Tram-Omnibus Basel
The tram-omnibus Basel , known colloquially as the Rösslitram , was one of the first public transport in the Swiss city of Basel and is now regarded as the forerunner of the Basel tram .
history
Droschken as a predecessor
From the 1850s, the first commercial means of transport, so-called “hackney cars”, ran alongside the stagecoaches in the city of Basel . The city of Basel had around 25,000 inhabitants at the time. Because of the high price, getting around on horseback was reserved for the wealthy classes of the population. Omnibus services were an additional means of transportation.
Most Basel residents, however, usually managed all routes on foot. The cost of a cab ride from the Central Station to the Marktplatz in 1860 was around CHF 1.20, which was half the daily wage of a factory worker. The cabs ran between certain locations in all weathers.
The introduction of the tram and the emergence of the "motorized cab", the first taxis, led to the decline of the stagecoach, the omnibus and the entire cab driver industry until the definitive end in 1937.
Early plans for a light rail and tram
In 1862, Switzerland's first horse-drawn tram was opened between Geneva and the suburb of Carouge . In Basel , in the 1870s and 80s, there was an increasing number of requests for the granting of concessions that were supposed to enable the operation of trams. These applications, mostly submitted by foreign consortia, were consistently rejected by the city government. All requests envisaged a connection between the two Basel central train stations, the central train station and the old Baden train station , and several outlying districts were to be opened up by branch lines.
The Basel engineer Christen projected an obvious idea; a full-fledged railway line, which should be led through tunnels and bridges through the city, similar to today's S-Bahn .
 Roesslitrams in front of the Badischer Bahnhof in the 1890s
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The "Rösslitram" as the hour of birth
In 1879, the Jurassic mail carrier Heinrich Imhoff submitted an application for a license for a tram-omnibus, which the government refused because Imhoff demanded a state-guaranteed monopoly. The plans envisaged a system that had or has some characteristics of former and present trams, including the connection to a certain route and the operation according to a fixed, regular timetable. A year later, in 1880, the Basel “Stadtomnibus” was granted the license when Imhoff waived the condition in his second application. After an inspection by the authorities in July 1881, the project was finally given the green light, the concession was valid for one year and had to be re-approved each time.
On July 11, 1881, the tram bus started regular operations, running on a trunk line between the two Basel central train stations, the Central train station and the old Baden train station , which was divided into two routes in Grossbasel . The "Line F" led from the Centralbahnhof to Aeschenplatz , through Freie Strasse to the market square . The "Line G" also led to the market square via Elisabethenstrasse, Barfüsserplatz and Gerbergasse. From there, both lines led via Schifflände over the Mittlere Brücke to Claraplatz and on to the old Baden train station. The operation lasted from 7 a.m. in the morning until 9 a.m. at 20-minute intervals, which resulted in a 10-minute interval due to the overlapping of lines in Kleinbasel . At that time there were no stations and stops in the modern sense, you got off or on the car while driving. If necessary, the coachman could be given a sign, with which he reduced the speed in order to avoid accidents as far as possible, which was still quite common, especially at the beginning.
In the same year the company underwent some significant changes and expansions. The "Line G" was relocated from Elisabethenstrasse to Steinen-Vorstadt on September 1st, and on December 1st the new sections Barfüsserplatz - Milchhüsli (today Burgfelderplatz) and Schifflände - St. Johanns-Tor were added - or 40-minute intervals. Due to a lack of profitability, the line in St. Johann was discontinued in April 1882, and at the same time the cycle on the main lines F and G was reduced to 7.5 minutes.
In February 1883 Imhoff and with it the entire company went bankrupt, the businessman Jules Settelen took over the business. With the bankruptcy, the Spalenlinie also had to be closed. In 1892, the Grand Council of the City of Basel passed the resolution to introduce a tram, which slowly brought the end of the tram-omnibus to life. Operation was stopped three years later.
network
| line | From | To | via | In operation: |
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| F. | Centralbahnhof | old bathroom. railway station | Aeschenplatz - Freie Strasse - Marktplatz - Schifflände - Middle Bridge - Claraplatz | May 6, 1881 - 1895 |
| G | Centralbahnhof | old bathroom. railway station | Elisabethenstrasse - Barfüsserplatz - Gerbergasse - Marktplatz - Schifflände - Middle Bridge - Claraplatz | May 6, 1881 - August 30, 1881 |
| Steinen-Vorstadt - Barfüsserplatz - Gerbergasse - Marktplatz - Schifflände - Middle Bridge - Claraplatz | September 1, 1881-1895 | |||
| * | Barfüsserplatz | Milk cereal | Spalenberg - Lyss - Spalen Gate | December 1, 1881 - February 1883 |
| * | Ship landing | St. Johanns Gate | St. Johanns-Vorstadt | December 1, 1881 - April 1882 |
| * In contrast to today's common names with numbers and letters, the lines did not always have their own names from the start. If at all, in earlier times they were labeled with the route information. | ||||
