Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board

Other local councils followed the lead of Prahran and Malvern. The Hawthorn Tramways Trust began operations in 1916, as did the Melbourne, Brunswick and Coburg Tramways Trust and the Fitzroy, Northcote and Preston Tramways Trust. Of the council tramways, the Prahran & Malvern Tramway Trust's system was by far the most developed. It laid the foundations for Melbourne's future tramway network.

In the 50 years since the establishment of the Melbourne Omnibus Company, Melbourne's street public transport had grown through unplanned and uncoordinated private and public enterprises, stimulated by the land boom, depressed by economic recession and world war. It was becoming clear that a more orderly approach was needed. On 1 November 1919, the Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board (M&MTB) was established to operate the entire system. Mr Alex Cameron, former chairman of the successful Prahran & Malvern Tramways Trust, was appointed the first Chairman.

The Board inherited a cable system that was carrying a volume of traffic for which it was never designed and whose rails were wearing out. It also inherited a patchwork of modern electric tramways. The long-term plan was to electrify cable lines or convert them to bus routes, and link up and extend the whole tram network.

Soon the life of Melbourne and its suburbs was disrupted and this continued throughout the 1920s, as workers began to rip up the old cable system and install new tracks and overhead power lines. On August 29, 1925 the first major cable tramway ended its life with the closing of the Windsor - St Kilda Esplanade line.

To maintain services during the conversion, electric trams ran on temporary tracks or passengers were carried by bus. To provide the bus service, the Board entered the fastest-growing public transport sector of the day - motor bus operation.

This move also enabled the Board to compete in a field of transport that was seriously beginning to erode the business of the tramways. In 1925, the first tramways buses came into operation from La Trobe Street down Swanston Street and Brighton Road, along Glen Huntly Road to Elsternwick Station.

By 1930 most cable tracks had been converted to electric trams, but the Depression brought further work to a halt. World War II provided another stay of execution for the cable tram, but the last one made its run to Northcote on October 26, 1940.

Along with the cable trams, the bell punch also disappeared in 1922 and the Board began to collect fares by issuing tickets.