A replica of a mid-XX century tram dubbed «American» has started its daily tours through the downtown of St. Petersburg on November 7, 2019. It will get you past some major sightseeings for rather little money. Till the end of 2019, the route will be operating in a test mode.
UPDATE: one more tram added to the route for weekends and holidays as of February 22, 2020.
St. Petersburg is home to first Russian tram which started here in early XX century. At one moment in its history, the city was even referred to as «the world tram capital» as the length of all tram routes here was the longest on planet.
Nowadays, 42 tram routes cross St. Petersburg both in the center and dormitory districts. Trams are loved by residents and tourists, but mainly due to their quietness, comfort, unhurried movement and the absence of overcrowding even during rush hour. On some routes, trams are running along dedicated routes and therefore easily passing cars stuck in traffic jams.
The St. Petersburg Museum of Urban Electrical Transport (MUET) used to launch a tourist tram route at times, from April to October. An old tram from the museum’s collection was used.
In 2019, city authorities voiced an initiative to launch a constant year-round route for tourists, like it’s case in Lisbon or Melbourne.
On November 7, an LM-33 left the territory of the MUET to go for its first tour.
What’s the tram? It’s the LM-33 which was designed and produced in the USSR and was in operation on the streets of Leningrad (as St. Petersburg was called during the Soviet times) from 1933 till 1979. It was driven by a motor which was designed after a business trip of a designer to the U.S. That’s why people called it «The American» (Американка in Russian).
It’s a replica of the LM-33 made in St. Petersburg. The vehicle has 33 seats, is equipped with Wi-Fi, USB-sockets and modern audio for excursions (in Russian).
Schedule of the tourist retro tram in St. Petersburg:
— 10:00, 13:00, 16:00 and 19:00 on business days;
— 10:00, 11:00, 13:00, 14:00, 16:00, 17:00 and 19:00 on weekends and holidays.
At these times, the tram drives out of the MUET, it’s «homeport». Address: 77, Sredniy Prospekt V. O. (the Sredniy Avenue of the Vasilievsky Island). The nearest subway station is Vasileostrovskaya.
It has 16 stops along the route (the full list is down the post), you can get on and get off at any of them. Beware, it’s not a hop on / hop off concept, so once you got off you must buy another ticket to get on.
In 2020, ticket costs 200 rubles (∼ $3) per ride.
The official name of the route is T1, it has no a numeral identification.
The route starts at the MUET and goes pass some major sightseeings of St. Petersburg. No, not all of them, you will not see, for example, the Nevsky avenue, the Palace square, the Isaac Cathedral, the Kazan Cathedral, the Hermitage and the Church of the Savior on the Spilled Blood. So for a comprehensive tour around the city’s downtown you’d better take on a hop on/hop off bus.
But observing the sightseeings is not what the route was designed for, it’s mainly about getting through lovely streets of the downtown, going across bridges and enjoying oneself with views of the Neva river, its embankments, gorgeous buildings of XVIII, XIX and XX centuries, monuments and postcard views. You will see the Peter and Paul fortress, the Spit of the Vasilievsky Island with its rostral columns, the gorgeous Mikhailovsky Castle (see the picture above), resembling a large medieval fortress, Cruiser Aurora.
Here is a short video of the route
The whole nearly-circle route takes approximately an hour. You can buy tickets from a conductor for cash at any stop.
List Of Stops Of The T1 Tram Route
All the names of the streets of the 16 tourist tram stops are indicated as they are on St. Petersburg’s Google map:
— 77, Sredniy Prospekt Vasil’evskogo ostrova (the Museum of Urban Electric Transport);
— Andreevskiy Boulevard (Vasileostrovskaya subway station);
— Tuchkova damba (Sportivnaya subway station);
— Zverinskaya Ulitsa (Leningradskiy Zoopark);
— Alexandrovskiy Park (Gor’kovskaya subway station, the Peter and Paul fortress);
— Troitskaya Square;
— Chapaeva St. (Cruiser Aurora)
— Ulitsa Komsomola;
— Ulitsa Nekrasova;
— the Circus (Karavannaya Ulitsa);
— Field of Mars (Suvorovskaya Square);
— Alexandrovskiy Park (Gor’kovskaya subway station, the Peter and Paul fortress);
— The Peter and Paul fortress (Prospekt Dobrolyubova);
— Tuchkova damba (Sportivnaya subway station);
— Andreevskiy Boulevard (Vasileostrovskaya subway station);
— 77, Sredniy Prospekt Vasil’evskogo ostrova (the Museum of Urban Electric Transport).
Here is the map of the T1 tourist retro tram route
To view the map in its original size click here
Do you have any questions? Ask us in the comments ⇓
Photo credit: Press service of Gorelectrotrans company