Report of the thirty-eighth round table on transport economics held in Paris on 24th-25th march, 1977 on the following topic: scope for the use of certain old-established urban transport techniques: trams and trolley-buses.

The author mentions the criteria to be fulfilled by public transport: compatibility with urban planning, basic social, environmental, accessibility and economic needs, short travel time and level of service, and describes the characteristics of some conventional transport technologies (taxi, bus, express bus, tram, express tram, underground and urban railway) of interest to the user, operator and the community. An attempt is made to show the possibility of using express trams in towns with a population of 100000 to 2000000. Details are given of possible network designs and of peak hour traffic along the main transport routes. Some technological developments concerning the infrastructure, route layout, safety and control, traffic and priority rules, and rolling stock are cited. The operational aspects of standard tram routes, e.g., regularity, frequency and capacity, fare collection, and information are discussed together with their organisation. Cost-benefit analyses form the basis of the selection of a transport system for a given situation.