Yep, they were slow and inconvenient. You had to wait approximately 5 minutes for a street car in Detroit during rush hour and maybe 30 minutes at 4am. They were packed with riders right up to the day they stopped running. Cost you a dime to go anywhere in the city and back. But then you would rather believe something on Internet than someone who was there, though just a kid.
I have no idea if GM/ESSO had any thing to do with the demise of the Los Angeles street car system, I would imagine that city was just growing so fast they could not afford to maintain the infrastructure and expand it as need at the same time. But they sure did in Detroit. The management company that was set up by them sold the cars to Mexico City, tore out all the tracks, and demolished the service facility (can not think of the correct term at the moment) out at Michigan Ave and Wyoming in record time. The story is they managed to do the same in most cities that had surface street railway systems, it was harder to sell in cities with subways and els that did not restrict auto traffic, and had a far more expensive infrastructures.
graywolf http://www.graywolfphoto.com "Idiot Proof" <==> "Expert Proof" -----------------------------------
Mark Roberts wrote:
Graywolf <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Frantisek wrote:
I heard that it was a big lobby of GM and other bus/gas makers for the naphta buses against trolleys and streetcars... unfortunately successful in most US cities. Glad it is a bit better in Canada.
It was not a lobby it was a scam by GM and ESSO. It worked. They got fined millions, but made billions.
Old urban legend: http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_335.html
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