[3] Patronage was also slumping, while the MMTB was facing labour shortages and an ageing rolling stock.
[2][3] Kirby also said that "Melbourne is geographically suited to trams, and we have 134 route miles of double track, all in excellent condition.
"[12] Kirby lobbied the Hamer Government to order trams,[13] and succeeded, with PCC 1041 (a prototype inspired from a 1965 European fact-finding mission Kirby had been on[10]) entering service (but failing upon launch due to poor electrical equipment, which had been reused from an older prototype PCC 980) in April 1973.
[4][6][16] MMTB debts soared, with financial responsibility, through subsidies, falling on the State Government.
[6] This also transferred much decision making power, including the ordering of new trams and buses, out of the hands of the MMTB and into the Government.