Short answers, pulled from the story.
The first passenger tram to run on public streets was launched in Swansea, Wales, in 1807. This system was known as the Swansea and Mumbles Railway and operated as a horse-drawn carriage on iron rails.
The world's first public electric tramway was established in Sestroretsk near Saint Petersburg in 1875 by inventor Fyodor Pirotsky. This early experiment was short-lived before the true commercial breakthrough arrived in 1881 with the Gross-Lichterfelde tramway in Berlin.
Chicago converted its entire network to trolleybus and bus services by 1958, and London closed its final tramway in 1952. These closures marked the end of major tram operations in these cities during the mid-twentieth century decline.
By the 1970s, Melbourne was the only Australian city with a major tram network. Many other European cities had already lost their systems to buses during the period of rapid tram abandonment.
The grooved rail was invented by Alphonse Loubat in 1852. This design allows trams to run on streets without disrupting other road users but creates specific hazards for cyclists.