Dr. Conlon analysed the growth of tramways in historical Bombay and their relationship to the urban development of the city. Describing important events of world history in the late 1800s, he explained how they directly or indirectly affected life in Bombay city.

The first trams to arrive in Bombay were horse-drawn trams around 1874. Their movement was largely confined to the Fort area, plying in the southern parts where the English people lived, and the northern parts inhabited by the local traders. Even in those years, the people complained of narrow and congested roads!

Dr. Conlon mentioned that the tram fare was one anna (6 paise), for travelling anywhere on the route. This fare was thought to be affordable for the working classes, and was kept regulated in the years that followed.

However, he observed that Bombay was more of a ‘pedestrian’ city – most people preferred to walk to the place of work and back! Students and mill workers sought to save even the one anna fare, which would fetch them tea and refreshments. Dr. Conlon informed the audience that Mahatma Gandhi, who lived in Mumbai in the early 1900s, would rather walk to work and save on the tram fare – a fact mentioned in his autobiography!

Electric trams came to Bombay in 1907. The network had extended upto Grant Road by then. However, Dr. Conlon said that there were very obvious class considerations in the development of the electric tram networks – they were not allowed to ply in areas near Malabar Hill and Cumbala Hill, so as not to disturb the movement of the private horse carriages of the rich who lived there!

Dr. Conlon opined that the tramways did not contribute anything to the city’s development. The narrow, congested roads and unplanned growth of the parts outside the Fort area posed physical limitations for setting up electric tram networks. Also, the Bombay Electric Supply and Tramways (BEST) company could not expand its network beyond Parel, as that land belonged to the Government. In the cities of Britain and Australia, the tram companies bought land on the outskirts of the cities and developed the network there, which spurred the growth of housing and industry in those areas. In British India, however, trains and roads were not seen as agents of development. They were meant for transporting goods, not for commuter traffic! The tramways suffered due to this outlook.

The other reason for the decline of tramways in Bombay mentioned by Dr. Conlon was the regulation of the fares – the fare was little more than one anna till the trams went off the roads in 1964! This meant that there was little revenue being generated for the company, and it was not an economically viable option at all!

Dr. Conlon concluded by saying that though the title of the talk was “The Trams are Coming…”, in reality the trams came, stayed for a while and went away! He believed that trams may not be a realistic solution to Mumbai’s current traffic problems. Given the nature of Mumbai’s growth in the last few decades, it may be viable to operate trams only in the northern parts of the city, near the highways.