“Virtually very city and town in America of more than 2,500 people had its own electric rail system.”

TomPaine.com:

in 1921, GM lost $65 million, leading Sloan to conclude that the auto market was saturated, that those who desired cars already owned them, and that the only way to increase GM’s sales and restore its profitability was by eliminating its principal rival: electric railways.

At the time, 90 percent of all trips were by rail, chiefly electric rail; only one in 10 Americans owned an automobile. There were 1,200 separate electric street and interurban railways, a thriving and profitable industry with 44,000 miles of track, 300,000 employees, 15 billion annual passengers, and $1 billion in income. Virtually every city and town in America of more than 2,500 people had its own electric rail system.

…By threatening to divert lucrative automobile freight to rival carriers, they persuaded the railroad (according to GM’s own files) to convert its electric street cars to motor buses — slow, cramped, foul-smelling vehicles whose inferior performance invariably led riders to purchase automobiles.

Here’s how the story is told at the National Museum of American History, in an exhibit sponsored by General Motors:

Buses began replacing trolleys in the 1910s. Many commuters considered buses a modern, comfortable, even luxurious replacement for rickety, uncomfortable trolleys. Buses made business sense for transit companies; they were more flexible and cheaper to run than streetcars. In a few cities, auto and auto-supply companies, including General Motors, Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, and Standard Oil of California, bought an interest in transit companies and encouraged the conversion from streetcar to bus. But many cities made the choice to switch without this influence, and by 1937, 50 percent of the U.S. cities that had public transit were served by buses alone.

Most importantly, Americans chose another alternative—the automobile. The car became the commuter option of choice for those who could afford it, and more people could do so.

Close Call for Union Station

I did not know this. Via ULI:

By the late 1970s, Union Station had fallen into such a state of seediness that some in Congress were advocating tearing it down…But Union Station did not succumb to the wrecker’s ball as many feared. The dire situation awakened citizens groups, public and private constituents, and even Congress, which, with its budgeting and oversight responsibilities, had been part of the problem.

War on Transit

Switchboard on “the worst transportation bill ever”:

By essentially waging war on public transportation, House Republicans are bent on scuttling the 30-year old deal forged by President Reagan. Their bill would take the transit account –- now renamed the “alternative transportation account” — out of the transportation trust fund and throw it into the general fund. This will add $40-billion-dollars to the budget deficit, unless some unspecified offsets are found. It’s a shell game, and worse, it drives a dagger into the backs of millions of commuters (city-dwellers and suburbanites) who ride transit.