Prague's historic sightseeing trams will run all year round

Launched earlier this summer as part of a pilot project, Prague's sightseeing tram line no. 42 will become a mainstay throughout the year, city officials have announced. The historic tram line proved popular this summer, carrying an estimated 9,500 passengers around 7,000 kilometers.

The tram line was conceived as a hop-on, hop-off concept in which passengers can pay a single price per day and ride historic trams between central Prague locations at their leisure.

The line runs in a loop around major attractions within Prague's city center, and trams operate in intervals of about 40 minutes on weekdays and 30 minutes on weekends. A daily ticket on the line runs 200 crowns, and riders can also pay a one-time fee of 50 crowns for a single ride.

"The tourist tram, which we added this year as one of the new benefits of the summer program Prague At Home, immediately found supporters," Hana Třeštíková, Prague's Councilor for Culture and Tourism, stated in a press release.

"Visitors to Prague made extensive use of the possibility for a sightseeing tour of the historic center, where they could 'hop off' at Prague Castle, at Charles Bridge, or at the Powder Gate, see the sights in peace, and then continue again. That is why we want to maintain tourist line 42 with Prague City Tourism for visitors to the metropolis even outside the main season."

The trams pass by Prague Castle after leaving the nearby Dlabačov depot, head down through Malá Strana, and then loop around the city center from the Malostranská station, passing by the bottom of Petřín Hill, the National Theatre, Wenceslas Square, Náměstí Republiky, and other landmarks in central Prague.

During the ride, guides aboard the trams also provide information about the historical landmarks they pass.

The city sees the sightseeing tram line as a more ecological alternative to hop-on, hop-off buses operated by private carriers, which have become popular in Prague and other European cities but can contribute to traffic congestion in the city center.

"Not only is it an ecological variant of tourist transport, thanks to which we are fulfilling the next step of the new strategy of sustainable tourism, but also an attractive variant of transport in Prague,“ says František Cipro, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Prague City Tourism. 

The historic trams that operate on line 42 are not a single model, but a variety of electric vehicles that date from the time of the Austro-Hungarian Empire through the Soviet-era 1960s.

"I believe that, as in other cities, it will become more and more popular, moreover, the views of Prague from the window of a historic tram are among me the most beautiful,” adds Prague's Deputy Mayor for Transport, Adam Scheinherr.