Saturday 10 March 2007

Penang transportation

I came across some incredible pictures of the old transport system in my hometown, George Town, here in Malaysia. Pretty astounding pictures that showed the evolution of the bus services in this part of the world. Here are some of them...


This picture is really vintage stuff. It's an electric tram car at the Penang Road/Gladstone Road/Magazine Road/Brick Kiln Road/Dato Kramat Road/MacAlister Road junction (Goh Pah Teng) at the start of the 20th century. If I'm not mistaken, that tower was part of the old Fire Brigade building.


Another fantastic monster, probably along Chulia Street or Leith Street. This one is a trolleybus with something that looks like a cow catcher in front. Perhaps that's how you clear people, animals and unwanted debris out of its path. But I wonder how fast this bus could actually go. Probably quite slow.


A very quaint bus that plied the Penang Hill Railway Road, a journey of not more than one kilometre. Maybe that's the reason why it was so small. It couldn't have carried more than 10 seated passengers. But then, in those olden days, where do you hear of passengers having to stand in buses?


A little bit more modern now, the electric trolleybuses. Funny how those old buses didn't have registration number plates. It made the bus look incomplete. In this picture, the bus was probably turning out from Prangin Road into Penang Road. The bus must have slowed down or stopped to allow the cyclist and trishawman to pass first!


And yet more modern. Must be in the early 1960s. I still have memories of seeing these buses on the roads. This must be near the Ayer Itam roundabout.

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