General Motors streetcar conspiracy

The General Motors streetcar conspiracy refers to a contention that General Motors (GM), acting in conjunction with several other companies and through the National City Lines (NCL) holding company, illegally acquired many streetcar systems in various cities around the United States, dismantled and replaced them with buses for the express purpose of promoting the automobile.

The case against the conspiracy

This belief has been questioned by Sy Adler who points out, among other things, that GM was not convicted of buying up urban trolley systems but rather merely of forcing bus companies owned by General Motors to use General Motors buses, and that trolley ridership peaked in the year 1920 before GM's actions. The trolley industry's problems largely predated GM's interest. Many transportation historians note that the conversion to buses would likely have occurred anyway, and that streetcar ridership was steadily declining through this period.

Related Topics:
Sy Adler - 1920

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Further evidence against the conspiracy lies in the fact that Los Angeles had two separate trolley systems, known as the "Red Cars" and the "Yellow Cars". National City Lines owned only one of the two systems, yet both were dismantled.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Additionally, during this period automobile ownership was rising everywhere, in cities both with and without GM purchasing the local streetcar systems. Streetcar routes were being converted to buses almost everywhere, including cities like London, without GM involvement, because buses were seen as the new technology at the time and were more flexible than streetcars, as they could route around track blockages for instance, and could use any road, not just roads with tracks, thereby off-loading infrastructure costs to the municipality.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Some documentation of the rapid transit interurban systems is often best provided by the history buffs, such as The Electric Railway Historical Association of Southern California.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~