Trams in Caen was the former public transit system serving the city of

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

. The original tramway network, operated by Compagnie des tramways électriques de Caen opened in 1901 and closed on 23 January 1937, after which

buses A bus (contracted from omnibus, with variants multibus, motorbus, autobus, etc.) is a road vehicle that carries significantly more passengers than an average car or van. It is most commonly used in public transport, but is also in use for cha ...

took over as the primary means of public transport in Caen (until the 2002 opening of

Caen Guided Light Transit The Caen guided light transit or Caen ''TVR'', locally known as "the Tram", was an electrically powered guided bus system in Caen, France, which uses Bombardier Guided Light Transit (''TVR'' in French) technology. After a construction time la ...

replaced by the

Caen tramway The Caen tramway (french: Tramway de Caen) is a tram in the city of Caen, France. The tram opened on 27 July 2019 and replaced the Caen Guided Light Transit (TVR) that closed in December 2017. The tramway uses the same route as the TVR, with a sh ...

in 2019). Public transport began in 1860 with a horse omnibus service; in 1895, the Compagnie des Omnibus et Transports à chevaux was created to provide an organised urban transport service to the inhabitants of

Caen Caen (, ; nrf, Kaem) is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the department of Calvados. The city proper has 105,512 inhabitants (), while its functional urban area has 470,000,narrow gauge A narrow-gauge railway (narrow-gauge railroad in the US) is a railway with a track gauge narrower than standard . Most narrow-gauge railways are between and . Since narrow-gauge railways are usually built with tighter curves, smaller structu ...

lines spread over 11 km and all three lines opened in 1901, connecting the Route de Falaise (La Guérinière), Caen-Ouest Station, Saint Pierre, Place du Canada ( Saint Martin), La Maladrerie and Venoix. The depot was situated on the Eastern side of the Bassin Saint Pierre, in the city centre of Caen, with the tram lines crossing the Calvados' line to

Ouistreham Ouistreham () is a commune in the Calvados department in Normandy region in northwestern France. Ouistreham is a small port with fishing boats, leisure craft and a ferry harbour. It serves as the port of the city of Caen. The town borders the mo ...

. While the tramway closed on 23 January 1937, the tracks remained for several years after that.

Rolling stock

The company operated a fleet of single car trams as well as trailers.

Rolling stock

See also