Streetcars in Cleveland

The Cleveland Railway converted a few streetcar lines in the 1930s, but the onset of World War II stopped any further conversions.

In 1942, the Cleveland Transit System took over the operation of all streetcar, bus and trackless trolley lines from the Cleveland Railway.

Following the war, CTS undertook a program of replacing all existing streetcar lines with either trackless trolleys or buses.

The last CTS streetcar ran on January 24, 1954 with a free ride celebration on the Madison line from Public Square to West 65th and Bridge.

The following table lists the conversion of the Cleveland streetcar lines to trackless trolleys (or trolleybuses) or buses in reverse chronological order, with the last date of streetcar service, the line name, the modern line number, the type of vehicle replacing the streetcar, and the length of time that lasted.