Trams in Highvale

Trams in Highvale are a predominant form of transportation within Highvale Central and the metropolitan areas surrounding the city centre. With a system length of 112.6km, it is the second largest single tram network in North America, operating with a greater track mileage than the New Orleans and Toronto streetcar systems, yet shorter than the Kingston Tram network. It is also the most widely used transit system in Highvale, with over 95,000 boardings every day, accounting for slightly over 60% of all public transport trips.

Trams first operated in Highvale beginning in 1894, when a horse tramway was established, connecting Highvale Central to Shadow Heights. Several other tramways were established in various localities throughout the city, all operated by private companies. Acquisitions and mergers led to the creation of the "Main Seven" tram companies, of which the Highvale & Whitworth was the largest. Cable trams were introduced into the growing network in 1911, replacing several horse tram networks which existed previously. Electric trams saw service beginning in 1924, and rapidly replaced the obsolescent horse tram lines.

With the onset of The Great Depression, the Highvale Municipal Council was finally able to consolidate all the existing tram networks into a government-run operation, the Highvale Tramways Board (HTB), turning the disjointed and uncoordinated network into a highly standardised one. The introduction of the HA-class tram in 1933 aided the standardisation process, and eventually became an icon of the city itself. Expansion of the network continued, halted temporarily between 1940 and 1945 due to the war and permanently in 1966 after the Bus Companies of Highvale successfully lobbied the municipal council to cease tramway expansion. In 2011 this restriction was removed, and tram network expansion restarted. The system was also fully privatised in 2003, the municipal government having awarded the contract to run the system on a 15-year basis to HTrams.

Ticketing, public information and patronage promotion are undertaken by Highvale's public transport body, Public Transport Highvale, which also owns the network. FareGo is the multi-modal integrated ticketing system that currently operates across the tram network. At some road intersections, motor vehicles are required to perform a hook turn, a manoeuvre designed to give trams priority. To further improve tram speeds on congested Highvale streets, trams also have priority in road usage, with specially fitted traffic lights and exclusive lanes being provided either at all times or in peak times, as well as other measures.

Introduction of tramways
The mass adoption of trams as a public transport system in the western world was seen as the key catalyst that led to the creation of tramways in Highvale. Trams first ran between Highvale Central at Oceanside Boulevard to Shadow Hill, operated by the Highvale Coast Tramway Company (HCTC). Beginning service in 1984, it was the first regular public transport system in Highvale, competing with charter omnibuses that operated alongside the trams then. By 1897, the number of tramways that were in operation mushroomed to 11, all of which were horse-drawn trams. Not all tramways connected with each other, and many stood as standalone systems until later expansion created the current, unified network.

Big Seven Era
By 1903, there were as many as 15 tram lines in the city, most of which were concentrated in the city centre and surrounding neighbourhoods of Crestville, Notholt and Drummond. Mergers and acquisitions between 1903 and just before the outbreak of the Great War in 1914 created 7 independent and private tram companies, referred to as the "Big Seven". Collectively the seven companies operated what was the largest tram network throughout Corraile (at the time only two other cities, Freedo and Colganston, were operating trams). During this period of time, the city's first cable tram was introduced into service, connecting Highvale Central to Notholt West via Tigershead Avenue and replacing a shorter horse tram connecting Crestville North to Notholt.

While the network continued to expand under private ownership, the need to ensure a basic minimum standard of public transport in the Greater Highvale Metropolitan Region led to attempts by the Municipal Council to bring the tram network under state control. In 1919 the Commission for Roadways and Railways of the Highvale Municipal Council enacted the Metropolitan Railways Act of 1919, transferring ownership of all tram trackage in the city into state hands, while guaranteeing to "offer full and fair compensation to the affected tramway companies over the appropriation of trackage ownership" without specifying the compensation offered to each individual companies. Incensed by the state's attempt to forcibly gain control of the tramways, the Big Seven sued the Municipal Council and was successful in blocking the passage of the Act, returning ownership of the tracks to the individual companies. In 1922, however, a revised Metropolitan Tramways Act (1922) guaranteed free and fair usage of tracks by all companies, effectively giving companies full track usage rights over the entire network. The Big Seven responded by expanding their individual lines with varying track gauges, where the Highvale & Whitworth used the Irish gauge (1,600 mm or 5 ft 3 in) and the Notholt Southern used standard gauge (1,435 mm or 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in), while the other companies also used varying gauges of track, effectively denying other companies use of each others' tracks except on pre-1922 tracks. This created a disparate and highly disorganised system with different gauges, different tram models and highly rigid tram network.

Network under the Highvale Tramways Board
The Highvale Tramways Board was set up in late 1929 as a government-associated organisation to take over all tramway operations after the Great Depression, which had left 4 out of 7 tramways bankrupt. By 1931 the HTB was able to gain full control of the tramway network, and set about standardising and reorganising the tram network, which consisted of both electric and cable trams. The state of the network ensured that the HTB's work had been cut out for them, for the network had different track gauges, different tram types, different propulsion systems, different voltage systems for electric trams and different wage structures between the different parts of the network (A tram conductor in Highvale Central earned approximately 40% more than one in Clifton). Adam Henrickson, previously from the Municipal Council's Rail and Road Commission, assumed the chairmanship of the newly-created HTB, with the goal of improving both profit and service standards.

Under the HTB, the network was standardised to standard gauge, although certain portions of the network (in Shadow Hill and Broadcast Peak) were initially meant to be retained at narrow gauge (metre gauge; 1000mm, 3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) due to the narrow streets and steep gradients along those lines. To this end, the first standardised tram type introduced into the network in 1933, the HA-class tram, was designed with both standard and narrow gauge types. Tram number N1, the first HA-class tram designed to run on narrow rather than standard gauge, debuted not long after it's standard gauge counterpart, running from Coastland (where the Shadow Hill narrow gauge line started) to Shadow Hill East. Eventually, in 1934, the whole network was regauged to standard gauge, and the 3 completed HA-class narrow gauge trams were taken off and eventually scrapped (conversion of the trams was impossible due to the different chassis widths).

Also, the HTB worked to convert the last two cable tram networks in operation then, replacing them with the now-standardised 600V DC electric propulsion system. Pay scales across the network were harmonised, and the tram network continued to grow at a steady pace, connecting the outer suburbs to the city for the first time.

As the tram network became increasingly standardised through the 1930s, tram ridership rose as well, up to 16 million in 1939, from 12 million in 1930. Furthermore, in line with the growth in ridership, the system's profits also increased steadily, helping to finance both expansion and standardisation programmes then being carried out.

Immediate post-war austerity led to the sharp increase in tram ridership, hitting a high of 82,000 in 1947. The shortage of petroleum forced commuters to switch from automobiles and buses to trams, although with the end of fuel rationing in 1948 tram ridership fell back to regular pre-war numbers. Return to normalcy, however, also allowed the tram network to continue it's expansion, with the total track mileage crossing the 100km mark in 1957. Between 1949 and 1962, daily tram ridership increased steadily, from 29,000 in 1949 to almost 50,000 in 1962.

Expansion of such extent was to put the state-run tram network at odds with the private bus sector, which competed heavily amongst themselves and the tram network as well. Fearful of the effects of unabated tram expansion, several bus companies operating within the Highvale region created the Bus Companies of Highvale (BCH) as a means of both reorganising the bus networks to reduce conflict and to present a more united challenge to the tram network. Increasing competition from the bus network and the then-recently completed Highvale City Loop meant that for the first time in 1963, trip ridership fell from the previous year's level of 50,000 to 45,000. Tram ridership recovered in 1964, following the completion of extensions to Foothill and West Milbrew, although for most part tram ridership remained stagnant around 50,000 for the next decade due to improvements to the bus network under BCH reorganisation and unpopular increments to tram fares.

Under pressure from the BCH, in 1966 the Highvale Municipal Government suspended tram network expansion until further notice. During this period of time, the tram network had expanded beyond the city area and its immediate suburbs, and in addition had 3 lines connecting the outer suburbs to the city similar to a light rail network. The restriction placed about the HTB regarding track expansion meant that the system's layout remained absolutely stagnant until 2011, when the Municipal Council finally reapproved network expansion.

The 1970s saw most operational revenue channeled into network modernisation. During this period the network was upgraded, several tram depots were upgraded and automatic track switches were progressively installed into the network. Most significant of these changes was the introduction of the HV-class tram in 1971, the first brand-new tram type of the network since the last HA-class tram (Mk VI) was introduced in 1949. The HV trams also saw the introduction of newer technologies and practices into the tram network, including the first mechanical ticket validator (previous trams included a full-time tram conductor; the introduction of ticket validating machines was later blamed for fare evasion and a loss in revenue) and the introduction of climate control in trams (Mk 3 HV trams onwards). HV-class trams, however, were not meant to completely replace the HA-class trams also in service then, but rather to augment them and improve frequencies. With greater frequencies, tram ridership rose alongside the growth of the city itself. During this same period of time, most other major Corrailite cities had either already phased out tramways or were in the process of doing so (The opening of the Centreburg Metro was instrumental to the rapid removal of trams in Centreburg).

Tram ridership in the 1980s followed the similar upward trend of the 1970s, rising from 55,000 in 1979 to nearly 70,000 in 1989.

Modernisation and investment into the improvement of services continued into the 1980s and 1990s as well. By now the tram network had become by far the most profitable arm of the state-run public transport network, which a,lso encompassed the limited local railway network and the ferry services. An Automatic Vehicle Monitoring system was introduced in 1988, improving communication with drivers and allowing tracking of trams throughout the network. This reduced tram bunching and improved reliability of tram services. Furthermore, mechanical ticket validators were rolled out to the rest of the network, rendering the profession of tram conductor irrelevant. Union protests against the phasing out of tram conductors, however, meant that tram conductors were retained on the network despite being cost ineffective. Until the eventual removal of tram conductors in 1994, ticket validating machines on trams remained underutilised.

Trams of Highvale (ToH)
The reorganisation of the public transport system in Highvale in 1999 led to several structural changes to the way the tram network operated. A newly created organisation of the Municipal Government, Public Transport Highvale, gained ownership of the network, including trackage, stations and depots as well as the fleet of trams which by then numbered 443. As the railway and ferry network were subsequently privatised, the tram network however remained within the domain of the Municipal Government. The HTB was also reorganised, assuming the role as tram operator rather than owner of the network. It also underwent cosmetic changes, having been rebranded to Trams of Highvale (ToH). Trams assumed a slightly modified livery, a different logo and were also refurbished. While this reorganisation programme separated owner from operator, in effect it had no significant impact on tram operations, for the ToH was also a Government-managed organisation, not much different from the HTB.

During the period under the ToH, the tram network introduced a new ticketing system, the Ghats (General Highvale Area Transit System) system. For the first time, commuters could use a standardised system of ticketing between networks.

In 2002, the Municipal Government approved plans to privatise the tram network. After a 6-month Central Government-overseen selection process, a local organisation, City Connect, won the right to operate the network for a 10-year period, inheriting the rolling stock and property of ToH. Following the transfer of tram operations to City Connect, the ToH's successor, HiTrak (now part of Public Transport Highvale) assumed the role of regulatory body.

City Connect/HTrams (2003-present)
City Connect replaced the ToH as the operator of the tram network on January 1st, 2003. Inheriting a fleet of trams that was on average approximately 50 years old and a network of which had stagnated in size since 1966, City Connect began to work towards modernising the network and expanding the network (although this was not possible until 2011). In mid-2004 City Connect introduced the HX-class Highvale tram, the first low-floor tram to be used on the network. The introduction of the new trams meant that the HA-class trams, which hitherto had been in operation for at least 50 years, were finally able to be retired. Furthermore, the newer HV-class trams were rehabilitated and upgraded, incorporating improvements to their traction systems, brakes and cabin to improve passenger experience.