They are free, don't emit fumes, reduce pedestrian numbers on the sidewalk and get you where you need to go quickly. Hook turn laws work well to make sure traffic doesn't get in their way.
We still have an underground train loop and the trams help reduce congestion in there as well.
> They are free
In the free tram zone, sure, which is an area of less than 2 by 3 km. The longest tram route is 23 km long.
But yeah, I feel like they do their best work in the CBD.
There are some examples that come to mind of trams I don't like. The tram that goes down Toorak rd is a huge nuisance, mostly due to how the council has mismanaged that road.
There are two lanes. That tram shares the right lane with cars and cars are allowed to park on the left lane. It completely bottlenecks the road - probably its intended purpose so people pay for Citylink bypass.