Some 115 years ago the Bulgarian capital city of Sofia became one of the first European cities utilizing a tram transport system. In 1904 the Sofia tramcars received an interesting addition – a mailbox next to the first door. Out of 180 tram cars currently operating in Sofia, 150 still have such a box. Here is what one of the tram drivers on line 18 told us:
“People drop their letters here. The box is locked and only the people responsible for it have the key. They collect the letters each day and it is good to have these mailboxes available. There are people who cannot go to the post offices and they just drop their letters in the mailboxes on trams. I haven’t seen a young man use them, though. Only older people use them.”
These days there are people who still use the mail boxes.
“I belong to the older generation and I know about the mailboxes on the trams. I have seen postmen collect the letters from them. I would use them because it is very convenient and you do not need to go to a post office. I last used these mailboxes about 10 years ago and my letter reached its destination.”
“It is truly convenient to have a mailbox on the tram. It has always been like this, as long as I can remember. Not everyone uses computers and the Internet. You know, old people even regret that telegrams are gone now.”
However, there are some disappointed users of the tram mailboxes.
“I tried to send a letter to Spain three times and no one of the letters arrived,” an old woman says.
Letters from the mail boxes on the Sofia trams are collected twice a day, postwoman Emilia Stefanova says and adds:
“We have regular users of the service and there are whole companies that use these boxes to send their corporate mail. There are hotels located near tram stops and hotel staff shows their guests the boxes and they use them for sending their post cards. Sometimes foreigners even take pictures with the mail boxes as they find them exotic. But they might disappear in the future...”
“To tell you the truth the whole concept of post services seems old-fashioned, as we are living in the times of the Internet and mobile phones. These tram mail boxes, however, are an attraction for tourists and a memory from the past. They surely bring romantic atmosphere.”
Time will show whether the mailboxes, part of the Sofia trams, would continue to exist.
English: Alexander Markov
/BNR Academy is a project of the European Union and the BNR, aimed at raising the professional skills of journalists. This article was prepared by participants in the 2016 training. /
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