Yunokawa Line

The network's origins lie not in electric traction but in a horse tramway. The Kikan Horsecar Railway (亀函馬車鉄道) was established in January 1894, and on 12 December 1897 it opened Hakodate's first tram line, between Benten-chō and Higashikawa-chō — the first tram in Japan to be located north of Tokyo. After a merger the operation became the Hakodate Horse Tramway, and its Kaigan-chō–Kameda section was later closed.

Electrification came under private power-company ownership. Hakodate Hydroelectric (函館水電) acquired the tramway on 1 October 1911, and on 29 June 1913 it electrified the Shinonome-chō–Yukawa section, the first electric streetcar line in Hokkaidō. The Benten-chō–Jūjigai–Shinonome-chō section followed on 31 October 1913. Ownership passed through Imperial Electric and further transfers before the line entered public hands.

The Hakodate City Government took over the tramway on 1 November 1943, establishing a municipal transport authority, and in 1952 this was reorganised as the municipally run Hakodate City Transportation Bureau.

The section between Samegawa (later Yunokawa-onsen) and Yukawa was closed in July 1945. On 2 September 1959 the Yunokawa Line was completed with its extension from Yunokawa-onsen to Yunokawa. With this through-opening the city tram reached its greatest extent, a network that at its peak comprised twelve routes running over six lines with a total length of 17.9 kilometres.

From the late 1970s declining ridership forced the network to contract. Sections were closed in 1978, 1992 and 1993, including parts of the Main Line and the Miyamae and Shinonome lines, and the bus routes the bureau had also operated were given up by 1 April 2003. The streetcar system was pared back to its present four route designations totalling 10.9 kilometres, of which the Yunokawa Line, at 6.1 kilometres, is the longest single component.

On 1 April 2011 the city's water and transport bureaux were merged into the Hakodate City Enterprise Bureau, and the former transport bureau became its Transportation Division, the body that operates the line today.

16 stations tracked on the map, listed alphabetically. Select any to read its page.

• Chitose (Hokkaido · Hakodate City Transportation Bureau)千歳町
• Chiyogadai千代台
• Chuo Byoin中央病院前
• Fukaboricho深堀町
• Goryokaku-Koen-Mae五稜郭公園前
• Hakodate-Arena Mae函館アリーナ前
• Horikawacho堀川町
• Kashiwagicho柏木町
• Keibajo-Mae (Hokkaido)競馬場前
• Komaba-Shako Mae駒場車庫前
• Matsukazecho松風町
• Shinkawa-Cho新川町
• Showa-Bashi昭和橋
• Suginamicho杉並町
• Yunokawa湯の川
• Yunokawa-Onsen湯の川温泉

• 1894January: the Kikan Horsecar Railway (亀函馬車鉄道) is established to build a horse tramway in Hakodate.
• 189712 December: Hakodate's first tram line opens between Benten-chō and Higashikawa-chō — the first tram in Japan north of Tokyo (horse-drawn).
• 1903/1904The Kaigan-chō–Kameda section of the horse tramway is closed. The year is given as 1903 or 1904.
• 19111 October: Hakodate Hydroelectric (函館水電) acquires the tramway.
• 191329 June: the Shinonome-chō–Yukawa section is electrified — the first electric streetcar line in Hokkaidō.
• 191331 October: the Benten-chō–Jūjigai–Shinonome-chō section is electrified.
• 19431 November: the Hakodate City Government takes over the tramway, establishing a municipal transport authority.
• 1945July: the Samegawa (later Yunokawa-onsen)–Yukawa section is closed.
• 19521 October: the municipal operation is reorganised as the Hakodate City Transportation Bureau, a publicly run enterprise.
• 19592 September: the Yunokawa Line is completed with its extension from Yunokawa-onsen to Yunokawa; the city tram reaches its greatest extent.
• 19781 November: a 1.6 km section of the Main Line is closed as ridership declines.
• 19921 April: the Shinonome Line is closed.
• 19931 April: a 1.8 km section of the Main Line and the Miyamae Line are closed.
• 20031 April: the bureau ends the bus routes it had also operated, leaving it a tram-only operator.
• 20111 April: the city's water and transport bureaux are merged into the Hakodate City Enterprise Bureau; the former transport bureau becomes its Transportation Division, the present operator of the line.