When trams ran in Penang

There was a time, before cars were common form of transport, when trams ran on the streets in Penang. The first tramway came into operations in Penang in the 1880's. It was introduced by a private operator, one Mr Gardner, using steam trams that ran along Ayer Itam Road and Waterfall Road.

(In the 1880's, Waterfall Road refers to the road that ran from the Penang Waterfall to Ayer Itam Road. Today this full length comprises parts of Western Road (Jalan Utama). With a realignment of Western Road, a rump portion of Waterfall Road (Jalan Air Terjun) exists parallel to Jalan Kebun Bunga.)

In 1890, there were eleven steam-tram cars plying routes in George Town. Its headquarters is at the eastern end of Western Road, where we have Jalan Tramway today. It was completed on 27 October, 1907.

Jalan Tramway, where the tram headquarters was located (15 December 2008)


The Penang Steam Tramways Company was running at a loss. Its owner gave up in 1893, and the company passed to the New Oriental Banking Corporation. The bank tried to get the Municipal Commissioners to take over the service, but the they declined. Thereafter the company continued to operate its tram service without yielding any profit.

In addition to the steam trams, the Penang Steam Tramways Company also laid tracks for horse-drawn trams. This was in 1898, when reclamation of the George Town waterfront extended the harbour to Weld Quay. The new horse-drawn tram line ran from Magazine Road via Penang Road and Chulia Street to Weld Quay. It operated simultaneous to the steam trams, and on 4 May, 1899, the horse-tram collided with the steam-tram at 5 o'clock in the evening, at the end of Chulia Street Ghaut, injuring three persons.

The unprofitable Penang Steam Tramways Company came to another unglorious stop in 1900, and the company was put for sale by auction. The auction drew no bidders, which forced the Government (not the Municipality) to come to its rescue, enabling service to resume. However in 1903, the Government decided to discontinue the tram service. It was then that the Municipality took over the service.

Electricity was introduced to George Town in 1904, and this allowed for the electrification of the tramways. On 23 December 1905, the Municipal Commissioners took the first ride on a newly electrified tram. It ran for 2½ miles from Dato Kramat, near the Penang Prison (where Jalan Tramways is located), to the Jetty at Weld Quay. The service used eight tram cars operating at 11-minute frequency.

The tram service finally saw a financial turnaround in 1913, and it operated in the black until 1922, when Penang suffered a trade depression. That same year, the idea of replacing the trams with trolley-buses was proposed and accepted. The first trolley bus began plying the streets of Penang in 1925. They ran simultaneous to the trams which were only fully taken off the streets in 1936. At the height of its operation, there were 24 trams on the streets and eleven miles of tramways.

Reference

Penang - Past and Present (1786-1963): © City Council of George Town, 1966, page 51-53