I have always believed that part of the appeal of trams is that the infrequent user has a better understanding of the routes, due to seeing the tracks in the roads, than can ever be the case with bus routes.
It's a lot easier for people with disabilities, too, like those with bad eyesight (like me!). The big, steel tracks in the road are a lot easier to "read" than a bus-route. You know that if you wait here, a tram WILL show up eventually, and when you get on, you know EXACTLY where it'll go. With a bus, unless you've studied the entire route beforehand - you don't know where the hell it's gonna end up.
This is 100% my believe as well, I consider myself to know more than the Average person about transit in general, but when I am in a city different city than the one I live in, catching rail transport of any kind is always preferable to me even if just because of that simple psychological barrier
Route visibility is an incredible bonus, definitely not to be underestimated! I think the ride quality for any given route makes a great case for trams/light rail over buses!
Considering when I go on trips to melbourne I don’t even consider renting a car and just use the tram network says a lot I love the trams, they are incredibly useful
People in Brisbane are still embarrassed they ripped up their tram system over 50 years ago and only recently replaced it with a fancy bus that thinks it’s a metro
John Paul Daly did a wonderful job for Tourism with the Tram Car Restraunt. I used it many times privately and also for Business Functions where we booked the whole Tram - about 36 people from memory. 👀 🍽 🍹🍸
I remember a long time ago, one evening visiting the tram car restaurant as an electrical service tech. From memory, the special inverter that supplied the kitchen appliances had failed. I don't recall how the job went, but I do remember the Chef was quite upset, had gotten himself heavily intoxicated, and was throwing things around 😂
@@MelodyMan69 It might also be that pax had each paid well over $150.00 each to travel on the dinner tram and the chef was disappointed the whole evening had gone down the toilet.
I cant help but shed a tear at the video demonstrating how trams reduce traffic 🥲 Its even more frustrating living in Auckland and learning how its tram system came to an end, especially since it was the worlds only coast to coast tram network 😔
Your proposed airport tram will be back on the agenda soon enough. The crazier thing for me about New Zealand is all the trolleybus networks that survived until very recently only to still get removed (despite being better for the environment, making less noise etc.)
@MetroManMelbourne Exactly, this was during a time auckland was so focused on echoing Los Angeles with so many motorways But the closest proposals we currently have is the airport to botany and northwestern motorway BRT which is future proofed for light rail conversation, just, no explicit tram plans under the current government 🙄
@@MetroManMelbourne - Are you referring to Wellington? if so, that was a disaster especially with modern electric/battery trolleybus technology and a financially conservative regional council that did so back room 'doggy' deals that lead to disastrous multi transfer hub rapid bus network that took nearly 6 years to sort out and cost the regional rate payers alot on money. Up to 2017, Wellington city was the only city in New Zealand that nearly 50% of public transport services were electric.
For many of the suburbs it was because the people commuting didn't live there... but you know... they still are going to go through somehow and that ended up being by car.
As Melbourne was late to the game, now we lead the world with our trams. If we can have this much success with our system, there's no reason much bigger networks couldn't flourish today. Also there should be a statue of Sir Robert Risson placed somewhere on the network so that more people know his story. I've only ever heard of tram enthusiasts that knew his name.
Major-GeneraL (Ret'd.) Sir Robert Risson was the head honcho when I worked as a connie. He was both admired and feared. And yes , recognition well overdue.
Melburnians revered that man. Long after he was gone, many a disgruntled passenger would threaten to report an errant driver or conductor to 'Mr Risson'. My favourite story was of the lady who boarded a tram at the Toorak terminus several minutes before departure. The compressor kept cutting in and out to maintain proper air pressure to operate the brakes. The lady said she was going to report the driver and conductor to Mr Risson for 'wasting petrol'.
@@jeffrey3895 One day there were two trams parked one behind the other on single track at the Mont. Albert terminus. A woman got on and asked which tram was going first.
@@desfletch I am sure I was asked that question myself, probably on more than one occasion. Lots of fun stories. I would not have missed my time as both a connie and driver at South Melbourne Depot. It was a wild ride.
As a Geelong resident I know for a fact that the locals wanted to keep the trams but if I remember right it was the transport minister at the time that closed it
Im absolutely furious that both of South Australia's major parties have abandoned the tram city's tram revival. Whichever party promises to create additional tram lines for SA has my vote easily.
In Perth, Lib went to the election with a plan and routes and won. It got delayed ultimately by a massive drop in GST rev and mining royalties, which put state under huge pressure. The costs kept rising and govt started talking about prioritising rail tunnelling and new routes. Then trams cancelled despite 20 years of planning and studies. Ultimately the following term Labor permanently removed it and focused just on heavy rail. Now we have local govt wanting trackless trams. I cant see any govt implemnting it in next 20 years. Govt is focused on heavy rail and now ferries. The main routes that has been constantly referred to is UWA to Curtin through the city. The Libs originally had a route going up Fitzgerald st and Alexader dr through to Mirrabooka and beyond. Will never happen. The other thing in Perth is that large road reserves have been narrowed over 20 years with tree plantings, wider footpaths and islands, street furniture and cycleways. Increasingly, any trams in the city would now be very disruptive.
Awesome video. Brings back memories. Grew up in Melbourne victoria and always travelled by tram. Became a Team Conductor in 1987 to 1998. Loved working on the W class trams.😊
Great video, I love the old style - green and white styled trams. Even as a regional person i am seriously disappointed that Sydney removed its tram network. And yes now they are spending billions to build light rail.
I wish the other state capitals had kept their tram lines. Surfer's Paradise has the only one I've been on as an adult and while it is lovely and good for getting around that area, it's just a single line.
I’d expect some more new systems will emerge over the next few decades, but it would have been very cool had the likes of Sydney or Brisbane kept their original systems, albeit they would be very different today.
Canberra has that one line (in 2024) from the city to Gungahlin. Stage 2 is supposed to be being built currently, as is Stage 2 of the Gold Coast tramway.
Where I live - Honolulu - our streetcar system only lasted for 40 years, from 1901 to 1941. Most of the streetcars were replaced by electric buses (also called trolley buses) that used the same overhead power lines, till 1957. I think some of the arguments against streetcars were: 1) Being tied to tracks, if there was a breakdown or some other obstruction, everything on that line was stopped, and 2) Passengers dangerously had to get on and off in the middle of the street where they could be struck by passing cars. I do know that the ringing of bells to signal stops and starts was considered extremely aggravating for anyone who lived nearby, and a major church actually abandoned its large building to move somewhere away from that noise that constantly interrupted services.
What a wonderful video. It makes you smile, when you see ye olde footage, of tracks still in use now. St. George's & Miller sts im looking at you. Thanks for the informative video 🎉
Excellent video all round. I now live down the bay, far away from the nearest tram line and I miss the ability to catch one, they are wonderful and thank goodness we still have them. 😊👍
They did try and replace some lines with buses but too many people complained. Even today some routes with a higher frequency bus service used to be a tram.
A: because the disaster in Sydney that resulted in ripping it up was all too obvious, also people in Melbourne disliked buses, the network wasn't that old when most of the other systems around the world were closing, and there were a group of very smart hard-working skilled people that did enough to convince the powers-that-be and the public to keep hold of it.
@@MetroManMelbourne Disaster is perhaps exaggerated - but I have read that there were almost immediate howls of regret within a few years of the last closures in 1960-61, which then reached fever-pitch once the Eastern Suburbs Railway began to look shaky in the mid-1960s. The Eastern Suburb line when the trams closed had already been under construction for several years and was still a long way from completion and was planned to go all the way to Kingsford and Maroubra to take over the role of the main part of the tram network fed by buses, but it began to look less and less certain to come to the rescue and the SE ended up getting nothing. It was nuts to close the Anzac Parade tram lines before the railway was finished and I think most people knew it too, especially because the Anzac Parade lines served the SCG/SFS, as well as the University of NSW, and they ran in a reserved median for most of their length as opposed to most tram lines in Sydney and also they could have acted as a feeder service to a properly-completed Eastern Suburbs Railway.
@@BigBlueMan118 closing the watsons bay line was also kinda nuts considering the ESR was never going to reach there, perhaps it, the anzac parade/ coogee lines and the bondi and bronte lines could have been retained along with the botany line to some extent
@@SydneyTransportFan The outer section of the Watsons Bay line was even closed way back in the mid-1950s from Rose Bay first as well, that was a nuts decision, but enough people protested and got the full thing reopened. I don't know how much of the eastern tram lines would/should/could have been kept if they had just finished the eastern suburbs railway line all the way to Randwick and Kingsford, perhaps a fair bit, things certainly would have been alot better than they are now. It would have been pretty tempting to just extend the railway down the median of Anzac Parade to Malabar or at the very least Maroubra Junction. It is kind of nuts there are no plans at present to extend the L3 from Kingsford to Maroubra Junction either, it would make the bus network down in that part of the Southeast much smoother.
Finally, Sir Robert rissson should be honoured by naming the next generation of tram or a current class of tram the "Sir Robert Risson" tram or maybe RR class this is befitting of a man who had visionary foresight amongst all the detractors to promote trams in Melbourne. also, I have met many people who are upset that the W class trams are no more except a handful on the city circle route well they were replaced by an upgraded tram, better than a bus
As a former Launcestonian now in Adelaide, I went to the 100th anniversary of the tram network in 2011 where the Launceston Tramway Museum managed to acquire the wreck of tram No.1 which was placed on a semitrailer in the street at the spot it stood 100 years ago when the ribbon was cut. It was quite stirring to see the poor thing 'reliving' that day, once again surrounded by thousands of onlookers admiring it (but now longing for the loss of its service), and later to be lovingly restored to working condition. Launceston's network was large for its size but only serviced by 29 trams, but those trams were works of art. Beautifully detailed and locally built from Tasmanian timbers, brass, and stained glass, they were elegant and powerful, capable of handling the notoriously hilly city and it's narrow, bending streets in style. Once the pride of a bold, progressive city council, in 1951 they were scrapped of their bogies and sold off for cheap as shacks and farm sheds so the streets could be choked by cars as they are today.
It's sad that melb hasn't explained. Since 2017, i hope it will be 300k of tracks of the network. upgrade the system agian for its own lane so it won't be stuck in traffic with the cars it could improve the journey time as well
@@spartan117zm It's indeed a bummer to think about. Crying shame about the now-dead networks of the other state capitals too. On the flipside however (as a Melbournian atleast), it atleast provides us one thing to be smug about over Sydney 😁. Otherwise, Sydney does PT better than us overall.
Thanks heaps MetroMan. One piece of trivia: Before they went to one-person operation the Tramways took on Uni. students as conductors over Summer. I worked three Summers 1967-9 and loved it. They needed extra staff for the pre-Christmas rush , but when it all slowed down after Christmas , the employment of students meant some permanent staff got a Summer holiday. I'd like to think they gave holidays to parents of young kids but I don't know. Also don't know when the scheme started and if it finished before or only when they ditched the connies. I live in regional NSW now but love the trams for the one week I spend in Melb. every year. A pity about half the passengers don't pay though 😞
Some rare shots of PCC car 980 in this video. Rumour has it this car reached 70mph down St Kilda Rd. Confirmed or not it was a unique car, which sadly didn't survive. I believe the trucks ended up on car 1041.
Thanks for a well presented video! Of interest, Sydney at its peak (pre-1958) had the largest tram system in the world. It was larger than Melbourne is today! Sydney had Manly and North Sydney as seperate systems, with Manly closing in 1939 (IIRC), and North Sydney in June 1958. On 8/8/1958 an O class Breakdown Car was the last tram to leave the North Sydney system. Of further interest in your video is Scrubber car #11, later 11W. This tram was ex-Sydney 139s, and along with sister 10W (138s), were the last Sydney trams in use as trams,outside of preservation. There is so, so much more to the nSW tramways than Sydney and the best-known lines, but I won't go into that tonight. Brisbane was actually making a profit *(!)* prior to its closure in 1969. The tramway replacement buses - Leyland Panthers (which I loved as far as they looked and sounded good) - were largely paid for by the trams they killed off! Today, Brisbane has a good bus system but with no capped fares, and no plans for trams, only the Gold Coast having such luxuries.
Ballarat actually still haves their tram’s, but there’s only one tram line around the lake and I believe two or three stops around the lake Wendouree, and it’s kind-of a- joy ride tram. Now only two or three trams are left in Ballarat.
One of the best features and decisions made in Melbourne. Its massive and effective tram system brings money, shoppers, workers and tourists into the CBD and all its surrounding suburbs.
It’s PCC 980 - a one of a kind tram built in 1960 to test out modern tram equipment imported from the US (as used on their *PCC* streetcars). They never built any more PCC cars but used the equipment from it for a prototype Z class (PCC 1041). 980 is preserved at bylands. So yes you’re right, it is similar to a US PCC streetcar
Trams are quite popular in Melbourne, mostly around the CBD. The layout of the tram routes are mostly all connected. Meaning you can hop onto on tram then get onto another very easily. Also considering that the CBD is increasing more free car zones, their usefulness increases. Plus when using the tram inside the CBD, it's free! And who doesn't love free travelling!
every time i unfortunately have to ride a bus i get violently motion sick, theres almost no room and the air is stale, trams on the other hand i almost never get motion sickness, there is almost always room unless you are in the cbd in peak hour, and they either have aircon or ability to open the window
It still needs improvement such as extending lines and becoming more frquent. Extensions like route 19 to Fawkner/Gowrie or Campbellfield Plaza. Route 86 to South Morang/Mernda. Route 75 to Knox and so on...
I just love your videos. Thanks so much Side note, I guess the Eastern Freeway will never get to proposed train down the middle, surely trams could go there instead.
when i was living in Melbourne i couldn't stand getting a tram from thornebury where i lived to the city because there were way to many stops and to slow. but when around the city they are great.
It's better than any alternative, but there are changes to the network that need to be made. One in particular for this scenario is creating priority traffic conditions. The stops are not the problem I think, it's some of the lines which get slowed by car traffic. Easily fixed by removing the fucking parking on specific areas. Despite having a decent tram network, Naarm still has an obsessive car culture and PT is not anywhere close to being invested in properly approach to a large and growing city.
@@countessmargoth469 the line that goes passed thornebury was its own dedicated lane just has stops every 200m. thornebury was so close to the city in non peak hour times it was only 12bucks to get an uber and with me and my wife thats only a few bucks more then the tram and 3x faster. they need to remove 50% of the stops whats the point in having them every 200m
We had some great conductors working out of the Malvern Depot. I still to this day have no idea how one of them used to spin his hat on his head to entertain children.
in the end, it's not about the size of the location it's about the fact that the distance from other locations inside the area along with the connections. if there's projected growth in the region and you have the ability to lay a tram track with road then it's best to lay the track with the road to save on costs and headache in the future, the worst thing that can come of it is that the place ends up delapedated and not a nice location to live, but at least the population has a way out and a method to get to and from work
There was talk that the Glenelg Tram line in Adelaide was to be replaced with the brilliant O-Bahn system that serves the North-eastern suburbs. Unfortunately, the Glenelg tram line was refurbished and kept. If the line had been replaced with an O-Bahn then numerous bus routes could have had a free run from Adelaide to Glenelg rather than clogging up Anzac Hwy, the road that connects Adelaide and Glenelg. Buses serving suburbs other than Glenelg could have branched off along the O-Bahn to roads that intersected with Anzac Hwy. If anyone visits Adelaide a ride on the brilliant O-Bahn is recommended.
Very interesting video . 8:42 "Citizen Tram" documentary was made by Crawford Productions around 1966 when I started at CP although I was not involved in its production. I knew the production crew. In the film "Mr Johnson" was played by Telford Jackson and the narrator was Bob Cornish. Here's a link to that video : ruclips.net/video/BPh-WCdO0sc/видео.html
Kudos to Melbourne for saving its Tram network, but it shouldn't have only survived, it should have thrived and spread all over into outer suburbs. But car and oil companies had other ideas, so Melbourne opted for the American model of sprawling desolate suburbia and soul crushing freeways, and it continues to this day. We wonder why Melbourne with a population of over 5 million doesn't even have any type of rail link to its airport. Who can stand in the way when there's a dollar to be made?
But prior to Tullamarine Airport opening, the main airport at Essendon was serviced by tram. (I think the vision around 10:58 is of the terminus.) The tram still goes past Essendon airport and terminates at Airport West shopping center.
@@Kevin-go2dw Yet since 1970 when Tullamarine Airport opened, this tram line hasn't been extended another 6 or 7km, most likely for the same reason the rail link via Sunshine is constantly delayed, opposition from freeway toll providers, carparks etc.
@@bjbolger There have been numerous proposals to extend over the years, but they never eventuate. Australia seems to follow the US model of sprawling suburbs, more freeways (with tolls) and road widenings, which can be built quickly but maintaining this type of infrastructure is costly in the long run and they're only a short-term solution since they only invite more traffic. However, someone has a vested interest in keeping people in cars.
Kalgoorlie's tram network started in the early 1900s and the population in the 1920s was enough to sustain it when very few people has cars. The end was because many men did not return after WW2 combined with the advent of the car.
as a Victorian I grew up with my father LOVING the trams and trains of Victoria, and as I grew up trams are incredibly convenient unlike busses that are a plague on society (buggers are never on time and drive like dragsters) and the best part is in the Melbourne CBD trams are free to ride sooooo suck it busses
You can add Pyongyang in North Korea to the list of cities with trams. PY was given a fleet of surplus old trams by Prague and a small network was created around PY. I visited the DPRK in 2015 and my tour group got to ride on a tram from a depot into the centre of the city.
Melbourne kept the tram system for one reason. Henry Bolte was the premier of Victoria, and he expressed a hatred of diesel buses and would not allow the closure of the tram system. All the other reasons are basically irrelevant,
Factually incorrect. Bolte hated the trams and wanted to close them. He couldn't because he did not have control of the Upper House, and THAT is the major reason the trams survived.
Trams are great in the inner city and on dedicated lines but I never liked them on the suburban streets as they stopped traffic too often. Ironically though this stop start effect actually calms the cars and probably helps with traffic flow in peak hours.
In 1967 Australia chose the Melbourne trams to represent our way of life to the rest of the world on the telecast "Our World". England chose the Beatles....
There is a bigger driver of the end of trams and that's WW2 civilian casualties. In WW2 those with boats got out first (fleeing Europe completely), those with cars got out next (avoiding the line of axis or allied advance), and those relying only on trams were trapped and died by the thousands often with huge losses at the end of the line. This was also true of those that were bicycle based. The US combat engineer units had to bury the huge piles of bodies. Those combat engineers went on to be city and highway planners after the war. There were conferences on how to effectively evacuate cities in a time of war and that in the 1950's meant nuclear war. Bicycles and trams were death traps; they could not out run modern war let alone an incoming nuclear attack or fallout. Wide highways and cars meant millions could flee in an hour with no government action. Studies of civilian casualties influenced and created the car culture, camping culture and the favoring of marinas everywhere. Armies did not fight for and thus destroy cul de sac streets so that was favored. T intersections were less damaged and had less fought over than + intersections so the former was favored. Highway bypasses meant war bypassed towns and cities leaving them intact. All this was studied, books published in the late 40's and 50's and acted on in the 1960's. Those cities that still had trams on VE day were the cities that war bypassed or were eastern European cities. The books were never translated into Russian or German from the English. Melbourne was never fought over and its city planners never served in Europe so Melbourne's system was unaffected. I'm strange I was studying fallout shelters and city evacuation plans when I was a teen in the 1970's. The oil industry was a minor player. The pentagon and a hundred parliaments were a far greater player. Engineering veterans societies were super pro car.
G'day! It's been three over years since I commented on your older tram video (back when I was still B set Aviation Fan 2021). But, yea I haven't been to Melbourne on a trip, but again it's life. But I did enjoy Sydney's transport system on the few times I have been there with family by train from Newy, and did take some train photos, blah blah blah. Also, my grammar has been improved! So don't expect me to speak like a 12-year-old again.
I always see the trams in melbourne as part of the cities charms and character. Remove the trams and the city will lose a lot of what is is known for. I do street photograpy (hobby) in the city and the surrounding inner suburbs and the trams are usally a great subject to take photos. And the tram network has proven through the years that it just works so well, that's why Melbourne host a lot of major sporting and entertainment events. I do hope that they expand the network though espcially in the west.
Adelaide's rail system sadly met the same fate as their tram system with 95 percent of the lines closing in the 80s. Adelaide's actually a good city for a interurban tram network.
There is an extensive list of lines, - Roseworthy to Peterborough - Hamley bridge to gladstone - Balaklava to moonta - Kadina to Brinkworth - Robertstown - Truro - Barmera - Waikerie - Peebinga - Kingston SE - Naracoorte - Northfield - Penfield - Hendon - Peterborough - Quorn - Central Australia - ICI Osborne
that was a fantastic and very informative video, it’s so good that that guy in control of the trams with such a visionary, a vision that proved 100% spot on, if any government tried to get rid of Melbourne trams …..there……. would be a Civil War
You left out the single most important reason: BOLTE DID NOT HAVE CONTROL OF THE UPPER HOUSE. That alone is the main reason Melbourne's trams survived. Yes, everything else you mentioned was a factor, but Bolte could not close the trams because the Upper House would block him. That is why Ballarat and Bendigo survived into the early 1970s, because several attempts to close those systems were blocked by the Upper House. When Bolte finally got control of the Upper House they were closed. Melbourne was going to be next, but by then it would have been political suicide to close the trams. Then Bolte was replaced by Hamer and so the trams survived, and construction of new trams and new tram lines resumed. Bolte starved the MMTB of funds in the 1960s. Plenty of money for new bus services in Doncaster, nothing for trams. The MMTB was left to its own resources. When Bolte got into power Geelong closed, the VR trams to Brighton and Sandy closed, the order for 30 new trams was cancelled, plans for tram extensions were dropped. The MMTB closed Footscray and Point Ormond as a defensive tactic against Bolte, they were consolidating their resources to keep the tramway alive. It was a close call. If Bolte had the numbers, Melbourne's trams would be history.
@@AshleyReynolds-vc6ly , what?! the conservatives didnt control the upper house? in victoria in the 60's? omfg! well that would have saved the network.
Melbourne's tram network is the largest in the world when measured by the length of network (or the number of stops). It's not the largest as measured by the number of trams nor the ridership. In both those cases, it's the seventh largest.
Major General Sir Robert Risson convinced the Powers That Be, that Melbourne had "a good thing." In 1955 the Bourke St lines re-opened, now as electric, and Melbourne was given the Right to host the 1956 Olympics, but really only because they had the tram system to move the people around. Today I have been on a D2 class tram with around 200 people on it after an event at AAMI Park, and the tram moves away just as easily as if it was empty, and empties all its passengers out in Flinders St in around one minute! No bus can do that!
I'm not really one for conspiracy theories BUT one must question, with regard to Adelaide's tram system, how come its demise coincided with the establishment of the General Motors-Holden plant at Elizabeth , and the surge in private motor car use. Check out the documentary "The GM Conspiracy"
As a Sydneysider, its crazy to think of all the billions of taxpayer dollars that could have been saved by keeping our tram network instead of ripping it all up and later starting again from scratch - especially given how terrible Sydney’s buses are.
Main reason Melbourne kept its trams one man my idol sir Robert risson chairman of the MMTB 1949-1970 he was the right man in the right position in the right time, he believed in trams loved trams and fought like a warrior for their retention in Melbourne he believed in modernization/upgrading and extending the tramways in Melbourne he was their at the time when many other cities around the world and Australia were removing their trams for so called progress in the form of replacement buses except for the Victorian railways trams point Ormond and footscray system which closed every tramline was upgraded and set in concrete and duplicated where need be. today's generation of people probably wouldn't know about Robert Risson he should be taught in history classes at school as to why Melbourne never lost its trams, proof of the pudding is that cities all around the world are reintroducing trams and cities that never had them are introducing them as well. sir Robert fought the media and road lobby who wanted trams removed from Melbourne streets he never backed down and counter acted every argument put forward for their removal I will continue with more as page has run out
What's the rush? We could all slow down a bit and smell the roses. If you need to get somewhere and find the tram too slow you can always leave home earlier.
40 kmh in the city, no more than 60 anywhere else. It's not what *you* think! The reality is that trams _should_ be sped up, and given better priority in traffic. That much doesn't happen as it should.
Trams are much more energy-efficient than diesel buses, and as fossil fuel supplies dwindle and their cost escalates, trams and trains that are powered by solar, wind and hydro electricity will be the preferred method of urban transport. Melbourne already has such a system in place.
Adelaide is perfect for radial inner suburban trams. Why the proposals of 2013 were shelved is due to a bunch of triggered nimbys who live regression not progress
I have always believed that part of the appeal of trams is that the infrequent user has a better understanding of the routes, due to seeing the tracks in the roads, than can ever be the case with bus routes.
It's a lot easier for people with disabilities, too, like those with bad eyesight (like me!). The big, steel tracks in the road are a lot easier to "read" than a bus-route. You know that if you wait here, a tram WILL show up eventually, and when you get on, you know EXACTLY where it'll go. With a bus, unless you've studied the entire route beforehand - you don't know where the hell it's gonna end up.
This is 100% my believe as well, I consider myself to know more than the Average person about transit in general, but when I am in a city different city than the one I live in, catching rail transport of any kind is always preferable to me even if just because of that simple psychological barrier
Route visibility is an incredible bonus, definitely not to be underestimated! I think the ride quality for any given route makes a great case for trams/light rail over buses!
💯 % this.
The tracks are visible, and that's a great thing.
Considering when I go on trips to melbourne I don’t even consider renting a car and just use the tram network says a lot
I love the trams, they are incredibly useful
People in Brisbane are still embarrassed they ripped up their tram system over 50 years ago and only recently replaced it with a fancy bus that thinks it’s a metro
RIP The restaurant tram😢
John Paul Daly did a wonderful job for Tourism with the Tram Car Restraunt. I used it many times privately and also for Business Functions where we booked the whole Tram - about 36 people from memory. 👀 🍽 🍹🍸
I remember a long time ago, one evening visiting the tram car restaurant as an electrical service tech.
From memory, the special inverter that supplied the kitchen appliances had failed.
I don't recall how the job went, but I do remember the Chef was quite upset, had gotten himself heavily intoxicated, and was throwing things around 😂
@@lindsaybrown7357
Chefs are like that. Ego too big.
@@MelodyMan69 It might also be that pax had each paid well over $150.00 each to travel on the dinner tram and the chef was disappointed the whole evening had gone down the toilet.
We will always have the Kath and Kim episode
I cant help but shed a tear at the video demonstrating how trams reduce traffic 🥲
Its even more frustrating living in Auckland and learning how its tram system came to an end, especially since it was the worlds only coast to coast tram network 😔
What the hell, really?
Your proposed airport tram will be back on the agenda soon enough. The crazier thing for me about New Zealand is all the trolleybus networks that survived until very recently only to still get removed (despite being better for the environment, making less noise etc.)
@MetroManMelbourne Exactly, this was during a time auckland was so focused on echoing Los Angeles with so many motorways
But the closest proposals we currently have is the airport to botany and northwestern motorway BRT which is future proofed for light rail conversation, just, no explicit tram plans under the current government 🙄
@@MetroManMelbourne - Are you referring to Wellington? if so, that was a disaster especially with modern electric/battery trolleybus technology and a financially conservative regional council that did so back room 'doggy' deals that lead to disastrous multi transfer hub rapid bus network that took nearly 6 years to sort out and cost the regional rate payers alot on money.
Up to 2017, Wellington city was the only city in New Zealand that nearly 50% of public transport services were electric.
For many of the suburbs it was because the people commuting didn't live there... but you know... they still are going to go through somehow and that ended up being by car.
I love our trams, it was one of the reasons I chose to come back to Melbs to retire.. I grew up with them, the ease of getting around!!
As Melbourne was late to the game, now we lead the world with our trams. If we can have this much success with our system, there's no reason much bigger networks couldn't flourish today. Also there should be a statue of Sir Robert Risson placed somewhere on the network so that more people know his story. I've only ever heard of tram enthusiasts that knew his name.
Major-GeneraL (Ret'd.) Sir Robert Risson was the head honcho when I worked as a connie. He was both admired and feared. And yes , recognition well overdue.
Melburnians revered that man. Long after he was gone, many a disgruntled passenger would threaten to report an errant driver or conductor to 'Mr Risson'. My favourite story was of the lady who boarded a tram at the Toorak terminus several minutes before departure. The compressor kept cutting in and out to maintain proper air pressure to operate the brakes. The lady said she was going to report the driver and conductor to Mr Risson for 'wasting petrol'.
@@jeffrey3895 One day there were two trams parked one behind the other on single track at the Mont. Albert terminus. A woman got on and asked which tram was going first.
@@desfletch I am sure I was asked that question myself, probably on more than one occasion. Lots of fun stories. I would not have missed my time as both a connie and driver at South Melbourne Depot. It was a wild ride.
As a Geelong resident I know for a fact that the locals wanted to keep the trams but if I remember right it was the transport minister at the time that closed it
Im absolutely furious that both of South Australia's major parties have abandoned the tram city's tram revival. Whichever party promises to create additional tram lines for SA has my vote easily.
In Perth, Lib went to the election with a plan and routes and won. It got delayed ultimately by a massive drop in GST rev and mining royalties, which put state under huge pressure. The costs kept rising and govt started talking about prioritising rail tunnelling and new routes. Then trams cancelled despite 20 years of planning and studies. Ultimately the following term Labor permanently removed it and focused just on heavy rail. Now we have local govt wanting trackless trams. I cant see any govt implemnting it in next 20 years. Govt is focused on heavy rail and now ferries. The main routes that has been constantly referred to is UWA to Curtin through the city. The Libs originally had a route going up Fitzgerald st and Alexader dr through to Mirrabooka and beyond. Will never happen. The other thing in Perth is that large road reserves have been narrowed over 20 years with tree plantings, wider footpaths and islands, street furniture and cycleways. Increasingly, any trams in the city would now be very disruptive.
Adelaide is like Brissy. It’s more of a bus city
Awesome video. Brings back memories. Grew up in Melbourne victoria and always travelled by tram. Became a Team Conductor in 1987 to 1998. Loved working on the W class trams.😊
Great video, I love the old style - green and white styled trams. Even as a regional person i am seriously disappointed that Sydney removed its tram network.
And yes now they are spending billions to build light rail.
Green and cream, not white.
In your old video, you were but a metro boy. But now, you truly are a metro man. Melbourne.
This is quite an improvement on the original video. Well done!
Thanks very much!
I love trams
I wish the other state capitals had kept their tram lines. Surfer's Paradise has the only one I've been on as an adult and while it is lovely and good for getting around that area, it's just a single line.
I’d expect some more new systems will emerge over the next few decades, but it would have been very cool had the likes of Sydney or Brisbane kept their original systems, albeit they would be very different today.
Canberra has that one line (in 2024) from the city to Gungahlin. Stage 2 is supposed to be being built currently, as is Stage 2 of the Gold Coast tramway.
Where I live - Honolulu - our streetcar system only lasted for 40 years, from 1901 to 1941. Most of the streetcars were replaced by electric buses (also called trolley buses) that used the same overhead power lines, till 1957. I think some of the arguments against streetcars were: 1) Being tied to tracks, if there was a breakdown or some other obstruction, everything on that line was stopped, and 2) Passengers dangerously had to get on and off in the middle of the street where they could be struck by passing cars. I do know that the ringing of bells to signal stops and starts was considered extremely aggravating for anyone who lived nearby, and a major church actually abandoned its large building to move somewhere away from that noise that constantly interrupted services.
What a wonderful video.
It makes you smile, when you see ye olde footage, of tracks still in use now. St. George's & Miller sts im looking at you.
Thanks for the informative video 🎉
Excellent video all round. I now live down the bay, far away from the nearest tram line and I miss the ability to catch one, they are wonderful and thank goodness we still have them. 😊👍
They did try and replace some lines with buses but too many people complained. Even today some routes with a higher frequency bus service used to be a tram.
Another excellent post. Well done
Ian Nosworthy
trams and trains are awesome
A: because the disaster in Sydney that resulted in ripping it up was all too obvious, also people in Melbourne disliked buses, the network wasn't that old when most of the other systems around the world were closing, and there were a group of very smart hard-working skilled people that did enough to convince the powers-that-be and the public to keep hold of it.
pretty much, albeit in the 1960s the closure of sydney's trams wasn't considered a "disaster" just yet
@@MetroManMelbourne Disaster is perhaps exaggerated - but I have read that there were almost immediate howls of regret within a few years of the last closures in 1960-61, which then reached fever-pitch once the Eastern Suburbs Railway began to look shaky in the mid-1960s. The Eastern Suburb line when the trams closed had already been under construction for several years and was still a long way from completion and was planned to go all the way to Kingsford and Maroubra to take over the role of the main part of the tram network fed by buses, but it began to look less and less certain to come to the rescue and the SE ended up getting nothing.
It was nuts to close the Anzac Parade tram lines before the railway was finished and I think most people knew it too, especially because the Anzac Parade lines served the SCG/SFS, as well as the University of NSW, and they ran in a reserved median for most of their length as opposed to most tram lines in Sydney and also they could have acted as a feeder service to a properly-completed Eastern Suburbs Railway.
@@BigBlueMan118 closing the watsons bay line was also kinda nuts considering the ESR was never going to reach there, perhaps it, the anzac parade/ coogee lines and the bondi and bronte lines could have been retained along with the botany line to some extent
Honestly that could be a video idea 'what if sydney kept its trams'
@@SydneyTransportFan The outer section of the Watsons Bay line was even closed way back in the mid-1950s from Rose Bay first as well, that was a nuts decision, but enough people protested and got the full thing reopened.
I don't know how much of the eastern tram lines would/should/could have been kept if they had just finished the eastern suburbs railway line all the way to Randwick and Kingsford, perhaps a fair bit, things certainly would have been alot better than they are now. It would have been pretty tempting to just extend the railway down the median of Anzac Parade to Malabar or at the very least Maroubra Junction. It is kind of nuts there are no plans at present to extend the L3 from Kingsford to Maroubra Junction either, it would make the bus network down in that part of the Southeast much smoother.
Finally, Sir Robert rissson should be honoured by naming the next generation of tram or a current class of tram the "Sir Robert Risson" tram or maybe RR class this is befitting of a man who had visionary foresight amongst all the detractors to promote trams in Melbourne. also, I have met many people who are upset that the W class trams are no more except a handful on the city circle route well they were replaced by an upgraded tram, better than a bus
As a former Launcestonian now in Adelaide, I went to the 100th anniversary of the tram network in 2011 where the Launceston Tramway Museum managed to acquire the wreck of tram No.1 which was placed on a semitrailer in the street at the spot it stood 100 years ago when the ribbon was cut. It was quite stirring to see the poor thing 'reliving' that day, once again surrounded by thousands of onlookers admiring it (but now longing for the loss of its service), and later to be lovingly restored to working condition.
Launceston's network was large for its size but only serviced by 29 trams, but those trams were works of art. Beautifully detailed and locally built from Tasmanian timbers, brass, and stained glass, they were elegant and powerful, capable of handling the notoriously hilly city and it's narrow, bending streets in style. Once the pride of a bold, progressive city council, in 1951 they were scrapped of their bogies and sold off for cheap as shacks and farm sheds so the streets could be choked by cars as they are today.
It's sad that melb hasn't explained. Since 2017, i hope it will be 300k of tracks of the network. upgrade the system agian for its own lane so it won't be stuck in traffic with the cars it could improve the journey time as well
I’d like to see a few extensions made but we need to replace the old trams (As and Zs) first in my opinion
@@MetroManMelbourneextension up tram road to Doncaster would be a start.
Ha ha, "blocked the path of fast, free flowing cars"! 🤣
Interesting that Sydney's tram network at its largest in 1923 was bigger than Melbourne's is today.
By some 70km too, I think
Can you imagine if Sydney still had it? How many more people could live car-free if they wanted to? It would be so awesome.
@@spartan117zm
It's indeed a bummer to think about. Crying shame about the now-dead networks of the other state capitals too. On the flipside however (as a Melbournian atleast), it atleast provides us one thing to be smug about over Sydney 😁. Otherwise, Sydney does PT better than us overall.
Thanks heaps MetroMan. One piece of trivia: Before they went to one-person operation the Tramways took on Uni. students as conductors over Summer. I worked three Summers 1967-9 and loved it. They needed extra staff for the pre-Christmas rush , but when it all slowed down after Christmas , the employment of students meant some permanent staff got a Summer holiday. I'd like to think they gave holidays to parents of young kids but I don't know. Also don't know when the scheme started and if it finished before or only when they ditched the connies. I live in regional NSW now but love the trams for the one week I spend in Melb. every year. A pity about half the passengers don't pay though 😞
Some rare shots of PCC car 980 in this video. Rumour has it this car reached 70mph down St Kilda Rd. Confirmed or not it was a unique car, which sadly didn't survive. I believe the trucks ended up on car 1041.
tram number 980 gets a cameo role at 10:51 in the "citizen tram" movie.
The PCC cars were some interesting experiments, I might need to make a video on them
holy shit this is so good
your videos have improved so much its amazing to see
Thanks griffin!
I stopped by to admire all the classic cars. 👍😉
Excellent video, as always mate.
The Flinders Street Station tram terminus is named after Sir Robert Risson for what he did for Melbourne's trams.
Thanks for a well presented video! Of interest, Sydney at its peak (pre-1958) had the largest tram system in the world. It was larger than Melbourne is today! Sydney had Manly and North Sydney as seperate systems, with Manly closing in 1939 (IIRC), and North Sydney in June 1958. On 8/8/1958 an O class Breakdown Car was the last tram to leave the North Sydney system. Of further interest in your video is Scrubber car #11, later 11W. This tram was ex-Sydney 139s, and along with sister 10W (138s), were the last Sydney trams in use as trams,outside of preservation. There is so, so much more to the nSW tramways than Sydney and the best-known lines, but I won't go into that tonight.
Brisbane was actually making a profit *(!)* prior to its closure in 1969. The tramway replacement buses - Leyland Panthers (which I loved as far as they looked and sounded good) - were largely paid for by the trams they killed off! Today, Brisbane has a good bus system but with no capped fares, and no plans for trams, only the Gold Coast having such luxuries.
And that’s why Melbourne became the events capital. We can host any event with ease & able to move the masses frequently.
Ballarat actually still haves their tram’s, but there’s only one tram line around the lake and I believe two or three stops around the lake Wendouree, and it’s kind-of a- joy ride tram. Now only two or three trams are left in Ballarat.
One of the best features and decisions made in Melbourne. Its massive and effective tram system brings money, shoppers, workers and tourists into the CBD and all its surrounding suburbs.
coolangatta is getting trams back again
Coolangatta never had trams. No place on the Gold Coast did.
But they will have when they extend the line to the airport
@@kings7man Yes. Eventually. But it's not "back again". They never had them.
At 7:32 this W-class seems to have different and more modern bogies. Remind me of the Czech Tatra T3 bogie or, for that matter, of a PCC type tram.
It’s PCC 980 - a one of a kind tram built in 1960 to test out modern tram equipment imported from the US (as used on their *PCC* streetcars). They never built any more PCC cars but used the equipment from it for a prototype Z class (PCC 1041). 980 is preserved at bylands. So yes you’re right, it is similar to a US PCC streetcar
Fascinating video very well made. Thanks 🙏🤩
Broken Hill N.S.W. had a steam tram service which had about 12 motors closing about late 1940's.
Trams are quite popular in Melbourne, mostly around the CBD. The layout of the tram routes are mostly all connected. Meaning you can hop onto on tram then get onto another very easily. Also considering that the CBD is increasing more free car zones, their usefulness increases. Plus when using the tram inside the CBD, it's free! And who doesn't love free travelling!
every time i unfortunately have to ride a bus i get violently motion sick, theres almost no room and the air is stale,
trams on the other hand i almost never get motion sickness, there is almost always room unless you are in the cbd in peak hour, and they either have aircon or ability to open the window
It still needs improvement such as extending lines and becoming more frquent. Extensions like route 19 to Fawkner/Gowrie or Campbellfield Plaza. Route 86 to South Morang/Mernda. Route 75 to Knox and so on...
Funny you say that as I just made a video about that!
I just love your videos. Thanks so much
Side note, I guess the Eastern Freeway will never get to proposed train down the middle, surely trams could go there instead.
when i was living in Melbourne i couldn't stand getting a tram from thornebury where i lived to the city because there were way to many stops and to slow. but when around the city they are great.
Living in Bundoora Melbourne, I agree.
It's better than any alternative, but there are changes to the network that need to be made. One in particular for this scenario is creating priority traffic conditions. The stops are not the problem I think, it's some of the lines which get slowed by car traffic. Easily fixed by removing the fucking parking on specific areas. Despite having a decent tram network, Naarm still has an obsessive car culture and PT is not anywhere close to being invested in properly approach to a large and growing city.
@@countessmargoth469 the line that goes passed thornebury was its own dedicated lane just has stops every 200m. thornebury was so close to the city in non peak hour times it was only 12bucks to get an uber and with me and my wife thats only a few bucks more then the tram and 3x faster. they need to remove 50% of the stops whats the point in having them every 200m
We had some great conductors working out of the Malvern Depot. I still to this day have no idea how one of them used to spin his hat on his head to entertain children.
in the end, it's not about the size of the location it's about the fact that the distance from other locations inside the area along with the connections.
if there's projected growth in the region and you have the ability to lay a tram track with road then it's best to lay the track with the road to save on costs and headache in the future, the worst thing that can come of it is that the place ends up delapedated and not a nice location to live, but at least the population has a way out and a method to get to and from work
There was talk that the Glenelg Tram line in Adelaide was to be replaced with the brilliant O-Bahn system that serves the North-eastern suburbs.
Unfortunately, the Glenelg tram line was refurbished and kept. If the line had been replaced with an O-Bahn then numerous bus routes could have had a free run from Adelaide to Glenelg rather than clogging up Anzac Hwy, the road that connects Adelaide and Glenelg. Buses serving suburbs other than Glenelg could have branched off along the O-Bahn to roads that intersected with Anzac Hwy.
If anyone visits Adelaide a ride on the brilliant O-Bahn is recommended.
The O-Bahn may be brilliant, but the tram to Glenelg is even more brilliant.
Melbourne's tram system is an example that should be followed by other cities around the world.
Fabulous video! Thank you!
Very interesting video . 8:42 "Citizen Tram" documentary was made by Crawford Productions around 1966 when I started at CP although I was not involved in its production. I knew the production crew. In the film "Mr Johnson" was played by Telford Jackson and the narrator was Bob Cornish. Here's a link to that video : ruclips.net/video/BPh-WCdO0sc/видео.html
Excellent Video
Kudos to Melbourne for saving its Tram network, but it shouldn't have only survived, it should have thrived and spread all over into outer suburbs. But car and oil companies had other ideas, so Melbourne opted for the American model of sprawling desolate suburbia and soul crushing freeways, and it continues to this day. We wonder why Melbourne with a population of over 5 million doesn't even have any type of rail link to its airport. Who can stand in the way when there's a dollar to be made?
But prior to Tullamarine Airport opening, the main airport at Essendon was serviced by tram. (I think the vision around 10:58 is of the terminus.) The tram still goes past Essendon airport and terminates at Airport West shopping center.
It does beg the question why the network's not been expanded, for a very long time.
@@Kevin-go2dw Yet since 1970 when Tullamarine Airport opened, this tram line hasn't been extended another 6 or 7km, most likely for the same reason the rail link via Sunshine is constantly delayed, opposition from freeway toll providers, carparks etc.
@@bjbolger There have been numerous proposals to extend over the years, but they never eventuate. Australia seems to follow the US model of sprawling suburbs, more freeways (with tolls) and road widenings, which can be built quickly but maintaining this type of infrastructure is costly in the long run and they're only a short-term solution since they only invite more traffic. However, someone has a vested interest in keeping people in cars.
I ain't catching a tram to visit family out in Pakenham, give me a freeway
St Petersberg in Russia still has a large tram network at over 200km however it has contracted from over 280km in the days of the USSR.
Kalgoorlie's tram network started in the early 1900s and the population in the 1920s was enough to sustain it when very few people has cars. The end was because many men did not return after WW2 combined with the advent of the car.
1:22 Bendigo still has trams. Where do you think Melbourne's city circle trams come from?
not for public transport
And no, the City Circle trams did not come from Bendigo. They've always been in Melbourne.
Having grown up in Hartwell (Camberwell) the suburb is serviced by 5 railway 🚉 stations and 3 seperate tram🚊routes..couldn't ask for anymore
using Melb trams for a pub crawl is Epic, 22 pots at 22 pubs is my record hic...................
If that fire hadn't happened then Brisbane probably wouldn't have gotten rid of there trams
as a Victorian I grew up with my father LOVING the trams and trains of Victoria, and as I grew up trams are incredibly convenient unlike busses that are a plague on society (buggers are never on time and drive like dragsters) and the best part is in the Melbourne CBD trams are free to ride sooooo suck it busses
Always impressed that Melbourne kept the trams, smart or luck who cares they are here.
You can add Pyongyang in North Korea to the list of cities with trams. PY was given a fleet of surplus old trams by Prague and a small network was created around PY. I visited the DPRK in 2015 and my tour group got to ride on a tram from a depot into the centre of the city.
Melbourne kept the tram system for one reason.
Henry Bolte was the premier of Victoria, and he expressed a hatred of diesel buses and would not allow the closure of the tram system.
All the other reasons are basically irrelevant,
Factually incorrect. Bolte hated the trams and wanted to close them. He couldn't because he did not have control of the Upper House, and THAT is the major reason the trams survived.
I am so grateful for the efforts of activists and politicians over the decades in Melbourne for keeping our trams in place
Alternate title: Why Melbourne isnt a far worse Adelaide !!!
We needed a Rissons in Auckland. The city fathers ripped out our trams in the 50s and replaced them with buses and motorways.
Trams are great in the inner city and on dedicated lines but I never liked them on the suburban streets as they stopped traffic too often. Ironically though this stop start effect actually calms the cars and probably helps with traffic flow in peak hours.
There definitely should be an effort to separate trams from cars on more lines and speed them up
Sydney is now re-introducing their Trams in select areas for Tourist rather than Transport requirements. 👀
I haven't gone on a tram in a long time
This article is not about you.
@@desfletch😂
In 1967 Australia chose the Melbourne trams to represent our way of life to the rest of the world on the telecast "Our World". England chose the Beatles....
Thank you for a fascinating story. Love my town and our trams
w class ✅✅✅
Melbourne wouldn't feel like Melbourne without the trams.
There is a bigger driver of the end of trams and that's WW2 civilian casualties. In WW2 those with boats got out first (fleeing Europe completely), those with cars got out next (avoiding the line of axis or allied advance), and those relying only on trams were trapped and died by the thousands often with huge losses at the end of the line. This was also true of those that were bicycle based. The US combat engineer units had to bury the huge piles of bodies. Those combat engineers went on to be city and highway planners after the war. There were conferences on how to effectively evacuate cities in a time of war and that in the 1950's meant nuclear war. Bicycles and trams were death traps; they could not out run modern war let alone an incoming nuclear attack or fallout. Wide highways and cars meant millions could flee in an hour with no government action. Studies of civilian casualties influenced and created the car culture, camping culture and the favoring of marinas everywhere. Armies did not fight for and thus destroy cul de sac streets so that was favored. T intersections were less damaged and had less fought over than + intersections so the former was favored. Highway bypasses meant war bypassed towns and cities leaving them intact. All this was studied, books published in the late 40's and 50's and acted on in the 1960's. Those cities that still had trams on VE day were the cities that war bypassed or were eastern European cities. The books were never translated into Russian or German from the English. Melbourne was never fought over and its city planners never served in Europe so Melbourne's system was unaffected. I'm strange I was studying fallout shelters and city evacuation plans when I was a teen in the 1970's. The oil industry was a minor player. The pentagon and a hundred parliaments were a far greater player. Engineering veterans societies were super pro car.
G'day! It's been three over years since I commented on your older tram video (back when I was still B set Aviation Fan 2021).
But, yea I haven't been to Melbourne on a trip, but again it's life.
But I did enjoy Sydney's transport system on the few times I have been there with family by train from Newy, and did take some train photos, blah blah blah.
Also, my grammar has been improved! So don't expect me to speak like a 12-year-old again.
You forgot that there’s a free tram that goes in a loop around the city of Melbourne. We call them the red trams.
2:31 Yes, my father used to call them mobile traffic jams :-)
I always see the trams in melbourne as part of the cities charms and character. Remove the trams and the city will lose a lot of what is is known for. I do street photograpy (hobby) in the city and the surrounding inner suburbs and the trams are usally a great subject to take photos.
And the tram network has proven through the years that it just works so well, that's why Melbourne host a lot of major sporting and entertainment events. I do hope that they expand the network though espcially in the west.
Closing the Sydney tram system was one thing but did they need to burn the trams?
GM and the Great Streetcar Conspiracy.
Basically destroyed about $100 Billion worth of tram network in Sydney.
The remake of the century
Adelaide's rail system sadly met the same fate as their tram system with 95 percent of the lines closing in the 80s. Adelaide's actually a good city for a interurban tram network.
You have to have at least two cities to make an interurban anything. South Australia really has only Adelaide. There's nowhere else to run to.
What are the 95% of Adelaide rail lines that were closed in the 1980's?
There is an extensive list of lines,
- Roseworthy to Peterborough
- Hamley bridge to gladstone
- Balaklava to moonta
- Kadina to Brinkworth
- Robertstown
- Truro
- Barmera
- Waikerie
- Peebinga
- Kingston SE - Naracoorte
- Northfield
- Penfield
- Hendon
- Peterborough - Quorn
- Central Australia
- ICI Osborne
that was a fantastic and very informative video, it’s so good that that guy in control of the trams with such a visionary, a vision that proved 100% spot on, if any government tried to get rid of Melbourne trams …..there……. would be a Civil War
I ❤ Melbourne 🚞
Plus manny of them tram still exists like at the new port work shop just waiting for something to happen to them
I feel this is missing major tram networks in Japan such as Hiroshima and Okayama
You left out the single most important reason: BOLTE DID NOT HAVE CONTROL OF THE UPPER HOUSE. That alone is the main reason Melbourne's trams survived. Yes, everything else you mentioned was a factor, but Bolte could not close the trams because the Upper House would block him. That is why Ballarat and Bendigo survived into the early 1970s, because several attempts to close those systems were blocked by the Upper House. When Bolte finally got control of the Upper House they were closed. Melbourne was going to be next, but by then it would have been political suicide to close the trams. Then Bolte was replaced by Hamer and so the trams survived, and construction of new trams and new tram lines resumed.
Bolte starved the MMTB of funds in the 1960s. Plenty of money for new bus services in Doncaster, nothing for trams. The MMTB was left to its own resources. When Bolte got into power Geelong closed, the VR trams to Brighton and Sandy closed, the order for 30 new trams was cancelled, plans for tram extensions were dropped. The MMTB closed Footscray and Point Ormond as a defensive tactic against Bolte, they were consolidating their resources to keep the tramway alive. It was a close call. If Bolte had the numbers, Melbourne's trams would be history.
because Melbourne has good sense
i thought public pressure saved the network. it looks was mostly like risson saved it.
I thought it was a strong union of drivers and associated people - but anywho
@@chuckbeggles8858 , i'm sure all those who were interested did their bit. that citizen tram movie was particularly convincing.
It was mostly because Bolte did not have control of the Upper House and could not close them.
@@AshleyReynolds-vc6ly , what?! the conservatives didnt control the upper house? in victoria in the 60's? omfg! well that would have saved the network.
Melbourne's tram network is the largest in the world when measured by the length of network (or the number of stops).
It's not the largest as measured by the number of trams nor the ridership. In both those cases, it's the seventh largest.
Why But HOW did keep keep it ?
Major General Sir Robert Risson convinced the Powers That Be, that Melbourne had "a good thing." In 1955 the Bourke St lines re-opened, now as electric, and Melbourne was given the Right to host the 1956 Olympics, but really only because they had the tram system to move the people around. Today I have been on a D2 class tram with around 200 people on it after an event at AAMI Park, and the tram moves away just as easily as if it was empty, and empties all its passengers out in Flinders St in around one minute! No bus can do that!
I'm not really one for conspiracy theories BUT one must question, with regard to Adelaide's tram system, how come its demise coincided with the establishment of the General Motors-Holden plant at Elizabeth , and the surge in private motor car use. Check out the documentary "The GM Conspiracy"
Keep the trams!!
Bendigo still has its trams working as of 2025
Not for regular public transport purposes though
As a Sydneysider, its crazy to think of all the billions of taxpayer dollars that could have been saved by keeping our tram network instead of ripping it all up and later starting again from scratch - especially given how terrible Sydney’s buses are.
Main reason Melbourne kept its trams one man my idol sir Robert risson chairman of the MMTB 1949-1970 he was the right man in the right position in the right time, he believed in trams loved trams and fought like a warrior for their retention in Melbourne he believed in modernization/upgrading and extending the tramways in Melbourne he was their at the time when many other cities around the world and Australia were removing their trams for so called progress in the form of replacement buses except for the Victorian railways trams point Ormond and footscray system which closed every tramline was upgraded and set in concrete and duplicated where need be. today's generation of people probably wouldn't know about Robert Risson he should be taught in history classes at school as to why Melbourne never lost its trams, proof of the pudding is that cities all around the world are reintroducing trams and cities that never had them are introducing them as well. sir Robert fought the media and road lobby who wanted trams removed from Melbourne streets he never backed down and counter acted every argument put forward for their removal I will continue with more as page has run out
Smart move, Melbourne.
Trams need a overhaul asap like follow the speed limit
The speed limit in the central city of Melbourne looks about walking speed, so your point is??
What's the rush? We could all slow down a bit and smell the roses. If you need to get somewhere and find the tram too slow you can always leave home earlier.
40 kmh in the city, no more than 60 anywhere else. It's not what *you* think! The reality is that trams _should_ be sped up, and given better priority in traffic. That much doesn't happen as it should.
Trams are much more energy-efficient than diesel buses, and as fossil fuel supplies dwindle and their cost escalates, trams and trains that are powered by solar, wind and hydro electricity will be the preferred method of urban transport. Melbourne already has such a system in place.
Adelaide is perfect for radial inner suburban trams. Why the proposals of 2013 were shelved is due to a bunch of triggered nimbys who live regression not progress