Operated by Yarra Trams, the route is coloured yellow and extends from Bundoora RMIT to Waterfront City over 22.2-kilometre (13.8 mi) of double track via Reservoir, Preston, Thornbury, Northcote, Clifton Hill, Collingwood, Fitzroy, East Melbourne and Bourke Street.

[1][2][3] A second line, which was a continuation of this line, was built privately by a group of Northcote land speculators, which ran from near the MTOC terminus, across the bridge, up High Street, to Miller Street/Dundas Street, the boundary between Northcote and Preston, which opened on opened on 18 February 1890.

At the end of the MTOC lease in 1916, the State Government took control of their system, vesting them into the Melbourne & Metropolitan Tramways Board (MMTB) on 1 November 1919, which then absorbed all the municipal systems, including the Northcote cable car line, on 20 February 1920.

[4] It operated until 26 October 1940, when the Bourke Street cable lines were abandoned in favour of double decker buses.

[19][20][21][22][23] On 4 May 2003, the route was slightly extended to the south to terminate at Central Pier parallel to Harbour Esplanade.

It then crosses Merri Creek, continuing along Queens Parade Clifton Hill, heading south-west, turning south into Smith Street passing between Fitzroy and Collingwood.

[38] A possible extension of the route has been proposed to run from the current terminus up Plenty Road and Bush Boulevard to South Morang Station then around The Lakes Boulevard before turning back onto Plenty Road to Hawkstowe station.

This would replace multiple bus routes and give a direct link from the University to South Morang station.