The Great American Streetcar Scandal , also known as the General Motors tram conspiracy, is a conspiracy theory according to which the US tram network was replaced by buses in the mid-20th century as a result of holding companies such as National City Lines, Pacific City Lines and American City Lines. These companies were founded by a cartel of companies, which, in addition to General Motors, included Firestone Tire , Standard Oil of California and Phillips Petroleum .
For a conspiracy to buy buses only to General Motors , General Motors was fined only $ 5,000, and each leader - $ 1.
“From 1945 to 1954, 9 million people moved to live in the suburbs . In total, from 1950 to 1976, the number of Americans living in large cities increased by 10 million, and in the suburbs - by 85 million. By 1976, more Americans lived in the suburbs than in large cities or in the countryside ” [1] .
In 2003, road transport in the United States accounted for 5.4% of global energy demand [2] .
In 2005, the average American drives a car almost twice as much a day as in 1982 [3] .
In early 2012, Washington Mayor Vincent Gray announced that the first tram line will appear in the city in 2013 (trams operated in the US capital until 1962. At that time, the total length of tram tracks in the city was over 320 km.) Tram traffic was resumed in 2015 year.
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Other explanations for the decline of public transport
Randal O'Toole claims that trams disappeared as a result of the invention of internal combustion engines and an increase in the number of personal cars and buses. In those days, almost every American city with a population of more than 10 thousand people had at least one tram company. At the same time, 95% of tram systems were privately owned [4] .
Robert C. Post wrote that in the country, a possible conspiracy could affect no more than 10% of all tram systems. Despite the fact that the remaining 90% also got rid of trams, as it also happened in England and France [5] .
Cliff Slater in his conclusion on the history of public transport in the United States noted that buses would supposedly replace trams, regardless of a possible plot of General Motors. And, most likely, this would have happened even earlier if there had been no regulatory influence of the government. [6] . Although the tram was partially replaced by the subway in major European cities, in the United States, mainly buses replaced it due to the interests of General Motors. Due to rising tariffs and the subsequent decline in demand, public transport in many cities in the United States has lost its former value. The “Big American Tram Scandal,” along with the continued lack of government investment in transport infrastructure, is considered one of the main reasons for the underdeveloped urban public transport in the United States. In the early 2000s, the process of restoring tram traffic in cities began, where it had previously been eliminated. New lines were built in Washington, Detroit and many other large cities, and by 2025 it is planned to build a tram line in New York (Brooklyn - Queens).
Reconditioned US Tram Systems
- In 2001, a tramway was opened in Portland. [9]
- In 2007, tram traffic in Seattle was resumed. [9]
- In 2013, the tram returned to the streets of Salt Lake City. [9]
- In 2014, the tram in Atlanta was resumed. The movement was previously closed in 1949.
- In 2014, a tram service was launched in Tucson. [9]
- In 2015, traffic was restored in Washington DC. Tram stopped working since 1962
- In 2016, traffic in Dallas was restored. [9]
- In 2016, the tramway in Cincinnati was resumed. [9]
- 2016 - Tramway in Kansas City opened. The movement was previously stopped on June 23, 1957.
- In 2017, the tram returned to the streets of Detroit. The tram operated until 1956.
- In 2018, the tram service was launched in Milwaukee , where the tram was closed in 1958. [7] [8]
- November 8, 2018 - Tram launched in El Paso.
Notes
- ↑ Progress in Western Europe began with a collar
- ↑ Energy Efficiency Bet Archived February 27, 2010 on Wayback Machine
- ↑ AmericaRU.com news agency
- ↑ Randal O'Toole. "A Desire Named Streetcar: How Federal Subsidies Encourage Wasteful Local Transit Systems" . the CATO Institute . Archived March 1, 2012.
- ↑ Post, Robert C. Urban Mass Transit: The Life Story of a Technology . - Greenwood Publishing Group, 2007. - ISBN 9780313339165 .
- ↑ Cliff Slater, “General Motors and the Demise of Streetcars” Archived on April 25, 2012. , Transportation Quarterly, Vol. 51. No. 3 Summer 1997 (45-66)
- ↑ Photo: Milwaukee - Old Photos - TransPhoto . transphoto.ru. Date of appeal October 30, 2018.
- ↑ Milwaukee - TransPhoto transphoto.ru. Date of appeal October 30, 2018.
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