electric trolleybuses.

Sadly, it wasn’t to last. In 1934, York Corporation Tramways merged with the West Yorkshire Road Car Company. A year later, the decision was taken to abandon electric trams, and on November 16, 1935, the last tram routes closed. The car became king.Any lessons to be learned?