During the Russian Empire Before 1886, projects for the construction of a horse-drawn tramway were planned. However, none of these plans had ever proceeded to the construction stage. In 1886, engineer
Amand Struve's project was approved for construction, and the Kyiv City Railway Society joint-stock company was founded in 1889. On June 30, 1891, after the opening ceremony, the first horse-drawn tramcar was set on its track. The official tram operation from Lybidska Square to Mariinsko-Blahovishchynska Street (now ) began on August 11. By August 18, the tram line stretched from Tsarska Square (now
Yevropeiska Square) to the
Demiivska Square. The same year, Kyiv experienced a historical peak in tram route development: the length of the lines reached 285 km, the fleet numbered 909 cars, and passenger traffic per year exceeded 396 million people. In 1980, a tram line through the recently built
Obolon neighborhood was built. In 1982, the left bank tram line was expanded to Mykoly Kybalchycha Street. In 1985, the line at Lesi Ukrainky Boulevard was closed. In 1986, a
new tram line was opened at
Troieshchyna neighborhood. In 1987, a tram line was opened in the newly built
Kharkivskyi neighborhood, while the last dead-end line at Lva Tolstoho Street (now Hetmana Skoropadskoho Street) was dismantled. In 1991, the line at Hoholivska Street was closed.
Independent Ukraine In 1992, new rails near the Darnytske Tram Depot were opened. In 1994, the line at Troieshchyna was expanded to Myloslavska Street. The period of stagnation of the Kyiv tram network is usually associated with
Oleksandr Omelchenko, who became the
mayor of Kyiv in August of 1996. During his administration from 1996 to 2006, the city began car-centric development; the tram was believed to cause traffic jams. In August 1996, the ring lines were dismantled in front of
Kyiv-Pasazhyrskyi railway station and at Vorovskoho Street (now Bulvarno-Kudriavska Street). In 1998, the line at
Pechersk was closed. In 2001, the ring terminus near the
Palace of Sports was dismantled; its former location was sold to build the
Gulliver skyscraper which was the tallest building in Ukraine for some time. In 2004, the Kyiv tram network was separated in two after the line at Paton bridge was dismantled. The bridge was in a poor state already, and the tram removal was an attempt to save it. The decision was controversial: it was unannounced and residents did not know how to get to their jobs on the other bank of Kyiv after learning about the route change right at the tram stop. Eventually, further reconstruction on the bridge caused more traffic jams on the newly added lines that only worsened the structure's state. ==In culture==