The supervisory activities in the area of urban electric transit in the cities of the Russian empire at the end of the XIX and the beginning of the XX centuries

The article discusses the exercise control over the area of construction and operation of urban electric transit (tram) by different public authorities in the Russian Empire at the end of the XIX and the beginning of the XX centuries. Having the archival materials and a number of published sources at hand the author deals with the application in specific situations, the legislation of the Russian Empire in the areas of legal and financial support of the tram companies, the approval of projects and monitoring of the construction of the electric tram system by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, as well as the surveillance of the safety of passenger transportation by the local municipal authorities. The article considers a separate legal and financial regulation of foreign transportation companies. The article also explains why the scope of urban transport in the cities of the Russian Empire was attractive for foreign investors and why municipal authorities preferred to pass the organization of public transport in the communities to commercial entities on the rights of the concession. The work gives an overview of all issues considered by different researchers in different time periods. The author notes that the performance of the transport companies and the implementation of the state supervision and regulation of the industry, which were described in the publications, devoted to the study of public transport management in the Russian Empire, written during the Soviet period, were negatively assessed. And the historical works, which were published after the collapse of the Soviet Union, comprise a complete and coherent picture of the research on the issue.