The actual Tenerife tram It was inaugurated on June 2, 2007 and, since then, it has become a reliable alternative to travel within the metropolitan area. Thus, since 2017 they have used it more than 175 million people. Much earlier, specifically in 1901, there was another, known as the Villasegura tram, whose route began in the Plaza de España in Santa Cruz de Tenerife and, from 1904, ended in Tacoronte.
Twitter profile of Before-Now Tenerife (@BeforeNowTfe) shared on August 11, shared a beautiful photograph, which is included in the book ‘Canarias en imágenes’, in which you can see what that tram was like, which at the moment it was photographed was going up to La Laguna, passing through the La Cuesta station, where its iconic chimney still remains.
The Villasegura tram remained operational until November 14, 1956, when it was decided to suspend the service after an accident that was later linked to the deterioration of the system.
In the book The old tram of Tenerifewhich collects the history of this means of transport in thematic chapters, the author Rafael Cedrés Jorge explains that “the tram went through several stages throughout its 55 years of existence, sometimes marked by the actions of the concessionary company that operated it and others due to the social and political circumstances of Spain”.
In this sense, “from the initial euphoria of its inauguration, a situation of neglect was caused mainly by actions aimed at obtaining benefits until in 1927 the tram was acquired by the Island Council, which undertook an improvement and modernization plan, that finally it could not complete since when it began to work better it found itself with the restrictions of the Civil War, Postwar and World War II”, he adds.
Despite this, the Cedrés indicates that “the tram was a great means of social transport, especially in the Cabildo stage, which oriented it to favor the transport of the working class by establishing special fares at reduced prices in certain time slots”.
