page_title: Rail transport in Puerto Rico
section_title: San Juan Tramway
hierarchical_section_title: Rail transport in Puerto Rico / History / San Juan Tramway
caption_attribution_description: English: Tramway in front of City Hall in Plaza de Armas, Old San Juan (circa 1902)
context_page_description: Rail transport in Puerto Rico currently consists of a 10.7-mile passenger metro system in the island's metropolitan area of San Juan. Its history can be traced back to the mid-19th century with the construction of a limited passenger line in Mayagüez. Between the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Puerto Rico's rail transport system expanded significantly, becoming one of the largest rail systems in the Caribbean at the time thanks to an economic boom in agriculture industries, especially the sugar cane industry. The rail system was expanded to include passenger travel with a direct line from the island's northern capital of San Juan to the western and southern cities and towns, greatly improving travel and communication within the island. However, the entire system was soon overshadowed by the arrival of the automobile, and by the 1950s was completely abandoned. Small remnants of this system still exist in some parts of Puerto Rico, some conserved for tourism purposes.
context_section_description: In 1878, engineer-entrepreneur Don Pablo Ubarri was granted a permit to build and operate a 7-mile (11.3 km) passenger steam tramway between San Juan and the town of Río Piedras. This interurban system was the beginning of colonization of the hinterland of the walled city of San Juan. In 1901, the San Juan Light & Transit Co. replaced the steam tram by a new electric tram system. The stops or paradas along the avenue were numbered, from 1 in Old San Juan to 40 in Río Piedras. The numbers became so identified with the locations that some street maps still show them today. In 1911 a new line going through Condado in Santurce is constructed by the Porto Rico Railway, Light & Power Co. Locally referred to as the Trolley de San Juan, or San Juan Trolley in English, it crossed the streets of San Juan from 1901 to October 1, 1946. During its heyday, it was the most modern electric tramway system in Puerto Rico, rivaling New York and Toronto,  the cars had such features as steel arch roof bodies, improved ventilation, up to 65 seated passengers capacity and air operated front and centre doors, with more than 14.5 miles (23.3 km) of tracks and 36 passengers coaches, it transported nearly 10 million passengers a year. A stroll cost ten cents.
  The event of World War II, the creation of the San Juan-Santurce Omnibus Line, the White Star Bus Line and the San Felipe (1928) and San Ciprián cyclones in 1932 caused serious damages to this transit system.
caption: Tramway in front of City Hall in Plaza de Armas, Old San Juan. (circa 1902)
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