Mohamedali Tramways Company

The steam trams were replaced by horse-drawn ones in 1886.[3] In 1902 the East India Tramways Company Limited was responsible for running the trams in Karachi.

By March 23, 1905, petrol-powered tram were introduced. By 1909 the entire fleet was replaced by petrol-powered trams, unlike Europe which had switched to electric trams.[4] Each car had a capacity of 46 passengers and could travel at speeds of up to 18 mph. New tracks had to be re-laid for the petrol driven trams.[2] The trams now ran on inverted U-shaped grooved-bridge rail with a four-foot gauge.[3] The first two petrol-engined tramcars were designed by John Abbott and his son John Dixon Abbott, incorporating the Dixon-Abbott patent gearbox. They were built in England. By 1914, there were 37 petrol-powered tramcars running. 1945 saw the introduction of the first diesel-powered trams. Until 1955 there were still 64 petrol-powered trams in Karachi numbered from 94 to 157. These were single deck 4-wheeled cars with back-to-back cross benches. They had an 8 ft wheel base, and were 28 feet long, and 6 feet 8 inches wide. These cars were built between 1924 and 1948 with Perkins P.4 Diesel Engines and Simplex (Dixon-Abbott) Gearboxes. Cars number 145 to 157 were built as new diesel cars, while the rest of the cars were converted from petrol to diesel.[2]

In 1949 the whole tramway system was sold to the Mohamedali Tramways Company (MTC) owned by Sheikh Mohammad Ali.[2][3]

The tram was a common mode of transport as was the horse-drawn carriage.[5] Only the elite had cars. A few young men owned motorcycles. Both men and women went about on bicycles, for this was the most common type of transport.[6] According to the nuclear scientist Abdul Qadeer Khan who lived in Karachi at the time, the tram fare in the 1950s was one anna (less than one cent).[7] Another user Ian Vaughan-Arbuckle says “You could use the trams without being jostled.”[8]