The Public Transport Corporation (PTC) was a

Victoria State Government The Victoria State Government, also referred to as just the Victorian Government, is the state-level authority for Victoria, Australia. Like all state governments, it is formed by three independent branches: the executive, the judicial, and t ...

owned statutory authority formed under the

Transport Act 1983 The Transport Act 1983 (the Act) was the main statute establishing government transport organisations and regulating land transport activities in the State of Victoria, Australia for 27 years from mid-1983 to mid-2010. The Act was used as the veh ...

which operated passenger and freight trains, trams and bus services. The PTC was also responsible for directly operating some bus services and procuring bus services from private operators. It was established on 1 July 1989 as a result of the passage and commencement of the Transport (Amendment) Act 1989 to manage the responsibilities of the State Transport Authority and the Metropolitan Transit Authority. In suburban

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a me ...

it continued to be referred to by the MTA's nickname of ''The Met,'' while in regional Victoria it operated as

V/Line V/Line is a statutory authority that operates regional passenger train and coach services in Victoria, Australia. It provides passenger train services on five commuter lines and eight long-distance routes from its major hub at Southern Cross ...

. The operational rail and tram activities of the PTC were

franchised Franchise may refer to: Business and law * Franchising, a business method that involves licensing of trademarks and methods of doing business to franchisees * Franchise, a privilege to operate a type of business such as a cable television p ...

in 1999 by the Kennett Government through the intermediary of a new agency, the

Director of Public Transport The Director of Public Transport (also referred to as the Director, or the DPT) was the head of the Public Transport Division (PTD) of the Victorian Department of Transport. PTD was the government agency responsible for promoting, providing, ...

, a statutory office within the

Department of Transport The Department for Transport (DfT) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for the English transport network and a limited number of transport matters in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland that have not been devolved. The ...

. The director was required to enter into franchise agreements with private rail and tram companies for the on-the-ground delivery of public transport services. The land and infrastructure assets of the Public Transport Corporation were transferred to another new agency,

VicTrack VicTrack, the trading name of Victorian Rail Track Corporation, is a Victorian Government state-owned enterprise which owns all railway and tram lines, associated rail lands and other rail-related infrastructure in the state of Victoria, Austr ...

, who then leased those assets to the Director of Public Transport, which in turn sub-leased the assets to the private operators.

Formation

The Public Transport Corporation was initially established under changes made to the

by the Transport (Amendment) Act 1989. The statutory changes abolished the former State Transport Authority and Metropolitan Transit Authority thereby creating the Public Transport Corporation in its place. The functions of the PTC were an

amalgamation Amalgamation is the process of combining or uniting multiple entities into one form. Amalgamation, amalgam, and other derivatives may refer to: Mathematics and science * Amalgam (chemistry), the combination of mercury with another metal ** Pan am ...

of those of its two predecessors. The green and gold livery on vehicles was retained, though with a new double arrow logo. The PTC was subject to the control and general direction of the former Director-General of Transport initially and then later to the Secretary to the Department of Transport and, ultimately, the Minister for Transport. A 14-member Public Transport Corporation Board was appointed by the Minister to provide advice to the Chief Executive of the PTC.

Demise

Franchising of the PTC commenced under the Kennett Government of the 1990s. Privatisation began with some of the bus operations in December 1993.

was split into Passenger and Freight divisions, with the latter sold outright. ''The Met'' was divided into Bayside Trains, Hillside Trains, Swanston Trams and

Yarra Trams Yarra Trams is the trading name of the operator of the tram network in Melbourne, Australia, which is owned by VicTrack and leased to Yarra Trams by the Victorian Department of Transport. The current franchise is operated by Keolis Downer. As ...

from October 1997 and these along with V/Line's passenger operations passed to the private sector in August 1999. These separate bodies were all franchised separately as follows: *

Doncaster East Doncaster East is a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, 20 km east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the City of Manningham local government area. Doncaster East recorded a population of 30,926 at the 2021 ...

Fitzroy North Fitzroy North is an inner-city suburb in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, north-east of Melbourne's Central Business District, located within the Cites of Merri-bek and Yarra local government areas. Fitzroy North recorded a population of ...

bus depots → 1993 National Bus Company → 2013

Transdev Melbourne Transdev Melbourne was a bus operator in Melbourne, Australia, that operated the Melbourne Bus Franchise with a fleet of 534 buses on 49 bus routes from August 2013 until January 2022. It operated approximately 30% of Melbourne's bus network. I ...

→ 2022

Kinetic Melbourne Kinetic Melbourne is a bus operator in Melbourne, Australia, operating a fleet of 531 buses on 43 bus routes, as well as seven SmartBus routes. It commenced operations on 31 January 2022, taking over all routes previously operated by Transdev M ...

* Footscray &

Sandringham Sandringham can refer to: Places * Sandringham, New South Wales, Australia * Sandringham, Queensland, Australia * Sandringham, Victoria, Australia **Sandringham railway line **Sandringham railway station **Electoral district of Sandringham * Sand ...

bus depots → 1998

Melbourne Bus Link Melbourne Bus Link was an Australian bus and coach operator in Melbourne. It was a Melbourne bus company that operated nine bus routes under contract to the Public Transport Victoria. Melbourne Bus Link ceased operations on 3 August 2013. Hi ...

→ 2013

→ 2022

* V/Line Freight → 1999

Freight Victoria Freight Australia was an Australian railway company that purchased the V/Line Freight business from the Government of Victoria in 1999. Initially known as Freight Victoria, it operated rail freight services and controlled non-urban rail track in ...

→ 2004

Pacific National Pacific National is one of Australia's largest rail freight businesses. History In February 2002, National Rail's freight operations and rollingstock (owned by the Federal, New South Wales and Victorian Governments) were combined with Freig ...

* V/Line Passenger → 1999

National Express National Express Group is a British multinational public transport company headquartered in Birmingham, England. It operates bus, coach, train and tram services in the United Kingdom, Ireland (National Express operates Eurolines in conjunction ...

→ 2002 State Government, receivers appointed → 2003 State Government * Bayside Trains → 1999

( M>Train) → 2002 State Government, receivers appointed → 2004

Connex Melbourne Connex Melbourne was a train operator in Melbourne, Australia. Formed in October 1997 as Hillside Trains, a business unit of the Public Transport Corporation, it was privatised in August 1999 becoming a subsidiary of Connex. In April 2004, it ...

→ 2009

Metro Trains Melbourne Metro Trains Melbourne, often known simply as Metro, is the franchise operator of the electrified suburban passenger service on the Melbourne rail network. Metro Trains Melbourne is a joint venture between Hong Kong-based MTR Corporation (6 ...

* Hillside Trains → 1999

→ 2009

* Swanston Trams → 1999

( M>Tram) → 2002 State Government, receivers appointed → 2004

TransdevTSL TransdevTSL, formerly MetroLink, was a 50/50 joint venture between the old Transdev and Transfield Services that operated trams in Melbourne, ferries in Brisbane and buses in Sydney. The joint venture was dissolved in December 2010 when Transf ...

→ 2009

Keolis Downer Keolis Downer is a joint venture between Keolis, the largest private sector French transport group, and Downer Rail, an Australian railway engineering company, that operates bus and tram services in Australia. History In June 2009, the Victor ...

→ 1999

→ 2009

The remaining functions of the corporation were transferred to

Metlink Metlink was the marketing body and umbrella brand for public train, tram and bus transport operators in Melbourne, Australia. On 2 April 2012, the operations of Metlink were transferred to the newly created public transport planning and manage ...

, later Public Transport Victoria.

Formation

Demise

References

See also