On July the 31st, 1880 - precisely 130 years ago - the city’s first horse tram service began operation. Its first line ran from the railway station to the Old Market Square.

When the first horse tram line was opened in Poznan, the city’s first tram depot with a service workshop was also commissioned and the city’s public transport quickly won people’s hearts. No wonder then, that the first line was quickly lengthened to reach the Ostrów Tumski district in the vicinity of the cathedral. Shortly after that, the second horse tram line was opened, while in 1891, the first horse-pulled omnibuses were put into operation, bringing the city’s inhabitants to suburban holiday resorts. By 1898, the first electric trams could already be seen in the streets of Poznan. Initially, they operated on the same routes as the horse trams, yet with the development of the city at the beginning of the 20^th century, subsequent lines were opened.

When in 1918 Poland regained her independence, Poznan was no longer part of  Germany and it became a Polish city again. In the interwar era, further tramlines were gradually opened. At the same time, the lines running along the narrowest streets of the Old Town were removed.

In 1925, Poznan’s first bus services started to operate on routes that had low passenger traffic, which caused tram services to become unprofitable in those areas of the city. Then in 1930, the first trolleybus line was opened in Poznan – before the Second World War, no other Polish city could boast such a line. Following the end of the war  and the repair of war damage, gradual development of the city’s transport system was initiated. Particular emphasis was placed on expanding the network of bus connections and new lines running from the city centre to newly-built, peripheral housing estates were opened. In the late 1950s, the first suburban lines were developed as well. As a result, impractical trolleybus lines were gradually replaced with bus lines and in 1970, the last trolleybus line was finally closed.

At the beginning of the 1980s, the construction of the Poznan Fast Tram began. As early as the 1990s, it linked the city centre with the housing estates in Poznan’s northern districts. Thus far, it has been the greatest investment related to the tram system extension in Poznan.

Since the mid-1990s, the old tram and bus stock has been gradually replaced with new ones. Only in 1996 and 1997, over 120 new low-floor busses were commissioned in Poznan. Within the course of the last dozen or so years, more than 20 modern, low-floor trams have been put into service as well, mostly Siemens Combinos. As part of the preparations for the 2012 UEFA European Football Championship, the city has already ordered 40 more low-floor trams.

Today, the Poznan Municipal Transport Company operates 18 tram lines and 53 bus lines as well as a night transport service including 22 bus lines and one tram line. Every Sunday in the summer, passengers will have an opportunity to see what trams and busses looked like in the past. From 1pm to 5pm, several renovated trams and busses will depart from in front of the depot on ul. Gajowa, some 300 metres from rondo Kaponiera, near the Sheraton and Mercury hotels.