1930 – 1938: Stagnation and plans of large urban development
From 1930 the idea of the motorization of public transport started to gain acceptance in Munich. In the years 1930/31 the first three bus lines were set up, which initially were to temporarily replace tram lines. The drastic decline in passenger numbers during the Great Depression was the first setback for tram traffic. Initially no shortening of the route network was envisaged, just the headways were reduced. New and necessary conversions were, however, put back indefinitely.
The Third Reich began in Munich with big words and bigger plans, but only the year 1934 yielded a tangible improvement in the economic situation of the urban trams by means of a tariff reform (which was actually a tariff increase). Director Otto Scholler was forced into retirement after 15 years of service and was replaced by the NSDAP party member Josef Kellner.
The general line plan was dropped, instead a network of suburban trains, which was to be supplemented by buses and subways, was planned for the "Capital of the Movement".
The routes through the old part of the city should be underground. As a crossing point of the North-South axis (Schleißheim - Großhesselohe) and the East-West axis (Trudering - Gauting), the underground station Karlsplatz was to be constructed.
The second pillar of suburban services was the extensive expansion of the bus network. The aim was to make the tram disappear from the city center completely, only remainder lines should run on secondary roads and in the suburbs. The complete conversion of the transport system was planned for the year 1950.
The use of the modern trains of the series E and F required the conversion of tight curve radii to allow higher speeds, this was implemented consistently, as well as the widening of the streets at the expense of existing front gardens and wide pedestrian walkways to accommodate the increasing automobile traffic space.
The tram network was significantly improved in the years 1934 to 1936 after the conversion and upgrading of several junctions. In the process, the short feeder lines to the outer districts were systematically dismantled and included in the reorganized network of 18 main lines and 12 operational lines. The last pre-war new line of the Munich tram, the extension of Line 3 from the Donnersbergerstraße to the Romanplatz, was opened in 1938.
Since 1934 motor busses replaced the tramway lines in some parts of the network.
Archiv MVG
On May 22,1938, the construction of the north-south line of "S-Bahn" (suburban train) at Lindwurmstrasse started.
Archiv MVG
At the beginning of 1939, the public transport companies carried around half a million passengers each day, with a total of 444 engines and 462 sidecars as well as 36 coaches. The vehicle fleet of the tram consisted exclusively of four-axle railcars with maximum bogies built in 1898 (Type A) to 1930 (Type F), which were hung with two-axle sidecar. There were a total of 4111 people employed in the municipal trams, including 2532 drivers and conductors. The line network included 28 tram lines, two bus city lines and seven omnibus feeder lines.
As part of an administrative reform in September 1939, the municipal trams were combined with the municipal electricity, gas and water works to the "municipal utilities of the capital of the movement". Responsible operator of the company was Munich Mayor Karl Fiehler, the transport companies was still senior building director Josef Kellner before.
Tanslated by Google
Autor: Klaus Onnich FMTM eV., Leiter Fahrdienst Bus Ost und
stv. Betriebsleiter BO Kraft der Stadtwerke München GmbH
1939 verkehren 28 Trambahnlinien
auf 122 km Streckenlänge.
Zeichnung Peter-Michael Hübner
In 1938 28 tram lines served the network with a total lenght of 122 km
Drawing: Peter-Michael Hübner FMTM eV.