Trams in Cannes was a

tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

public transit system in the French city of

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions I ...

. The tramway opened in 1900 and ended operation in 1933. At the end of the 19th century, Cannes' population went on increasing and several public transport projects appeared. The first was a horse-drawn omnibus serving Cannes from 1874. These buses operated until the arrival of the tramway in 1899. The 8 February 1898, after many municipal debates, the Compagnie des Tramways de Cannes (CTC), a subsidiary of the Omnium Lyonnais, and on 3 January 1899 and 20 February 1900 two decrees declared the utility of a line from La Bocca to

Golfe-Juan Golfe-Juan (; oc, Lo Gorg Joan, Lo Golfe Joan) is a seaside resort on France's Côte d'Azur. The distinct local character of Golfe-Juan is indicated by the existence of a demonym, "Golfe-Juanais", which is applied to its inhabitants. Overview ...

and from

Antibes Antibes (, also , ; oc, label=Provençal dialect, Provençal, Antíbol) is a coastal city in the Alpes-Maritimes Departments of France, department of southeastern France, on the French Riviera, Côte d'Azur between Cannes and Nice. The town of ...

Vallauris Vallauris (; oc, Valàuria) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. It is located in the metropolitan area, and is today effectively an extension of the town of Antibes ...

(via Golfe-Juan).

Network

The network of lines spread over 20.24km. The main line ran parallel to the

Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the e ...

, leaving La Bocca, traversed Cannes by the Rue Félix Faure, Route d'Antibes then skirted the seaside towards Golfe-Juan et Antibes. The Cannet line began on Place Félix Faure, then reached the PLM station by the Rue de la Gare and the Boulevard Carnot. The Vallauris line started at Vallauris Church, joined the Route de Golfe-Juan and ended at the Gare de Golfe-Juan (Golfe Juan railway station). Construction began in 1898 before municipal authorisation. The La Bocca to Golfe-Juan and Cannes to the Cannet lines opened on 25 February 1899 On 21 February 1900, the line from Antibes to Vallauris opened. Running was operated as to link La Bocca to Antibes and extending services from Vallauris to Golfe-Juan into Cannes. The lines were built as single lines with loops. as a security measure, signaling was installed in 1900 between loops. In 1907, the line to La Bocca was extended to

Mandelieu Mandelieu-la-Napoule (; oc, Mandaluec la Napola; locally spelled Mandelieu-La Napoule) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southeastern France. Located on the French Riviera, just to the ...

and opened on 4 December 1907. The network was not extended after 1907, but in February was linked to the Tramway de Nice (TNL) who opened a line from

Cagnes-sur-Mer Cagnes-sur-Mer (, literally ''Cagnes on Sea''; oc, Canha de Mar) is a French Riviera town in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southeastern France. Geography Cagnes-sur-Mer is a town in south-eastern ...

. It was then possible to travel from Mandelieu to

Menton Menton (; , written ''Menton'' in classical norm or ''Mentan'' in Mistralian norm; it, Mentone ) is a commune in the Alpes-Maritimes department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region on the French Riviera, close to the Italian border. Me ...

by tram by changing twice. The network was operated normally during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

and due to the degradation of the track and wires, the line to Mandelieu was entirely rebuilt on

reserved track Reserved track, in tram transport terminology, is track on ground exclusively for trams (in the US, typically called a "private right-of-way"). Description Unlike street running track embedded in streets and roads, reserved track does not need ...

Rolling stock

Services on the earliest lines were operated by 16 tramcars, numbered 1 to 16 and built by La Buire of

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the third-largest city and second-largest metropolitan area of France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of t ...

. The cars were established upon a primitive truck equipped with 2 GE58 35HP engines. This wasn't powerful enough for the high grades encountered on most of the network. Comfort wasn't high as the cabs were situated to high above the trucks and access was provided by doors situated at an angle and tramcars provided two classes. 6 more tramcars were purchased at the end of 1899 to complete the fleet. these were numbered 17 to 22 and had a passenger platform lower than cars 1 to 16 as well as side doors instead of angle doors. Although accidents lowered the company's reputation, traffic increased and the company purchased 8 trailers to increase passenger capacity. Three more trailers were purchased between 1905 and 1908. Two tramcars were bought in 1907 to serve the extension to Mandelieu. These two cars were more comfortable than the older cars and were coupled to new trailers. The fleet of tramcars was insufficient to provide an effective service during the winter season and additional tramcars were rented from other networks (Fontainebleau, Troyes, Poitiers, Pau and Avignon). The company's older fleet was aging and five new tramcars were purchased in 1913 and numbered 26 to 30. These cars were built by the CIMT and were more modern than their older sisters even if their engines were relatively small. Two new cars were purchased in 1919 (numbered 25 and 31) and were identical to cars purchased by the Tramway de Fontainebleau.

Disaster and decline

On 23 March 1924 the depot was destroyed by a fire and 18 cars (out of 31) was considered irrecoverable. To re-establish service, ten cars were rented from the Tramway de Nice and relinquished for the winter running. To maintain a level of service the CTC bought second hand tramcars, 4 from

Melun Melun () is a Communes of France, commune in the Seine-et-Marne Departments of France, department in the Île-de-France Regions of France, region, north-central France. It is located on the southeastern outskirts of Paris, about from the kilome ...

and 8 from Seygne-sur-Mer. This situation made that the Tramway de Cannes' fleet was made of divers stock or poor quality and average speed was low. The first modern bus services began to operate. This made the tramway company's financial situation bad and on 30 March 1927 the CTC was authorised to run its bus service. 6

Saurer Adolph Saurer AG was a Swiss manufacturer of embroidery and textile machines, trucks and buses under the Saurer and Berna (beginning in 1929) brand names. Based in Arbon, Switzerland, the firm was active between 1903 and 1982. Their vehicles were ...

and 6

Berliet Berliet was a French manufacturer of automobiles, buses, trucks and military vehicles among other vehicles based in Vénissieux, outside of Lyon, France. Founded in 1899, and apart from a five-year period from 1944 to 1949 when it was put into 'ad ...

buses were used to complete tramway services. Competition was ferocious and the CTC was forced to replace all its trams by buses. Tramways between Cannes (La Source) and Antibes and from La Boca to Mandelieu were bused on 1 December 1930. The city-centre lines disappeared on 11 May 1933.

References

* ''Les Tramways de Nice et de la Côte d’Azur'' (in French) by Jean Robert. {{France Metro Tramway

Cannes Transport in Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur