Industrial district tram

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The Industriequartier-Strassenbahn (IStB) was a tram company in Switzerland that operated in the urban area of Zurich . It was founded in 1896 and was one of eight predecessor companies of today's Verkehrsbetriebe Zürich (VBZ). In 1903, their infrastructure merged with the Zurich tram network .

history

As early as 1894, the municipalization of the tram companies was decided in a referendum and carried out two years later, but private tram companies were also established after that. They opened up areas in which the Zurich urban tram (StStZ, today's VBZ) initially showed no interest in view of limited financial resources. In 1894 the city council granted the construction company of Theodor Bertschinger from Lenzburg the concession for the construction of a tram line between the main train station and Hardturm . Industriequartier-Strassenbahn AG was constituted on July 30, 1896, but limited itself to the slightly shorter section between the main train station and the Wipkingerbrücke (at today's Escher-Wyss-Platz ). The meter-gauge line with a length of 2.4 kilometers was opened on April 23, 1898.

The company was profitable and could pay out between 3 and 6 percent dividends. Due to its name and route, the IStB is considered to be the first “workers' tram” in Zurich, but tram journeys were far too expensive for ordinary workers back then. By far the most important customer segment was excursion traffic to the wine-growing village of Höngg on Sundays . There was a connection there with the Zurich – Höngg (ZH) tramway since August 27, 1898 . The ZH initially worked closely with the ICTB and left the management of the company to it; there were shared tickets and through trains. After two years, the partners fell out after the ICTB changed the timetable without consulting. The ZH terminated the operating contract, so that from September 29, 1900, passengers had to change at the Wipkingerbrücke and buy separate tickets. Both companies paid attention to the poorest possible connections to the trams of the competition, which led to a drastic decline in excursion traffic.

The ICTB tried to compensate for the decline with the introduction of workers' subscriptions, but this turned out to be a failure. Despite a slight increase in the number of passengers, revenue fell sharply. Even a 15% increase in subscription prices couldn't change that. As early as 1901, the ICTB sought to be taken over by the StStZ, but the city found the purchase price too high. In 1902 the financial situation worsened again, so that the shareholders had to agree to the municipal takeover offer, which only provided for the conversion of IStB shares into StStZ bonds . The municipalization took place on April 1, 1903. The ICTB depot formed the basis for the VBZ's Hard depot, which still exists today.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Hans-Rudolf Galliker: Tramstadt - local public transport and urban development using the example of Zurich . Chronos Verlag, Zurich 1997, ISBN 3-905312-02-6 , p. 101 .
  2. ↑ Galliker: Tram city. P. 106.
  3. ^ Die Industriequartier Strassenbahn (IStB), 1898–1902. Tram Museum Zurich, October 10, 2003, archived from the original on September 1, 2011 ; accessed on May 15, 2014 .
  4. ↑ Galliker: Tram city. Pp. 106-107.
  5. ↑ Galliker: Tram city. P. 108.