The network is run by Stadtwerken Erfurter Verkehrsbetriebe AG (SWE EVAG), and is integrated in the Verkehrsverbund Mittelthüringen (VMT).

For events during the trade fair and during Christmas season, an additional Stadtbahn Line 7 operates over Anger and Domplatz to P+R Platz Messe.

4 Individual trips are carried out instead of the main train station to the gardens Brühler 4 in early-day school transport.

When the walls were torn down in the 1800s the city could expand and grow outward, leading to greater travel distances and the question of a public transport system arose.

The first plans to build a tram system were developed from 1880 onwards, and were mainly driven by the then Mayor of Erfurt, Richard Wroclaw.

By the early 1890s the population of Erfurt had grown from 55,000 to 76,000 residents, and horse-drawn trams could no longer meet the demands of the local populace.

By 1913, tram routes to various suburbs (e.g. Hochheim and Melchendorf) did not seem to be financially viable, so a plan for a supplementary bus network was developed.

So old, narrow routes in the city center were shut down and separate new lines to the newly built residential areas were constructed.

This was a first step in the direction of the development of Erfurt's modern Stadtbahn network, and included some routes that were fully grade-separated from other traffic (e.g. cars).

In the early 1990s, stops and passenger information systems were revitalized, and the fleet was modernized with the first low-floor MGT6D Duewag tramcars operating from 1994.

In this case, Stadtbahn, as opposed to tramway, means routes largely separated from other traffic, resulting in more efficient operation.

The Erfurt system was officially christened as a Stadtbahn in 1997 with the conversion of the Anger crossing and the abandonment of the Magdeburger Allee depot.

The bundling of several lines on the same route (e.g. in Erfurt city center between Hauptbahnhof and Domplatz) leads to even shorter headways on those sections.

A major snow storm in winter 2010 completely closed the network between Christmas Eve and 27 December 2010, and full service was not restored until 3 January 2011.