Milan's Tram

Azienda Trasporti Milanesi (ATM) is a public company, responsible for public transportation in Milan city and some surrounding municipalities, in Italy. It operates 19 tram lines, part of which are run with Peter Witt streetcars from the 1920s, 77 urban Bus lines, 4 Trolleybus lines, 33 interurban Bus lines, 3 underground lines (Metropolitana di Milano), carrying over 734 million passengers in 2010.

ATM offers also other minor services mainly related to transportation around the city. These services include Radiobus, an on-call minibus service; the light railway linking the San Raffaele Hospital with the line 2 underground; the Como-Brunate funicular railway; Guidami car sharing and BikeMi bike sharing services.

A tram (also known as a tramcar, streetcar, trolley car) is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns (interurbans, tram-train), and/or partially grade separated even in the cities (light rail). Trams very occasionally also carry freight.

Trams are usually lighter and shorter than conventional trains and rapid transit trains. However, the differences between these modes of public transportation are often unclear. Some trams (for instance tram-trains) may also run on ordinary railway tracks, a tramway may be upgraded to a light rail or a rapid transit line, two urban tramways may be united to an interurban, etc.

Most trams today use electrical power, usually fed by a pantograph; in some cases by a sliding shoe on a third rail or trolley pole. If necessary, they may have several power systems. Certain types of cable car are also known as trams. Another power source is diesel; a few trams use electricity in the streets and diesel in more rural environments. Also steam and petrol (gasoline) have been used. Horse and mule driven trams do still occur.

Milan (Western Lombard language: [miˈlan]; Italian: Milano [miˈlaːno] ( listen)) is the second-largest city in Italy and the capital city of the region of Lombardy and of the province of Milan. The city proper has a population of about 1.3 million, while its urban area, roughly coinciding with its administrative province and the bordering Province of Monza and Brianza (created in 2004 splitting the northern part from the province of Milan itself), is one of Europe's largest with an estimated population of over 4 million spread over 1,980 km² (764.48 sq mi), with a consequent population density of more than 2,000 inhabitants/km². The growth of many suburbs and satellite settlements around the city proper following the great economic boom of the 1950s–60s and massive commuting flows suggest that socioeconomic linkages have expanded well beyond the boundaries of the city proper and its agglomeration, creating a metropolitan area of 7.4 million population expanded all over the central section of Lombardy region. It has been suggested that the Milan metropolitan area is part of the so-called Blue Banana, the area of Europe with the highest population and industrial density.