Avilés: industria, espacio urbano y transporte. del Tranvía de Vapor del Litoral Asturiano (1893-1933) a la Compañía del Tranvía Eléctrico (1916-1959) / Avilés: industry, urban space and transport. From Tranvía de Vapor del Litoral Asturiano (1893-1933) to Compañía del Tranvía Eléctrico (1916-1959)

Abstract

The research illustrates the history of the technological substitution process in urban transport in the second industrial town of Asturias, Avilés. Unlike what happened in Oviedo or Gijón, where urban growth itself fed the demand for mobility, in Avilés the manufacturing activity and the real estate interests by Royal Asturian Company as well as the Indian capitals promoted the tramway. Indeed, initially both the steam and the electric tram where a mere appendix to the daily work trips demanded by the mining and port activities. Subsequently, the demand for residential land on the area owned by the Royal Company turned the tram into a vehicle to make them profitable. When the time really came for Avilés's urban growth to take the leap as a trigger for the tram, its promoters left the company because the presence of the bus questioned its financial viability.

In all three cases, the transition from blood to mechanical traction went through similar cycles: the turn-of-the-century peak (1895-1900), linked to the repatriation of Indian capital, encouraged the transition to steam tram; the war-business boom (1914-1918) did so with electrification; the autarky period (1940-1950) marked the introduction of the trolleybus, and “developmentalism” (1960-1974) encouraged the final transition to the bus.