A team of researchers from four universities argues that the privatisation of Melbourne’s trams and trains has been an expensive failure. By June 2006, the privatised system will have cost $1.2 billion more in public subsidies than continued operation by the former Public Transport Corporation. They propose that the state government should replace the franchise agreements with a new public transport agency modelled on the very best in the world, such as those in Vancouver, Zurich or even Perth, and make detailed recommendations about the best way of establishing a dynamic, efficient, accountable public body to spend the annual $1.2 billion budget.