Perth could soon be home to Australia's first trackless tram, ferrying hundreds of passengers to Scarborough beach.

It would replace buses on the popular route, creating jobs and slashing emissions.

It's not a bus or a train - the trackless tram takes the best elements of both and combines them into an electric, silent, fast moving machine, capable of carrying hundreds of passengers at once.

“Everybody will jump on board when they see it because it's fantastic,” Sustainability expert Peter Newman told 7News.

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It's part of a long term project between five councils, but the City of Stirling is ready to start now.

“We're the only local government who's got the planning in place to achieve trackless trams down a corridor,” City of Stirling Mayor Mark Irwin told 7News.

Th plan is to run the trackless tram from Glendalough Station along Scarborough Beach road, past the Innaloo shops, through Doubleview and down to Scarborough beach.

It proposed project gained traction after the Commonwealth called on local governments to fast track transport projects.

So Stirling has asked them to cover the $97 million dollar cost.

Mayor Irwin believes the project will make money because it's permanent and “gets more people to invest along that corridor.”

If the Commonwealth approves the project’s funding, work could start as early as this year.

"The roads have already been seeded ready for widening. We need a business case, that would take about six weeks, then we'd be ready to start,” Mayor Irwin said.

“We welcome their initiative and their approach to the federal government and it's very much what we would like to see in the future,” Planning and Transport Minister Rita Saffioti said.