THE
TRAM TICKETS OF BARCELONA (a)
In 1872,
the first tram service was opened in Barcelona. At that time the city was only
what nowadays is known as old part of town, that had been walled, so all the
services were intercity because they linked different towns. These towns belong
today to Barcelona.
In the
whole history of Barcelona’s tickets I think there are more than 40.000
different types. The first tickets were printed in sheet of
paper like the stamps are printed at the moment (Img.
1). In 1890 transport tickets changed and were printed in ribbons (Img.2)
, and at the beginning of the XX century they had been printed in books (Img.3).
This way of printing was used until 1980 when magnetic band tickets appear (Img.
4).
The most
valuable time for the tickets collector of Barcelona is XIX century, because
it’s very difficult to find them and they have also beautiful designs. They
have advertising on the ticket’s back (Img. 5)
Due to
the fact that almost each tram service belongs to a different company (Img.
6), in that time there were a lot of different types of transport
tickets. In 1910 almost all the companies came together in one called “ LOS
TRANVIAS DE BARCELONA S.A.”, that later on in 1925 it was called “ TRANVIAS
DE BARCELONA S.A.”.
After
the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) is another important time for tickets
collectors. In that time, due to Spanish inflation, the ticket amount was
changed frequently, what give us a great variety of amounts for the same ticket
type (Img. 7).
Unfortunately
in 1970’s the transport companies
brought out “ price according to effective rate”, that involved to enter a
time without changes (Img, 8).
In the
80’s appear magnetic band tickets. They have a great variety of types and
designs. These magnetic tickets
have on their back (like XIX
century tickets) advertising (Img
9).
Unfortunately
for the tickets collectors, at the beginning of the 2001, all the public
transport companies of Barcelona metropolitan area have been integrated all the
different tickets in only just one that can be used for all the public transport
companies and for all the types of public transport (bus, subway, train,…) (Img
10) for this reason, all the tickets of Barcelona and its surronding
have been substituted just by one.
(a)
The public transport ticket collecting, which is called in Spanish “FORONDOTELIA”
is also commonly known as Tram ticket collecting.
Juan
Domingo Ventura
He is a transport ticket collector,
his collection have more than 600.000 tickets. He lives in Badalona (Barcelona),
and he is the author of “Catalogo de los billetes de
tranvia de Barcelona” ,which it is a great work, profusely illustrated and
well explained
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