5
Two V3A-93 trams passing in opposite directions on the Liviu Rebreanu Street, Bucharest, Romania (2020)
(libranet.de)
The photo is from my personal collection.
@Mr_Mofu oh, yes. As the name says, they were designed in 1993 as an upgrade to the former version from the '70s (they have different doors and electronic display for line information, along with other more technical improvements). But they are pretty iconic for Bucharest and charming, despite their disadvantages (they can get quite loud even on modernized lines).
URAC (The factory that made them) never exported these to other cities.
To be honest I always kinda enjoy it more if they are a bit noisy. The noises they make as they drive are so Characteristic. Its like a whole part of their personality for me. Thats also why the KD4T is still my Faivourite tram. Even now I can hear its electric motors spring into action... oh how I miss them
Let's not forget that they can be very shaky, like you ridin a horse
@lilithanne This is also because of the poor maintenance of some lines.
Are you from Bucharest? If yes, compare for example a ride on line 27 on Dudești Avenue (Calea Dudești) with one ride on modernized lines such as 21 or the circular lines 1/10. On the former, even a newer Imperio tram would go in service after only a day of use (in the best case scenario).
Also, not to mention that on the V3A, the suspensions must also be due for replacement on many of those older models, due to how they were exploited on said sections.
Yea, I am, and I did had a ride on the 1 line and one on line 24 iirc, the later was not fun while the later was heaven and, funny enough, on the older ones the pos can break weirdly easily and had let me be fined 80 RON (16 EUR) or so to speak
@lilithanne The POS issue was due to poor signal, maybe. The small yellow ones are newer and had all sorts of issues (probably were never tested enough in the 1st place).
II had problems with them as well, but I never encountered any ticket inspector when it happened, oddly enough (I was prepared for the encounter though). I'm sorry about your fine, though.
They recently switched their carrier (apparently those work with SIM cards or something, as they seem to need a contract with a mobile carrier) - from Digi to Orange. They said this would bring better signal to the machines and lower their cost. Not sure about the former as I still had some issues, hope for them that the latter applies. 🤷♀️
Alternatively, you can get the 24pay app and use that to pay for your ride instead. You can even buy train tickets through it.