Melbourne, at the time trams were laid, was a rich city at the forefront of future technology, awash with money from the Victorian Goldfields.
Before Hollywood Melbourne had the worlds single largest film production studio, turning out 300 films in 18 years and supporting an ecology of smaller film producers and the first feature length film ( before the US KKK offering ).
Trams were bleeding edge tech, laid out with foresight, and well maintained and extended over a century.
With the post 1970s example of the Koch Brother funded US think tanks pushing fuel consumption and freedom, blocking public transport development, and spinning climate FUD (yes, that early in history) the case might be made that the US public was led by vested media and { bribed | "generously supported" } public officials making policy decisions.
Digging back further would probably reveal that Standard Oil et al. were also investing big in shaping opinion.
It's wise to be wary of big money shaping opinion towards that which brings them more profit, it's not automatically a good thing to be guided by an opaque hand.
It's only in modern hindsight that the cities who stuck with their old things and improved on them over time got the last laugh.