The story
Beginnings
Lugano station was opened in 1874, as part of the Gotthard railway's Lugano to Chiasso line. By 1882, with the opening of the line across the Monte Ceneri Pass to Bellinzona, and the Gotthard Rail Tunnel beyond that, Lugano was connected with the rest of the canton of Ticino and with northern Switzerland.
However the station was located well above the city itself, which had developed alongside Lake Lugano. To link the two, the Lugano Città–Stazione funicular was opened in 1886. Initially it was operated by water power.
Tramways
Economic development, not least because of the coming of the railway, lead to Lugano spreading beyond its original lakeside core, resulting in further need for local transportation. The Società luganese dei tramway elettrici (Lugano Electric Tramway Company) was responsible for constructing the city's urban tramways, which went into service in 1896.
The company was taken over by the city of Lugano in 1918 and the name changed to Tranvie elettriche comunali (Municipal Electric Tramways). At its peak, the tram network served outer termini at Besso, Cassarate, Cimitero Nuevo and Paradiso.
By the 1950s the decision had been taken to replace the trams with trolleybuses.
Trolleybuses
The first trolleybus route opened in 1954, the system had progressively replaced the Lugano tramway network by 1959, and was significantly expanded between 1975 and 1981. At its height, the system consisted of four lines, with outer termini at Breganzona, Castagnola, Paradiso, Pregassona and Vezia. By this stage, the organisation had changed its name to the Comunale dei Trasporti della Città di Lugano (Municipal Transport Company of Lugano, or ACTL).
The Lugano trolleybuses operated at 1,000 V DC, inherited from the tram system and unusually high for trolleybuses. This was one of the principal reasons behind the system's eventual demise, with few manufacturers interested in supplying new vehicles at that voltage. Consideration was given to closure from at least 1995, and the last services ran in 2001.
Recent times
In 2000, ACTL was converted into the Trasporti Pubblici Luganesi, a joint stock company owned by Lugano and other local and cantonal authorities.
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Between 2000 and 2002, a new bus station was constructed on the Piazzale Ex-Scuole in central Lugano for use by the TPL. The station was designed by the architect Mario Botta, and has a central, 7 metres (23 ft) high nave with two 5 metres (16 ft) high side aisles, with a translucent plexiglas covering.
From Wikipedia’s article on Trasporti Pubblici Luganesi, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4