Even on the 15G trams introduced in 2021 (meaning: Amsterdam trams of the 15th generation) you will still find them: the coloured squares next to the line number, now displayed digitally. But what on earth are they for?
An old-fashioned system, still in use
The answer is not very satisfying: they no longer serve any purpose at all, really, and are currently there purely for nostalgia. It is a legacy from the past, when many people could not yet read and so needed a little pattern of colours to tell the tram lines apart. The Gemeentetram (the municipal tram company) introduced the system in 1903, when the trams were still pulled by horses.
Quick facts
- 01There was traditionally a system behind the choice of colours. Thanks to changes to various lines, that system is no longer accurate.
- 02The ring lines were originally given a single-colour line marking: lines 3, 9 and 10, for example, are entirely yellow, green and red respectively.
- 03Line 13 once went to the eastern islands. It no longer does, but the coloured square still symbolises this.
- 04Did you know that line 24 still follows its original route? That makes it the only line with this historic feature.
- 05Other cities with the colour system, such as The Hague and Rotterdam, abolished it long ago.
