In the 1920s, there were about 1,200 electric lines operating across the country, providing some 15 billion rides a year. By the 1970s, the number of cities with real streetcar systems was down to about five....
Reasons for the demise vary but include National City Lines, formed by General Motors, Standard Oil of California, Phillips Petroleum and Firestone tires. It bought up more than 100 lines in the 1930s and 1940s in many of the larger cities and dismantled them. - Public Transport Progress
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
U.S. streetcars killed with premeditation
