Prior to the tranvia, modes of street transportation in Manila were mostly horse-drawn, consisting of the calesa, the lighter carromata, and the fancy caruaje.

[2] The tranvia served as the first railway transport to run in the Philippines, as in its earliest years the Ferrocarril de Manila–Dagupan are in its planning stages.

Overall, the tramway provided a cheap, safe, and convenient means of transport within the city until the ouster of the Spanish regime by the US when tram services dwindled in maintenance and capacity.

In the following year, a commission that called for franchise bids in operating a streetcar system alongside management of electricity was passed by five Americans and three Filipinos on October 20, 1902, known as Act No.

[6] In 1905, the concession purchased both open and closed Type 2 Convertible streetcars from J. G. Brill Company to replace the German-built locomotives and bilevel cars of the early Tranvia.

[11] In 1913, under Swift's other franchise of "Manila Suburban Railway", a 9.8 km (6.1 mi) extension line that ran from Paco to Fort Mckinley and Pasig began operation.

As the popular power for land-based transport at that time, the secretary wrote that the Spanish tramway company was plagued with eccentric problems, mostly concerning the horses that pull the light rail coaches.

The company designs and produces its own rolling stock in its workshops, and the maximum fleet of electricity-powered streetcars reached a total of 170 in 1924.

Meralco also tinkered with trackless trolley buses, which subsequently replaced the streetcars plying Calle Santa Mesa between Rotonda and the San Juan Bridge.

At the Malabon Line, the earliest services begin 5:30 a.m. and end at 7:30 p.m. from Tondo; trips from Malabon were from 6:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m., a schedule met every hour at mornings, and every half-hour beginning at 1:30 p.m.[17] As the aftermath of the Filipino uprising and the American conquest, the tranvia was left in a poor state; in 1902, only ten horse-drawn cars service for a day.

[14][4] Thus, ownership was passed under the Manila Electric, Rail, and Light Authority as Charles Swift won the bid for the streetcar operation.

In 1920, a five-year reconstruction program was undertaken for the 15-year old tramway, where newer streetcars are designed and manufactured by the company workshops; by 1924, the fleet consists of around 170 cars.

[6] Complementing Meralco's transportation businesses, autobuses are added in services as a streetcar system expansion was deemed "not economically viable".

Some of the remains of the tracks that used to be part of the tranvia system can be located at the intersection of Recto Avenue and Dagupan Extension near the old Tutuban Railway station.

In 2019, a consortium led by Greenergy Holdings Inc. aimed to invest an amount close to $500 million in building a tram system along 10 km (6.2 mi) of the service road on Roxas Boulevard.