Why don't we still have streetcars in Saskatchewan?

Stream Good Question, Saskatchewan on CBC Listen or wherever you get your podcasts. 

Taking the bus in Saskatoon and Regina comes with some challenges. People have long complained that the transit system isn't overly convenient.

Lately, Saskatoon's buses have been so packed on some routes that they aren't able to stop to pick more people up.

Has public transit always been like this?

CBC's new podcast Good Question, Saskatchewan took a look back to a time when it was cool to hop on transit. 

Streetcars were the primary way to move around Saskatoon and Regina for the first part of the 20th century. The cars were attached to overhead electric lines and ran along a rail system through downtown in both cities.

"It's not just the streetcars, but everything. People dressed up just to go out to buy milk," said Terry Hoknes, a Saskatoon amateur historian.

"Our traffic bridge at one time had cars, streetcars and horses and wagons all at the same time trying to cross," he said. "So you could imagine the troubles people would have had to face."

Hokness said the system was far from perfect. People were sometimes killed by streetcars, and in 1922 a streetcar slipped off the traffic bridge and landed on the bank of the South Saskatchewan River.

Saskatoon's fleet was also mostly second-hand, which is why city officials started to search for a replacement, city archivist Jeff O'Brien said.

"The street railway superintendent, George Archibald, goes to a conference and he comes back all fired-up about modernizing our streetcar system," he said.

LISTEN| Why did we get rid of streetcars? 

14:02Why did we get rid of streetcars?

The city decided to purchase trolley buses until they moved to diesel-fueled buses, which is what most big Canadian cities did, O'Brien said.

But Regina's story is much more dramatic, according to Dana Turgeon, a historian with the city.

"Oh, they all burned up. They burned up in a fire in 1949," causing the city to lose almost its entire fleet, she said. "Then we switched to all diesel buses and we've been all diesel buses ever since."

By the 1950s, the city encouraged development in the suburbs and people became more reliant on vehicles, making transit less appealing to citizens, Turgeon said.

The automobile also took over roads at a dramatic speed, said Turgeon.

But things are changing, thanks partially to growing concerns about climate change, according to Ehab Diab, a University of Saskatchewan professor in transportation planning.

"I think the climate crisis is pushing us not only to serve people who only need the service, but actually to attract more people to use transit. And if you do this, we can build a better service," he said.

Both Regina and Saskatoon have added electric buses to its fleet to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

"History doesn't always repeat itself but sometimes it rhymes," said Turgeon.

Your burning questions about Saskatchewan, answered weekly. Nothing too big, too small, or too weird. What are you wondering? Email [email protected] or fill in the form below.