The Melbourne Tramway and Omnibus Company (MTOC) was the company which established and operated Melbourne's cable tram system from 1885 to 1916.

History

The MTOC was started by Francis Boardman Clapp, who had come to Australia from the United States in 1853 to search for gold. In 1869 he set up the Melbourne Omnibus Company which ran horse-drawn trams in the inner suburbs of

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

. The company carried five million passengers. Clapp reorganised the horse tram company into the Melbourne Tramway and Omnibus Company. By 1882 the company had over 1,600 horses and 178 omnibuses. In 1885 the company carried 11.7 million passengers. In 1885, the Government of Victoria offered MTOC a 30-year exclusive contract to operate a tram system using either horse, steam or cable power. Clapp chose to use the cable system which was being used successfully in both

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and

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. The 12 councils which were in the area to be serviced by the MOTC formed the Melbourne Tramway Trust. The Trust laid the tracks, bought land and built the cable winding houses. The MOTC provided the trams and operated the service. From 1885 to 1891 service was established to covered the suburbs of Brunswick, Carlton, Collingwood, Clifton Hill,

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North Melbourne North Melbourne is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-west of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Melbourne local government area. North Melbourne recorded a population of 14,953 at ...

South Melbourne South Melbourne is an inner suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 3 km south of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Port Phillip local government area. South Melbourne recorded a population of 11,548 at ...

, West Melbourne,

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, Richmond, St.Kilda and Toorak. By 1887 with the new cable cars, the company carried 18 million passengers. The MOTC's franchise expired on 30 June 1916, and the cable network was taken over by the State Government, which formed the Melbourne Tramways Board (later to become the

Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board 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 bee ...

) in 1919. This board amalgamated Melbourne's nine tram systems into one integrated network.

References

{{MelbourneTramNavbox, state=collapsed History of Melbourne Trams in Melbourne 1885 establishments in Australia 1916 disestablishments in Australia