the tramway was a subsidiary of the british electric traction and services begun on 31 october 1902. in early 1898, three companies had applied for local tramway systems, the barnsley corporation applied in 1900 for a larger network than it finally built. in 1913, the company began to run motor buses to hoyland and other points, electric was dropped form the company name in 1919. the barnsley company changed its name to yorkshire traction co. in 1928 and abandoned tramway operation in 1930.