Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board

The Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways Board or MMTB (officially M&MTB) was a government-owned authority that was responsible for the tram network in Melbourne, Australia between 1919 and 1983, when it was merged into the Metropolitan Transit Authority. It had been formed by the merger of a number of smaller tramway trusts and companies that operated throughout the city.

The MMTB's main maintenance facility was Preston Workshops, with depots at Brunswick, Camberwell, Coburg, East Preston, Essendon, Footscray, Glenhuntly, Hawthorn, Kew, Malvern, North Fitzroy, South Melbourne (Hanna Street), and Thornbury.

In 1869 Francis Boardman Clapp set up the Melbourne Omnibus Company which ran horse-drawn trams in the inner suburbs of Melbourne. The company carried 4,990,077 passengers. By 1882 the company had over 1600 horses and 178 omnibuses. In 1885 the company carried 11,659,937 passengers.

In 1885 Clapp's Melbourne Omnibus Company was granted a 30-year exclusive franchise for a cable tram network in Melbourne, with no competing lines being permitted. Clapp reorganised the company as the Melbourne Tramway and Omnibus Company (MTOC). A total of 15 lines were built, opening progressively between 1885 and 1991.

...
Wikipedia