Yeees! Booo! :D

Riga, which also sees cold and snowy winters and has a historic network, is gradually replacing all the old single-point switches with double-point ones since ~2010

The new ones allow higher speeds and are heated in winter

(They, sadly, are having some problems in Estonia – if I remember, then with the transmission. But I hope they will sort it out.)

I find it odd to not have left side cameras in a city where trams operate on the outside of the street :D

But, of course, the utility is very limited. My point was just that Riga previously has had to make trams narrower due to loading gauge constraints.

(this is also acknowledged by Rigas satiksme as fact)

The story goes that RVR factory made brand new tram bodyshells, these were shipped across the street to the Riga tram depot workshops, where they were immediately cut up to be made narrower :D

To add to the list of fun facts about Riga loading gauge: after WWII but before Tatras Riga made their own trams, based on the standard body shells. These trams were thus made narrower (note the flat side and no left side mirrors).

Photos of Riga tram based on RVR-6 type and Daugavpils RVR-6 tram

Liepāja meanwhile gradually expanded its loading gauge in the 2010s. There was one last section that was rebuilt a few years after the introduction of the new, wider trams in 2020 – so during that period the new trams could not pass each other there.

Ooh, Riga used to have quite a narrow loading gauge at first! Post-WWII this was gradually widened, where the tracks were too close. Even until 2023 there was one straight section where two trams could not pass each other.

Also, for this reason Tatra trams in Riga don't have left side mirrors.

And most trams w/ separated ROWs outside the general roadway were built in the outskirts without dense development

IIRC, then Riga even widened the roadways of some streets to give the trams their space, while still having wide enough lanes at the edges of the roadway. Before cars.

Because my reasoning is that in the days before cars you didn't need to physically separate trams - just give them their own space. So I would think back then it would have been seen functionally the same as physically separated. Only w/ cars did that change.

What would you consider giving trams their own right-of-way in this context?

Is tram in the middle of a wide street where everyone gets their own space considered their own right-of-way? Or only a right-of-way that is fully separated from the general roadway, perhaps located along it on the side?

How loaded are the trains and how do they distribute people between the trains? Is it compulsory reservation where you have to take the correct train – and not the one that departs a minute later?

@chittimarco.bsky.social Americans: Front-door boarding!
Latvians: Please don't use the front door at all in order to keep the drivers warm and comfortable during winter.

Though in Riga in already in 1938–1940 a lot of effort was put into analyzing the public transport network, exploring the best practices of Europe (Helsinki, Oslo, Zurich) and looking to improve our network.

So perhaps they became also aware of stop impact and already had thoughts about it

Some factors which I assume impacted stop spacing:
1) Less tram stops = less impact on car traffic (cars were not a consideration until 1950s, but a huge consideration from the 1950s)
2) The introduction of doors on trams (until 1950s we didn't have doors)

In Riga it was introduced from 1940s (during German occupation, funnily enough) - as I assume a war time economy measure - and I assume continued until the 1950s or 60s

23 km/h *is* insanely high – almost as if having no cars and traffic lights is the key to fast trams!

By 1960s tram speed dropped to 15,9–16,7 km/h and stayed like that until 2020.

Now it's been increased to over 18 km/h.

:D

Yeees! :)

A 1939 interview: The [Riga] transport board is often blamed that the speed of our trams is too low. However, in my trips abroad I've seen that our tram average speed – 23km/h is much higher than that of other largest Western European city tram speed of 15–17 km/h.

(but this image is the rare image where you actually have stops marked! most are white circles to mark request stops, black circles are obligatory stops)

(an example)

It's cool that you have timetables. In the old days, we haven't had timetables for trams AFAIK. Just the first and last departures and the interval. So I don't know the speed.

(Except the average speed on the network is sometimes published)

Oh, that's cool!

I'm always sad about the reduction of frequency in Riga (probably same in the US). Was trams every 4-5 mins, now it's 10-30 mins most of the day :D

Plus, we have a national digital database of historical documents which include municipal decisions to make more stops request stops and then – to close and consolidate certain stops

yeah, for Riga it's also usually just route maps, because back then stops were very often and not worth showing

A detailed transport guide from 1936 exists and was auctioned, and I downloaded the few publicly available images.

If we look at 1936 route map, Brīvības street had stops every 150-300 m, now it's 500–700 m.

The number of stops from Freedom monument to Biķernieku iela has been reduced from 16 to 8.

(Though now I count bus stops, as the tram was moved to a parallel street. It has 10 stops for the same distance)

In Riga there was consolidation. Stops used to be closer in the 1930s. Consolidation from 1940s onwards

I guess most consolidation happened around 1940s.
In 1930s stops were quite a bit closer, gradually more and more stops were made request stops, then in WWII and after WWII some stops were consolidated for efficiency to get the current 400-500m.