Ballarat once operated an extensive tram

Tram

A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...

way system between 1887 and 1971 when the network was closed and replaced with buses. A small section of track and depot remains at outside of the Ballarat CBD at Lake Wendouree

Lake Wendouree

Lake Wendouree is an artificially-created and maintained shallow urban lake located in the suburb of the same name in the city of Ballarat, Victoria, Australia...

 near the Ballarat Botanic Gardens with tourist trams run by the Ballarat Tramway Museum.

History

The city maintained a horse tram

Tram

A tram is a passenger rail vehicle which runs on tracks along public urban streets and also sometimes on separate rights of way. It may also run between cities and/or towns , and/or partially grade separated even in the cities...

way system from 1887 until 1909 when they were replaced by electric trams operated by the Electric Supply Company of Victoria.

At its peak, the Ballarat network included seven main routes some of which shared the same sections of track:

• Victoria Street
• Mount Pleasant
• Drummond Street
• Sturt Street West
• Sebastopol
• Lydiard Street
• View Point

The operation was mostly running recycled rolling stock from Melbourne and Adelaide with a wide variety of tram models in service.

In September 1971, tram services were replaced by buses. A short section of track continues at the western end of Lake Wendouree

Wendouree, Victoria

Wendouree is a large suburb on the north western rural-urban fringe of the City of Ballarat, in Victoria, Australia. It is the most populated suburb in urban Ballarat with a total of 10,752 inhabitants counted at the 2006 Census....

 as a museum line operated by the Ballarat Tramway Museum.

In recent times there have been several proposals put to the City of Ballarat

City of Ballarat

The City of Ballarat is a Local Government Area in Victoria, Australia around Ballarat. It is located in the western part of the state. It has an area of 740 square kilometres. In 2001 it had a population of 81,000...

 to reinstate sections of light rail

Light rail

Light rail or light rail transit is a form of urban rail public transportation that generally has a lower capacity and lower speed than heavy rail and metro systems, but higher capacity and higher speed than traditional street-running tram systems...

to service key tourist routes and replace high usage bus services, however these plans have been put on hold indefinitely.