We love trams

Trams are part of our home life in Melbourne as we live within 7 minutes walk of 3 different lines. But I am losing count of tram journeys we are making in our travels, in addition to rides on Metros, buses and trolley buses. In Bratislava we are about 8 minutes from 2 tram lines, in Vienna and Prague 3 minutes from a tram stop, in Budapest 2 minutes from 2 tram stops and a Metro station.

Our line D tram on the Ringstrasse

Public transport in all these cities is good and cheap. In Vienna we buy 7 day passes, and because it is our first stop we don't think to look for seniors discount.

No2 tram in Budapest, the route we used most

We do the same in Budapest, and only later discover that oldies with EU passports travel free, in time for Peter to get one day's free travel, as he has a British passport that says EU. (For now, at least, until the Poms sort out the Brexit mess.)

In Bratislava Peter buys 5 day tickets, even though we are only there for 3 days, because they are very cheap and he feels the Slovakian economy could do with a boost.

In Czech Republic we find that Public Transport is free for all over-65s, regardless of origin, and we are making the most of it.

Things we like, that we wish were copied at home:

• In all the cities there are heaps of intersecting and overlapping routes and the trams in particular are frequent. Stops are usually quite a long way apart and the trams hurtle between them at light rail speed, even though they are often on busy streets originally designed for horse-drawn vehicles. Buses and trolley buses stop more often.
• Seating configurations are much better than on our trams - either single seats on both sides or two and one configurations that leave plenty of space between for people to move to and from doorways. People don't prop in the doorway like they do in Melbourne.
• Tickets are bits of paper. There are validation machines which validate (stamp) single journey tickets, but if you buy a multi-day ticket it has an end-date and time and you don't need to validate. If travel is free or discounted for seniors, you just need ID with proof of age with you. Have yet to see a ticket inspector in any country - people seem to be trusted to do the right thing.
• Trams are quiet, even when going round tight bends. Our current regular tram, the 22, goes round a hairpin bend on its way up Castle Hill in Prague, and only slows down a bit for the bend.
• Young people stand up for you. Automatically and immediately - as soon as they see geriatrics heaving themselves aboard. Don't even seem to expect to be thanked.
• As a warning device trams have a clanging bell like the ones police cars in the UK had before they had sirens. So much more effective than the rather pathetic single ding of our trams. They need good warnings - in Prague they have right of way over everything, including pedestrians on crossings, which can be a scary discovery for the unwary tourist.

Our no 22, in Mala Strana square