This proved so popular, especially on hot summer nights, that the trams were used as fundraisers and often chartered right up until the last service by social groups.

The exceptions to this arrangement were on the Gardens line (Lower Edward Street) where the short duration of the trip meant it was more effective for passengers to simply drop their fare into a fare box as they entered the tram; and the "one man cars" which operated in the early 1930s (see below).

Despite the decision to shut down the network, Brisbane's trams were held with great affection by locals, and one commentator described their removal "one of the most appalling urban planning mistakes in the city’s history".

[1] In the early years of Brisbane's settlement walking was the most convenient way to get around as most people choose to live close to their workplace.

[1] In 1875, the railway line to Ipswich opened up some areas in western and southern districts, however fares were expensive, as was owning a horse.

[1] Omnibuses consisted of a strongly constructed wooden wagon with seating for males on the roof and a back-door entrance to the interior.

The opening ceremony was attended by the Lord Mayor of Brisbane, William Jolly, and two Members of the Queensland Legislative Assembly, James Stevingstone Kerr and Charles Taylor.

[3] Urban development, often well away from public transport, the rise of suburban shopping centres and the relative decline in the cost of motorcars meant that as elsewhere, Brisbane's public street transport system increasingly had to compete with the private motor car and patronage slowly declined from a post war peak of 148 million passenger journeys in 1946, to approximately 64 million passenger journeys in 1968.

Photographs of this last tram ride, organised by Grahame Garner and other tramways workers are in the University of Queensland Fryer Library collection.

Most older, wooden trams were stripped of metal parts and then burnt at the City Council's yard at Cribb Street, Milton (adjacent to the tramway workshops).

In 2007, following several failed road and tunnel projects and based on the recommendations of the Brisbane City Council's 2006 CBD masterplan, Premier Peter Beattie announced $250 million of state government funding for an extensive light rail system to rival Melbourne's and significantly larger than those of Sydney or Adelaide.

The plan, at the centre of the government's "Smart City" plan, was to link South Brisbane to New Farm and Bowen Hills with future extensions down the newly created South Eastern and Inner Northern Busways, bridges and pedestrian spines.

[15] However, by June 2008 progress had stalled, without an official project announcement, the Brisbane City Council once again distancing itself from the plan due to cost of the investment (estimated at $600 million for the New Farm link) and instead giving consideration of diverting the funds to enhancing the bus and CityCat ferry systems.

[16] Unlike many other systems, Brisbane never adopted an alphabetical or numerical system for classifying its trams (cf Melbourne trams), preferring instead to use official descriptions, such as "standard centre aisle car", or "drop-centre saloon car".

Delivery of early combination cars was delayed and as a result the tramway company decided to convert many of the horse tram to electric operation, as a temporary expedient.

In later years these workhorses were very dilapidated and had diagonal cross bracing on each bulkhead to reduce body sway.

One tram was involved in a bad accident in 1944 and was converted to centre aisle design (see Special Dreadnoughts).

The tram in the foreground is a 12 window Dreadnought (built by the Tramways Trust), still with seats on its end platforms and no streamlining.

Tram 100 was built in 1903 as the Tramway Company Manager's personal "Palace" car, fitted with carpets, plush seat covers and further interior decorations.

Tram 101 was built in 1899 originally with no solid roof, just a canvas awning suspended from a lightweight frame.

It was unusual for a Brill stepless car in that it was partially made of timber, rather than the normal all-metal construction.

For this reason these trams had a distinctive colour scheme which included red and white diamonds on their front aprons.

Sometimes called "small centre-aisle" or "single truck saloon" cars, the 6 trams in this class were built primarily for the hilly Spring Hill route.

Officially called "bogie drop centre combination cars", (usually shortened to "dropcentre" or "droppie") these trams' distinctive drop centre compartment was open to the elements, with only canvas blinds to provide protection for passengers in cold or wet weather.

Subsequently, many of the older cars in this class were retrofitted with airbrakes and had their rheostatic braking systems removed.

Prior to World War II tram drivers (or motormen) and conductors wore a dark blue uniform including a serge jacket, which was subsequently replaced with a lighter cotton blouson.

Today, many all-stops bus routes (shown in italics) roughly correspond with the former tram lines.

As the tramway company increased both the number of trams and the length of routes, the power supply rapidly became inadequate.

With the takeover of the system in 1922 by the Brisbane Tramways Trust (and subsequently the City Council) considerable investment was made in many areas including power generation and distribution.

A larger powerhouse was built in New Farm which commenced generation in 1928 and was sufficient for both the needs of the tram system and other consumers.