Among Ourselves

The Municipal Tramways Trust (MTT) was established by the Government of South Australia in December 1906 to purchase all of the horse-drawn tramways in Adelaide, Australia. The Trust subsequently also ran petrol and diesel buses and electric trolleybuses. It ceased to exist on 8 December 1975, when its functions were transferred to the State Transport Authority, which also operated Adelaide's suburban train services.

History

The MTT was created in December 1906 as a tax exempt body with eight board members, mostly appointed by local councils and a small number of state government appointees.
Board members were appointed for terms of six years with a provision that half the members should retire every three years.Inaugural MTT board members in 1907 were:
* AB Moncrieff, Government appointee, chairman and engineer-in-chief; succeeded in 1922 by Edward Bakewell
*Thomas Gill, Government appointee
*J.R. Baker, Alderman of the Adelaide corporation
*Theodore Bruce, Mayor of Adelaide
*R. Cruickshank, Mayor of the Corporate Town of St Peters
* H. J. Holden, Mayor of the Corporate Town of Kensington and Norwood
*J.T. Mellor, Mayor of the District Council of Walkerville
*A.C. Sanders, Mayor of the District Council of Prospect

The Trust set out by purchasing all of the horse-drawn tramways in Adelaide. It established a nine-acre (3.6 hectare) tram depot and headquarters near the corner of Hackney and Botanic Roads.

Thirty-five-year old William Goodman, who had diverse engineering experience in private enterprise and government employment in the UK, New South Wales and New Zealand, was appointed in 1907 as the Trust's first engineer. The following year he was appointed Chief Engineer and general manager. He was knighted in 1932, retiring in 1950 after 42 years' service.

The MTT's modernisation of tram services started with its first electric tram in March 1909. It also took over the Adelaide to Glenelg railway in 1929, when the line was converted from a steam-hauled broad gauge (5 ft 3 ft in) railway to an electric tramway laid to standard gauge (4 ft  in) in conformity with the rest of the tram network, which had been built in accordance with the .

The MTT throughout this period introduced a variety of bus services. In 1938, the Port Adelaide tram service was replaced by double-decker trolleybuses.

From 1952, street tram services were gradually replaced by diesel bus services. After 1958, the mainly off-street Glenelg tram line was the last remaining service. The MTT continued to operate most of the local bus routes in the inner metropolitan area, often following former tram lines. By the 1970s the MTT had bought out many of the private bus operators then operating in the Adelaide suburbs.

On 8 December 1975, the role of the MTT was assumed by the Bus & Tram division of the State Transport Authority. In 1994 the State Transport Authority in turn was dissolved and government public transport services were transferred to TransAdelaide, a publicly owned corporation. A partial tendering of bus services followed. The 2000 round of tenders saw the end of TransAdelaide's direct operation of bus services in its own right, and the Department of Transport, Energy & Infrastructure took control, applying the Adelaide Metro brand across all road passenger transport operators, appearing to the public as a unified network, with common livery, timetable designs and a city information centre.

Trams

Most types of Adelaide trams were introduced and operated by the Municipal Tramways Trust on a network that eventually became almost 100 kilometres (60 miles) long. All the street tram lines were disbanded in 1958, leaving only the 11 km Glenelg tram line, which mostly runs on its own reservation. The Trust and its successor entities continued to operate Type H trams on that line. From 2006, when new trams were purchased, the Type H trams were gradually phased out, except for two kept for special occasions. Many have been preserved; in South Australia four are held by the Tramway Museum, St Kilda, north of Adelaide.

Tram depots

The MTT operated depots in Angas Street