[5] The project of the short tramway was born on the initiative of the Genoese entrepreneur Emanuele Balestreri, owner of the Ponte a Moriano jute factory.

[12] Primary use of the line was the transport of goods and workers to Balestreri's factory, whose ownership controlled the tram operating company which was named "Tranvia Lucchese".

Balestreri died a few months later and in 1900 the company Manifattura Italiana di Juta was established in Genoa, which took over the site in Ponte a Moriano including the operation of the tramway.

[8] Owing to both the political atmosphere of the time and as well as changes to the legislative structure concerning the concessions of the railway facilities, the factory, no longer interested in the operation of the tramway ceded ownership of the same to the Consorzio Trasporti Pubblici (CTS), based in Rome, on 1 January 1924.

4 Lucca built by Henschel & Son in 1895, was acquired in used-condition by Manifattura Italiana Juta from the Società Anonima dei Tramways di Torino.