City Circle tram

Not to be confused with City Loop.

The City Circle (Melbourne tram route 35) is a zero-fare tram running around the Melbourne central business district in Australia. Aimed mainly at tourists, the route passes many Melbourne attractions while running along the city centre's outermost thoroughfares, as well as the developing Docklands waterfront precinct. It operates in both clockwise and anti-clockwise direction.

Route 35 (City Circle)
W6 class tram turning from Nicholson Street into Victoria Parade in April 2013
Overview
System	Melbourne tramway network
Operator	Yarra Trams
Depot	Southbank
Vehicle	W class
Began service	29 April 1994
Route
Start	Waterfront City
Via	Harbour Esplanade La Trobe Street Nicholson Street Spring Street Flinders Street Harbour Esplanade
End	Waterfront City
Zone(s)	Free Tram Zone
Timetable	City Circle timetable
Map	City Circle map
Route map ← Route 30  {{{system_nav}}}  Route 48 →

History

 

City Circle trams on La Trobe Street in August 2007

The tram route was introduced on 29 April 1994,^[1][2] requiring a small track extension along Spring Street, between Collins and Flinders Streets, to enable a complete CBD loop to be formed.^[3][4] The Federal Government's Building Better Cities program funded the $6.4 million capital cost of the track expansion, while the State Government funded the running costs.^[5]

Until January 2003, the western leg of the original route of the tram was down Spencer Street, but the route was then extended west to run through Harbour Esplanade, Docklands.^[6][7][8][9] The travel time around the circle before this change was 40 minutes.^[10]

Between May and November 2005, the route temporarily ran between Flinders Street / Spencer Street and Victoria Parade / Nicholson Street due to the closure and removal of the Flinders Street Overpass over King Street.^[11][12]

During early 2006, new Passenger Information Displays were installed along with Digital Voice Announcements.

In April 2008, the service adopted the daylight saving timetable on a permanent basis, operating from 10:00 to 21:00 every Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The end of service at other times is 18:00.^[13]

On 30 May 2009, the route was altered for a second time, being extended from Harbour Esplanade to the NewQuay and Waterfront City precincts via Docklands Drive. This made the route an elongated 'q'.^[14][15]

Services after 18:00 between Thursday and Sunday were removed in November 2020.^[16]

From 30 October 2023, the route will only run in a clockwise direction between 9:30 and 17:30 daily.^[17]

Route

 

Interior of a W class tram in City Circle service

 

W class tram on Flinders Street in August 2008

The route of the City Circle trams roughly follows the outer edges of the Hoddle Grid, with three diversions. It takes in all of La Trobe Street, Harbour Esplanade and Flinders Street. It follows Spring Street between Flinders and Bourke Streets, but travels along Nicholson Street and Victoria Street before turning into La Trobe Street. At the junction of Harbour Esplanade and Latrobe Street trams turn off the loop to run to and from a terminus towards the end of Docklands Drive, Waterfront City.

Operation

The City Circle route is operated with heritage W class trams, restored to original condition as part of the W8 upgrade. As of 2020, these are the only W-class trams on the system, and there are no plans to retire them. The City Circle trams originally sported a unique maroon livery promoting the service, however as part of the W8 upgrade the trams were restored back to their original green and cream livery. Until 2014, the City Circle was one of several routes to run W-class trams (30, 78 and 79) but the remaining routes controversially had their W-class trams removed, mostly replaced by A class. Trams display the route number 35.^[18][19] The City Circle operates at a headway of 12 minutes in both directions, with the service taking approximately 60 minutes to complete a loop. Ten trams are allocated to the service at any one time (five in each direction). An average of three million passengers uses the service every year, with each tram circling the city 9 times a day, or 12 times when the tram operates to 21:00.^[13]

Route map

v t e City Circle Tram
City Circle via Docklands, La Trobe Street & Flinders Street Free tram zone covers entire route
Legend
Suburb Street Stop No. Waterfront City Connections Docklands Docklands Drive D11       The District Docklands   70, 86 D10   NewQuay     Footscray Road Siding   Harbour Esplanade D2   Central Pier   30, 75     Harbour Esplanade Tram 70, 75      Camberwell Junction   La Trobe Street D1   Docklands Stadium       La Trobe Street Bridge Melbourne CBD La Trobe Street 119       Spencer Street   86       Spencer Street Tram 86      Bourke Street 1   Spencer Street   86 2   King Street       William Street Tram 58 West Coburg      Toorak     Flagstaff station ●●●●●●●●●●●●●● 3   Flagstaff station   58;   Flagstaff station 4   Queen Street       Elizabeth Street Tram 19, 57, 59 North Melbourne      Flinders Street station 5   Melbourne Central station   19, 57, 59     Melbourne Central station ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●       Swanston Street Tram 1, 3, 5, 6, 16, 64, 67, 72 Melbourne University      St Kilda Road 6   Melbourne Central station   1, 3, 5, 6, 16, 64, 67, 72 7   Russell Street 8   Exhibition Street 9   Victoria Street   30         La Trobe Street Nicholson Street Tram 30 Tram 86, 96   Nicholson Street 11   Victoria Parade   Victoria Parade 10   Parliament station           Parliament station ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●     Bourke Street Tram 86, 96     Bourke Street Mall   Spring Street CC   Bourke Street   86, 96       Collins Street Tram 11, 12, 48, 109 St Vincent's Plaza      Southern Cross station     Wellington Parade Tram 48, 75    Hawthorn Bridge     Flinders Street 8   Spring Street   75     Batman Avenue Tram 70    Wattle Park   6   Russell Street   70   605       Swanston Street Tram 1, 3, 5, 6, 16, 64, 67, 72 St Kilda Road      Melbourne University 5   Flinders Street station   1, 3, 5, 6, 16, 64, 67, 72     Flinders Street station ●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●●       Elizabeth Street Tram 19, 57, 59      North Melbourne 4   Flinders Street station   19, 57, 59 3   Market Street   58;   Queen Street buses       Market Street Tram 58 Toorak      West Coburg 2   King Street 1   Spencer Street   12, 96, 109       Spencer Street Tram 12, 96, 109 Casino/MCEC      Collins/Bourke Street       Flinders Street Viaduct Docklands Flinders Street D6       Flinders Street West   232, 235, 237   McCrae Street D5   The Goods Shed   Harbour Esplanade D4   Docklands Park       Collins Street Tram 11, 48 St Vincent's Plaza      Victoria Harbour D3   Docklands Stadium     La Trobe Street Tram 30, 86      La Trobe Street/Bourke Street D2   Central Pier  30, 86     Footscray Road Siding   Docklands Drive D10   NewQuay D11   The District Docklands   70, 86 Suburb Street Stop No. Waterfront City Connections

References

1. City Circle Opens Trolley Wire issue 258 August 1994 pages 16–22
2. Public transport – City Loop history^{[dead link]}
3. Melbourne Track and Overhead Work Trolley Wire issue 256 February 1994 page 26
4. Lyndsay Neilson (2008). Butcher, John (ed.). Getting implementation going. doi:10.22459/AUC.04.2008. ISBN 9781921313776. Retrieved 1 November 2010. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
5. Lyndsay Neilson (2008). Butcher, John (ed.). Appendix 1: Funding Allocation, Victorian Area Strategies. doi:10.22459/AUC.04.2008. ISBN 9781921313776. Retrieved 1 November 2010. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
6. City Circle trams route change Trolley Wire issue 292 February 2003 page 27
7. "New Docklands Tram Line". Newsrail. Vol. 31, no. 3. Vic: ARHS Victoria Division. March 2003. p. 94. ISSN 0310-7477. OCLC 19676396.
8. . Victrip. 26 January 2003. Archived from the original on 15 April 2003.
9. Yarra Trams
10. . Minister for Major Projects, Minister for Public Transport. 23 January 2003. Archived from the original on 1 October 2011. Retrieved 6 August 2008.
11. . Yara Trams. 20 May 2005. Archived from the original on 23 August 2006.
12. . 14 November 2005. Archived from the original on 20 August 2006.
13. "City Circle Tram to Run When the Sun goes Down". Premier of Victoria. 6 April 2008. Retrieved 6 August 2008.
14. Yarra Trams (1 May 2009). . www.yarratrams.com.au. Archived from the original on 25 September 2009. Retrieved 28 March 2010.
15. Tram changes Railway Digest August 2009 page 14
16. Public Transport Victoria
17. "Tram timetable changes". PTV. from the original on 4 October 2023. Retrieved 4 October 2023.
18. Melbourne – Trams Trolley Wire issue 257 May 1994 page 8
19. Route 35 Public Transport Victoria

External links

  Media related to City Circle Tram at Wikimedia Commons