In 1869, Francis Boardman Clapp set up the Melbourne Omnibus Company (MOC) which ran horse-drawn omnibuses 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. 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: •
Prahran & Malvern Tramways Trust •
Hawthorn Tramways Trust •
Melbourne, Brunswick & Coburg Tramways Trust •
Fitzroy, Northcote & Preston Tramways Trust • Footscray Tramway Trust • Northcote Municipality Cable Tramways 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 ten-mile (sixteen kilometre) radius of the
Melbourne GPO, the only exceptions being the lines operated by
Victorian Railways. In January 1925, the M&MTB began operating buses. The MMTB ceased on 30 June 1983 with its function taken over by the
Metropolitan Transit Authority.
Takeover of tramways network The MMTB commenced operations on 1 November 1919, taking over the
cable tram network with 44 route miles of track, 539 grips cars, 485 four wheel trailer cars, 58 double bogie trailers, 11 engine sheds and 15 carriage sheds. On 2 February 1920, it took over the six suburban electric tramway trusts, which were dissolved later that month. The MMTB took over the North Melbourne Electric Tramway & Lighting Company's tramways operation on 1 August 1922, and its lighting undertakings on 21 December 1922. Most of the cable tram system was converted to electric tramways (such as the tram lines along
Swanston Street and
Elizabeth Street), but the routes to
West Melbourne (along
Spencer Street to the current
route 57),
Port Melbourne (the original line on-street, not the current
light rail line),
Collingwood (along Johnston Street from
Lygon Street to
Johnston Street Bridge) and
Carlton North (a branch off the Johnston Street line along Rathdowne Street to the end of it near the Inner Circle Line), along with the
Lonsdale Street line in the city and other short sections were converted to motor buses. Trams would only ever return to the
Bourke Street lines and
La Trobe Street lines in the 1950s. ==Organisation==