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The Zurich model is the approach by the city of Zurich in Switzerland that permitted its public transportation system to achieve and maintain a high market share. Many other cities have emulated elements of it, especially when new tram systems were introduced.
In the 1970s, Zurich was planning to move many of the tram lines in its central area into tunnels. This project was rejected in a referendum. In the 1970s, a project to create an underground railway was similarly rejected. [1] [2] [3]
Despite the failures of these attempts to provide Zurich with a different kind of transportation system, public transportation in Zurich has maintained a high modal split, with 65% of people commuting within the city doing so by public transport and only 17% using cars. [1] [3] In his book, Status Anxiety , Alain de Botton has suggested why the model is so effective:
There are communities ... whose public realms exude respect in their principles and architecture, and whose citizens are therefore under less compulsion to retreat to a private domain. Indeed, we may find that some of our ambitions for personal glory fade when the public spaces and facilities to which we enjoy access are themselves glorious to behold: in such context, ordinary citizenship may come to seem an adequate goal. In Switzerland’s largest city, for instance, the need to own a car in order to avoid sharing a bus or train with strangers loses some of the urgency it has in Los Angeles or London, thanks to Zurich’s superlative tram network, which is clean, safe, warm and edifying in its punctuality and technical prowess. There is little reason to travel in an automotive cocoon when, for a fare of only a few francs, an efficient, stately tramway will provide transportation from point A to point B at a level of comfort an emperor might have envied. [4]
A tram is a type of urban rail transit consisting of either individual railcars or self-propelled multiple unit trains that run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or tram networks operated as public transport are called tramways or simply trams/streetcars. Because of their close similarities, trams are commonly included in the wider term light rail, which also includes systems separated from other traffic.
Light rail is a form of passenger urban rail transit using rolling stock derived from tram technology while also having some features from heavy rapid transit.
The F Market & Wharves line is one of several light rail lines in San Francisco, California. Unlike most other lines in the system, the F line runs as a heritage streetcar service, almost exclusively using historic equipment from San Francisco's retired fleet and from cities around the world. While the F line is operated by the San Francisco Municipal Railway (Muni), its operation is supported by Market Street Railway, a nonprofit organization of streetcar enthusiasts which raises funds and helps to restore vintage streetcars.
The Siemens S70 and its successor, the Siemens S700, are a series of articulated low-floor light-rail vehicles (LRV) and modern streetcars manufactured for the United States market by Siemens Mobility, a division of German conglomerate Siemens AG. The series also includes a European tram-train variant, the Siemens Avanto.
Oerlikon is a quarter in the northern part of the city of Zürich, Switzerland. A formerly independent municipality, Oerlikon was merged with Zürich in 1934 and forms today, together with Affoltern and Seebach, the city district 11.
Premetro is a type of light rail transit. Here infrastructure is gradually built with the goal to use rapid transit trains in the distant future, but using trams or light rail vehicles preliminary in the meantime. This infrastructure consists of tunnels and/or viaducts, so vehicles have no conflicts with other traffic. To achieve that these rapid trains will be able to use the infrastructure, wider curves and lesser grades need to be designed and built.
Verkehrsbetriebe Zürich (VBZ) is a public transport operator in the Swiss city of Zurich, and is wholly owned by the city. Previously known as the Städtische Strassenbahn Zürich (StStZ), the organisation was founded in 1896 and adopted its current name in 1950.
The Tram 2000 is a type of tram vehicle that was originally designed for the Verkehrsbetriebe Zürich (VBZ), the municipal transport operator of the Swiss city of Zürich, and first introduced in 1976. Other variants of the type were subsequently built for the VBZ, for other Swiss operators, and for the Italian city of Genoa. The last vehicles to the design entered service in 1994, but the type is still in front line service with all its original users.
Trams make an important contribution to public transport in the city of Zurich in Switzerland. The tram network serves most city neighbourhoods, and is the backbone of public transport within the city, albeit supplemented by the inner sections of the Zurich S-Bahn, along with urban trolleybus and bus lines, as well as two funicular railways, one rack railway and passenger boat lines on the river and on the lake. The trams and other city transport modes operate within a fare regime provided by the cantonal public transport authority Zürcher Verkehrsverbund (ZVV), which also covers regional rail and bus services.
The Glattalbahn, originally known as the Stadtbahn Glattal, was a project that was ultimately successful in introducing a modern rapid-transit system to the Glattal area of Switzerland, to the north of the city of Zürich. Stadtbahn Glattal was developed as a metre gauge tram system with through-running to neighbouring Zürich. It was built and is owned by the Verkehrsbetriebe Glattal (VBG), but is operated under contract to them by the Verkehrsbetriebe Zürich (VBZ).
The Škoda 10 T, or Skoda 10T, the latter being the common English-language form, is a three-carbody-section low-floor bi-directional tram, developed by Škoda Transportation. It was in production from 2000 to 2002.
Altstetten is a quarter in district 9 of the city of Zürich in Switzerland. It was formerly a municipality in its own right, but was incorporated into Zürich in 1934.
Inekon Trams, a.s. is a manufacturer of trams, or streetcars, located in the Czech Republic, and has supplied new trams to several cities in the Czech Republic and the United States. The company also carries out modernisation and repair of trams, as well as track reconstruction. It is a joint-stock company.
The Neuchâtel tramway is a tramway forming part of the public transport system in Neuchâtel, a city in Switzerland.
The Zurich trolleybus system is part of the public transport network of Zurich, Switzerland. Opened in 1939, it combines the Zurich S-Bahn, the Zurich tramway network and Zurich's urban motorbus network to form an integrated all-four style scheme.
The Limmattal light rail line is a metre gauge tram line in the Limmat Valley between Zürich Altstetten and Killwangen which started service in 2022. The line is 13.4 kilometres long and serves 27 stops. It is served by the lines 20 and 2 of the Zürich tram network.
The Limmattal tramway was a metre gauge electric tramway that operated in the Limmat Valley, situated in the Swiss canton of Zürich to the west of the city of Zürich. Because of the prominent display of the initials LSB on the line's distinctive yellow trams, the line was popularly known as the Lisebethli.
The Siemens SD660, originally known as the Siemens SD600, is a double-articulated, 70%-low-floor light rail vehicle (LRV) manufactured by Siemens Transportation Systems. It was the first low-floor light rail vehicle to be used in the United States. It first entered service in 1997 with its only operator, TriMet, on the MAX light rail system in Portland, Oregon, United States.
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