Transport

Developments in transport technology are signposts marking important changes in the Isle of Man’s economy and society. The Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, the world’s oldest shipping company, was founded in 1830 to provide Douglas merchants and businessmen with a regular daily service bringing mail and news. In later years the Steam Packet Company expanded to carry the thousands of tourists who flocked to the Isle of Man each summer. Douglas Corporation responded to the growing tourist trade when it purchased its first horse trams in order to carry holiday makers along the promenades.

Manx Electric Railway cars outside their Douglas depot

The development of the island’s railways allowed the population to travel more easily and enabled farm produce to reach the expanding capital of Douglas each day. The island’s first motorcar was registered in 1906, and car ownership has expanded rapidly since then - in August 2004 there were 80,483 Manx registered motor vehicles. The island has also had a regular air link with the UK since the end of the Second World War, the importance of which has grown with the development of the financial services sector.

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