After the war there was no longer massive tram-use in connection with transporting wounded soldiers back from the front line and overall tram usage fell back, but through the 1920s and 1930 the trams were nevertheless the heart of Innsbruck's transport provision, although during the middle part of the 1920s motor bus operators appeared on the scene, and started to undercut the trams on price. During the middle 1930s passenger numbers sank in response to the reduced living standards and incomes that followed the economic crash at the start of the decade. Following the union with Germany early in 1938 prosperity returned, however, and passenger numbers recovered to pre-crisis levels.