Since December 2024, the current franchise is operated by Yarra Journey Makers, a joint venture of Transdev and John Holland.

With 250 km (155.3 mi) of double track, Melbourne's tram network is the largest in the world.

[11] The joint venture inherited 23 W, 31 Z3, 28 A1, 42 A2, two B1 and 55 B2 class trams, and took over the operation of 10 routes and four depots: Camberwell, East Preston, Kew and Southbank.

[12][13] In March 2000 a new white with green and blue stripes and grey skirt livery was introduced.

[14] After National Express, which operated the other half of the network, handed back its M>Tram franchise, having been unable to renegotiate revised financial terms, the State Government temporarily took it over.

In February 2004, an agreement was reached, and the networks were reunited on 18 April 2004 under the Yarra Trams brand.

[23] Keolis Downer introduced a new Yarra Trams logo, along with a new livery featuring yellow doors.

[36] Heritage W-class trams run solely on the City Circle tourist service.

This resulted in a higher capacity for standing passengers on crowded services during peak hours.

If a passenger begins and ends their journey completely within the zone 1/2 overlap, they can touch off to receive a slightly lower fare.

Touching off on a zone 1 journey is both redundant and may cause delay or inconvenience to other passengers and the tram networks 'on time' performance.

In July 2005, a 3 km (1.9 mi) extension of route 75 from Burwood East to Vermont South opened.

[39] The 18 km (11.1 mi) extension would serve Chadstone, Monash University, Waverley Park and Rowville.

In conjunction with the Victorian government several initiatives are in place to enable trams to better meet punctuality targets.

Part-time tram lanes are used often only during peak hours, with an example of this being on High Street along the route 6.

[45] In addition, the Transport Integration Act establishes VicTrack which owns the public rail network and associated infrastructure.