100 Years of Buses in Luxembourg City

Today, June 6, 2026, the City of Luxembourg is hosting a day of festivities at the Service Autobus headquarters in Hollerich to mark two major milestones: [1] the 100th anniversary of bus service and the 150th anniversary of public transport in the capital. The event runs from 10:00 to 17:00, and visitors can explore the history, evolution, and future of urban mobility in Luxembourg City.

From Horse Trams to Electric Buses

The story begins in 1875, when horse-drawn trams first rolled through the streets of Luxembourg City. [2] The network expanded over decades, switching to electric power in the early 20th century. Trams were the backbone of urban mobility until September 1964, when the last tram made its final run through the capital. [3] Half a century later, in 2017, trams returned to Luxembourg with the opening of the new T1 line between Kirchberg and the central station, reconnecting the old transport DNA with modern infrastructure.

Buses took over from trams in the mid-20th century, and in 2026 they remain the workhorse of the network, the AVDL (Autobus de la Ville de Luxembourg) running dozens of lines across the city and beyond. The bus fleet is now on the cusp of its next transformation: the City plans to have a fully electrified fleet by the end of 2026 or early 2027. [4]

Free Transport, Real Impact

Luxembourg made global headlines in March 2020 when it became the first country in the world to make all public transport free at the point of use. [5] That decision removed fares across buses, trams, and trains nationwide. The logic was straightforward: Luxembourg has the highest car ownership per capita in the EU, severe congestion during rush hour, and a cross-border workforce of over 200'000 commuters daily. Removing fares was meant to shift behavior, and early data suggested a modest increase in ridership, though the pandemic made it hard to isolate the effect.

Six years on, the free transport policy is simply part of daily life. You hop on, you ride, you hop off. No tickets, no scanning, no fumbling for change. For a small country dealing with big commuter flows, it is one of those rare policies that just works.

The Tramsmusee

If you want to see the history up close, the Luxembourg City Tram and Bus Museum (Tramsmusee) sits right next to the Service Autobus offices in Hollerich. [6] It is a compact but fascinating collection of vintage trams, buses, photographs, and memorabilia tracing 150 years of transit in the capital. If you are attending the centenary event today, the museum is worth a look.

What Comes Next

The transition to a fully electric bus fleet would be a fitting capstone to the 100-year bus story. Electric buses are quieter, cleaner, and cheaper to run per kilometer. The real challenge is infrastructure: charging depots, grid capacity, and route planning around range limits rather than fuel stops. But Luxembourg has shown before that it can pull off ambitious transport transitions. Ditching fares nationwide was bold. Going fully electric on the city bus fleet would be the next logical step.

One hundred years of buses. One hundred fifty years of public transport. Not many cities can claim that kind of continuity. Today is a good day to appreciate how far Luxembourg City has come, and how far it still intends to go.