January the 5th, 2026 – There’s a Croatian city that had trams before Zagreb did, and it remains one of the only smaller cities with this form of public transportation.
As Putni kofer writes, back during the second half of the 19th century, more specifically on September the 10th, 1884, a special sense of pride could be felt in the east of Croatia. The first tram in Croatia began running through Osijek and was a first-class event for the city and its residents, seeing it stand side by side with the greatest global metropolises of the time.
Since then, a lot has changed. The tram no longer runs through the famous Citadel. Since 1926, an electric tram has been operating across Osijek, with the tram network later expanding through Retfala, the Industrial District, Jug II, Višnjevac, and the rolling stock being modernised. However, one thing that has remained unchanged in its 140 years of existence: the Osijek tram was and remains an integral part of everyday city life.
“Since we were young, we’ve travelled by tram every day to school, to meetings with loved ones, to work… We ran after the tram, we hurried onto the tram, and we crowded together on the tram. The tram is also extremely important for the history of the city as a key factor that helped integrate the once unconnected city units, Tvrđa, Gornji, Donji and Novi grad, without which the modernisation and economic development of Osijek would not have been possible,” the City of Osijek states on its website.
Today, Osijek has 30 kilometres of track and a total of 25 trams in public transport service. Only Zagreb and Osijek in Croatia have organised tram traffic, with Osijek being one of the smallest cities in the world whose citizens have the privilege of using this extremely environmentally friendly form of public transport every day.
Seven years after the first tram arrived in Osijek, on September the 5th, 1891, to be precise, the first horse-drawn tram in the Croatian capital was put into service. More than a million passengers were transported by the new means of transport in the city during the first year of operation alone, which was an exceptionally high figure, considering that Zagreb had only about 42,000 inhabitants at the time. According to povijest.hr, the first Zagreb trams were powered by horse-drawn trams. The average fare was around 12 filira, and a total of 77,800 forints were earned during the first year.
The residents of Velika Gorica rode horse-drawn trams until 1937, and Rijeka was the first city in Croatia to receive the first electric tram. It was put into service in 1899, but the rapid development of the city dictated faster, more modern and better quality transport, so in 1951 a trolleybus was put into service. A year later, tram traffic was completely abolished.
Dubrovnik received its own electric tram on December the 22nd, 1910, and the line connected Dubrovnik with Gruž. It carried its last passengers in 1970, and the line was discontinued due to frequent accidents. The electric tram in Pula was put into service on March the 24th, 1904, and was discontinued after 30 years of service due to insufficient interest from citizens.
The 12-kilometre Opatija line was put into service in 1908. The tram operated daily along the Matulji – Lovran route from 06:00 to 22:00, departing every 15 to 20 minutes. Novi list reports that the tram ran from Matulji station to the very heart of Matulji. Its depot was located in Preluk (ex Berger, which is now a furniture store), and then it descended towards Volosko, Opatija, Ičići, Ika and Lovran, with numerous stops. It last operated along that route on March the 31st, 1933.
