The Transport Act received the royal assent on 23 June 1983 and commenced on 1 July of that year.
The act initially contained a suite of provisions affecting trains and trams, buses, taxis and hire cars and tow trucks.
The main schemes which remain relate to taxi and hire car regulation, the only substantial area of Victorian transport regulation not to be contained in a discrete statute, and provisions relating to compliance and enforcement in safety areas and affecting public transport ticketing and conduct.
The new Act merged the State Transport Authority and the Metropolitan Transit Authority to establish a new organisation, the Public Transport Corporation, to manage train, tram and bus operations in metropolitan and regional areas of Victoria.
Other major organisational changes occurred after 1989 including the establishment of the office of the Director of Public Transport and the abolition of the Public Transport Corporation as well as the creation of discrete and special purpose organisations such as VicTrack and V/Line.