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 a coastal section was discontinued in 1903 as the system was reshaped.

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 and opened the section from Shinonome-chō toward Yukawa — the first electric streetcar line in Hokkaidō, and the corridor from which today's Yunokawa Line grew, reaching out toward the hot springs at the eastern edge of the city. The remaining horse-worked lines through Jūjigai were electrified on 31 October 1913, completing the changeover to electric operation. Ownership passed through Imperial Electric and a further transfer 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. Under municipal management the eastern end of the system saw the long process of completing the route to Yunokawa.

That completion was delayed by the war. The single-track section between Samegawa and Yukawa at the far eastern end was lifted on 2 July 1945, leaving the line short of its intended terminus. It was not until 2 September 1959 that the removed Yunokawa-onsen–Yukawa section was relaid as double track and reopened, finally carrying the line through 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.

In its current form the Yunokawa Line carries the eastern half of the surviving network. 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. The Yunokawa terminus remains the gateway to the Yunokawa hot-spring resort, and the historic streetcar that reaches it is one of the enduring symbols of Hakodate.

• 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).
• 19038 July: a coastal section is discontinued as the horse tramway is reshaped.
• 19111 October: Hakodate Hydroelectric (函館水電) acquires the tramway.
• 191329 June: the Shinonome-chō–Yukawa section is electrified and opened — the first electric streetcar line in Hokkaidō and the origin of today's Yunokawa Line.
• 191331 October: the remaining lines through Jūjigai are electrified, completing the changeover to electric operation.
• 19431 November: the Hakodate City Government takes over the tramway, establishing a municipal transport authority.
• 19452 July: the single-track Samegawa–Yukawa section at the eastern end is lifted, leaving the line short of its intended terminus.
• 19521 October: the municipal operation is reorganised as the Hakodate City Transportation Bureau, a publicly run enterprise.
• 19592 September: the removed Yunokawa-onsen–Yukawa section is relaid as double track and reopened, completing the line through 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.