Along with the construction boom of streetcars, People have never stopped the controversy of "whether streetcars are chicken ribs".

Some city streetcars are touted as too slow, low utilization rate, and "demolition or not" has become a problem in front of the government.

1. The scale of streetcars is considerable

Bulgaria is one of the earliest countries in Europe to use streetcars, and now more than 10 tram lines are operating in Sofia, with a total mileage of more than 300 kilometers.

Unlike the exclusive right-of-way systems of the metro and light rail, streetcars are mixed, with streetcars, buses, private cars, bicycles, and pedestrians running in parallel on a single road.

In Sofia, for example, pedestrians have the highest right of way in the center of the city and can cross between the tracks, and streetcars and other social vehicles must stop at all times to give way.

After leaving the center, trams have the highest right of way and pedestrians are strictly forbidden to cross this zone.

In addition, all social vehicles must stop and give way to trams as they pass.

As of 2010, the average speed of trams in Sofia is 12.7 kilometers per hour. This compares with 19.4 km/h for local buses.

2. Dilemma

Since April this year, Sofia tram line 5 has been undergoing line repairs, with the local government investing 40.5 million BGN (1 BGN = 0.618 USD).

The 40.5 million BGN is only the cost of the track repairs, and the local government has invested another 44.8 million BGN to purchase 13 new trams to increase the speed and capacity of the line.

Why is the local government overhauling the streetcars instead of dismantling or abandoning them?

Trams in the local history of more than a hundred years, the track all over the streets and alleys.

And European homes belong to private property, if the existing line is torn down and rebuilt, will inevitably affect the residents.

If directly discarded, it is a waste of the original facilities, and continuing to utilize, it must increase maintenance costs.

Tearing down the waste, maintenance is more expensive, and the local tram is also facing difficulties.

3. Various ways to transform and utilize

The transformation and full utilization of streetcars is always a direction to be explored, and it seems that the practices of other European countries can provide reference.

One is to put in new locomotives to improve the running speed.

Paris, France, for the complementary and optimization of urban rail transit, to improve capacity, and the use of large-capacity locomotives while increasing the frequency of vehicles.

The second is to connect to other rail transit systems, lengthening the operating mileage.

Karlsruhe, Germany, created a "tram + train" seamless connection system, realizing the tram, subway, and train transfer on the same platform.

The planning and development of streetcars cannot be separated from the consideration of the existing urban layout, and only by adapting to the local conditions can the urban rail transit be constructed more satisfactorily.