Background & Objectives

Special public transport events were originally aimed at a very small group: tram spotters, bus fans and trolleybus lovers. Communication tools helped bring them together and now they represent a large and very well organised group - so well organised that now they themselves organise events. Their events now attract not only tram fans, but hundreds of ordinary families.

Implementation

The first step was probably the hundredth birthday of the tram in Budapest in 1987, when some carefully renovated vehicles rolled through the city; this was when people recognised that Budapest had a fleet of very special historical trams.
Nowadays, the reopening of renovated bridges over the river Danube offer occasions for special events. In early September 2012 one of Budapest's biggest tram depots celebrated its hundredth birthday.

No less than eleven types of trams (along with old buses) paraded and special exhibitions with huge tram models accompanied the event. A retro suburban railway train dating back to the 1960s travelled to Szentendre, a charming city close to Budapest, where passengers could visit the Transport Museum of the capital. The old vehicle of the Buda hills cogwheel railway was also open to visitors at weekends.

It was not only Budapest that organised great events. Szeged, member city of the Trolleybus Project, organised the third European Trolleybus Day on the 22nd of September, 2012. Interested parties could visit the tram and trolleybus depot, and could ride on older buses, trams and trolleybuses. As the city enjoys financial support for network developments from the EU’s Central Europe Program, it is obliged to organise an annual open day. Even though co-operation with the Central Europe Program will terminate this year, the city aims to organise similar events in the future.

The trolleybus depot in Budapest also attracted large numbers of people to its Open Day - mostly families with children but not exclusively youngsters. Special emphasis was put on detailing the technical background of these beloved vehicles.
A fourth Tram Day has been organised this Autumn at the city’s tram depot at Kamaraerdő with a spectacular parade of colorful trams.

Conclusions

Special events with renovated vehicles are relatively cheap to organise, but can generate huge interest. Not only children love these events but adults can also appreciate the respectable technical background of public transport services. These events can help improve the perception of public transport and improve the brand of urban public transport itself.

Source: eltis.org