Melbourne and Metropolitan Tramways Board
Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board Logo
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| Statutory Authority overview | |
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| Formed | 1 November 1919 |
| Preceding Statutory Authority |
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| Dissolved | 30 June 1983 |
| Superseding agency | |
| Jurisdiction | Victoria |
| Headquarters | Melbourne |
| Parent Statutory Authority | Department of Transport |
The Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board (MMTB) 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.
In 1869 Francis Boardman Clapp set up the Melbourne Omnibus Company (MOC) which ran horse-drawn trams in the inner suburbs of Melbourne. The company carried five million passengers. By 1882 the company had over 1,600 horses and 178 omnibuses. In 1885 the company carried 11.7 million passengers.
In 1885 Clapp's MOC 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 & Omnibus Company (MTOC). A total of 15 lines were built, opening progressively between 1885 and 1991.
The first serious electric trams in Melbourne began in 1906, when the North Melbourne Electric Tramway & Lighting Company commenced operating an electric tram line from the terminus of the cable tram to Essendon, the motivation being the selling of electricity to customers along the route.
In the 1900s and 1910s, the government legislated for the formation of suburban electric tramway trusts to build and operate electric trams outside MTOC's exclusive licence area. These were:
When the MTOC franchise expired on 30 June 1916, the entire operation of the Melbourne cable tramway system passed to the State Government. The MMTB was formed in November 1919 to take over the street tramways systems in Melbourne. It had the responsibility of operating all tramways within a sixteen kilometre radius of the Melbourne GPO, the only exceptions being the lines operated by Victorian Railways.
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