The tranvía was a streetcar system that served Manila and its surrounding cities during the early years of the 20th century.
History
Prior to the tranvia, modes of street transportation in Manila are mostly horse-drawn, consisting of the calesa, the lighter carromata, and the fancy . The tranvia served as the first railway transport to run in the Philippines, as in its earliest years the Ferrocarril de Manila–Dagupan are in its planning stages. The tranvia was renowned as "state-of-the-art" in East Asia, and had provided efficient transport to the residents of Manila.
Tranvias de Filipinas
During the Spanish colonial era, the tramway was referred to as the Tranvias de Filipinas. The decree in 1875 by King Alfonso XII instigated the planning for railways in the Philippines. The following year, in 1876, the , prepared by the Administracion de Obras Publicas to identify the layouts of future railway documents. At the same year, Engineer Eduardo López Navarro submitted the Memoria Sobre el Plan General de Ferrocarriles en la Isla de Luzón which documents railway plans throughout the island of Luzon. Subsequently, in 1878 León Monssour formulated a five-line tramway system which included a loop within Intramuros, a line to Malate Church, another through Calle Azcarraga, through the community nearby San Sebastian Church aimed to serve locals from Sampaloc, and a line to Malacañang Palace.
Constructing the plans of León Monssour would not be realized without an entrepreneurial initiative. In 1882, the tramway company venture Compañia de los Tranvías de Filipinas was founded by Jacobo Zóbel y Zangroniz, engineer Luciano M. Bremon, and banker Adolfo Bayo in line with Manila's growing populace and demands for better land transit. At the same year, the plans of Monssour were reviewed, and the Malacañang Line, thought to not meet projected demands, was replaced with plans for a line connecting Tondo and Malabón.
The tranvia lines were not opened at the same time; major construction for the lines took place between 1883 and 1886. The first tram line to be completed was the Tondo Line which was inaugurated on December 9, 1883. This was followed by the Intramuros Line in 1886; and then the Sampaloc Line the following year. The Sampaloc Line was named as such due to the nearby locality it services. In 1888, the Malabón Line— also the first steam railway of the Philippines—was completed, following the revised plans of Monssour. The line proved to be a commercial success—both by estimation and usage—with a greater profit than wheeled traffic. Aside from that, the ease of transporting goods from Malabon and the neighboring area of Navotas hugely contributed to the line's success. Subsequently, in 1889, the Malate Line was opened to the public. Overall, the tramway provided a cheap, safe, and convenient means of transport within the city until the ouster of the Spanish regime by the US when tram services dwindled in maintenance and capacity.
Manila Streetcar System
The United States established its governance in the Philippines in 1901. In the following year, a commission that called for franchise bids in operating a streetcar system alongside management of electricity was passed by five Americans and three Filipinos on October 20, 1902, known as Act No. 484. When Charles M. Swift won the bid for the Manila Electric Company franchise on March 24, 1903, he commissioned J. J. White for services in construction and engineering an electric tramway, and sometime in the following year, the Manila Electric Company acquired the Compañia de los Tranvías de Filipinas and the La Electricista. In 1905, the concession purchased both open and closed Type 2 Convertible streetcars from J. G. Brill Company to replace the German-built locomotives and bilevel cars of the early Tranvia.
In 1913, under Swift's other franchise of "Manila Suburban Railway", a extension line that ran from Paco to Fort Mckinley and Pasig began operation. This franchise merged with the Manila Electric, Rail, and Light Company in 1919, when it was then shortened to the familiar branding, Meralco. The tramway was then be powered by a steam power plant in Isla Provisora.
On April 5, 1905, the tranvia was inaugurated. Although the terminology "streetcar" was favored by the American operators, locals still referred to the light railway as "tranvia".