Updated version of Prague's new-look trams hits the streets this week

Eighteen months ago, Prague Integrated Transport announced a new design that would be carried by the city's public transport fleet. In addition to providing a fresh face lift, the new design is intended to unify all public transport vehicles in Prague.

This week, the first vehicle to be outfitted with the final version of that new design will take to the streets of Prague. A new-look Škoda 14T (ID number 9158) is actually the second tram to appear with a new design, but it's the first to bear the final design after some alterations were made last year.

The Škoda 14T with the new design will be prepared for action at the Kobylisy depot on Monday, January 31. From Tuesday or Wednesday, passengers can look for it on the streets of Prague.

If you want to take a ride on the new tram yourself on the streets of the Czech capital, you can follow its journey at Prague Integrated Transport's official map. Just enter the tram's ID number to see it's current real-time location. The new-look Škoda 14T should run, for example, through the center of Prague on the city's 10 or 16 lines.

The new design's red and grey stripes across the exterior of the vehicle remains unchanged from the original concept by Superlative.works, but new improvements have been made to the interior since the first vehicle with a new look was spotted last year.

New iconography indicating that the tram is wheelchair and baby carriage accessible has also been added to various places on the tram.

According to Prague Integrated Transport, the 14T is the first tram to bear the "final" design, which all vehicles in Prague's public transport fleet will use going forward. Over the next 15 years, as each vehicle goes in for repairs, it will also be outfitted with the new design.

“This is just one of many projects aimed at a more modern and attractive form of public transport,” Prague Deputy Mayor Adam Scheinherr told journalists at a press conference when the new look of the trams was first introduced in 2020.

“Until now, the design of transport vehicles was solved ad hoc during their acquisition and there was no unified solution – it is not only the external design, but also a uniform system of pictograms inside the cars.”

While the Škoda 14T will be the first to bear the final design of the new fleet, it will be joined later this spring by a familiar-looking cousin. A Tatra KT8D5 (ID number 9079) is currently being outfitted in the new colors, and is expected to take to the streets of Prague by the end of May.

Unlike the Škoda trams, which use a wrap sticker featuring the new design, the Tatra vehicles receive a fresh coat of paint each time they go in for repairs.

The red and gray color scheme for the new vehicles was chosen as a replacement for the current red and white to help hide the unavoidable buildup of dirt from the city's streets. In addition, the new unified logos will help passengers identify Prague public transport vehicles and their features.

“The chosen shade of gray will support the impression of generally cleaner vehicles; the pollution caused by normal operation was more noticeable on the white paints used until now,” ROPID director Petr Tomčík stated when the new design was presented.

“A more significant use of the new PID logo will strengthen awareness of the uniformity of the system across all modes of transport."