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this is not true. there was no conspiracy. it didn't matter whether the streetcars were publicly owned (seattle, detroit) or private (los angeles, atlanta). a thread (because i wrote a whole-ass book on this): 1/?

in general, public transport before world war II was generally privately owned. it was a business, like railroads had been since the start of the industrial age. nobody liked the privately owned monopolies that owned public transit. 2/

basically, these monopolies dominated metro areas, because they weren't just the transport monopoly. in la, oakland and miami, the train company was the biggest real estate developer. in atlanta, new jersey and new orleans, they were the power company. 3/

these monopolies were hilariously corrupt as well, and they had few friends. henry huntington (of LA's red cars), or charles yerkes (of the chicago eleveated) were as detested as bezos and zuckerberg were today. 4/

the trains got a serious challenge from cars in the early 20th century. and by the end of world war II, the train systems were worn out and needed massive government investment to survive. but because the transit companies were shitty monopolies, nobody wanted to help them out! 5/

in many cases, the train company was _also_ the bus company! the pacific electric railway in LA also owned the motor transit company, which ran the region's buses. 6/

But to get back to how badly the trains needed upgrades, let's compare like with like. Here's a sample trip from Downtown LA to Culver City. - LA Metro E line (2026): 30 minutes - Motor Transit Co. bus (1948): 39 minutes - Pacific Electric Railway (1948): 43 minutes 7/

On top of that, the new, shiny buses often had A/C, and the streetcars only had fans. The first air-conditioned bus was introduced in 1946. The first air-conditioned streetcars weren't introduced until 1976. 8/

Put yourselves in the shoes of passengers. Given the choice between a new bus with A/C and an old streetcar without A/C... this is a no-brainer. 9/

All of this is to say, GM was picking the bones of the dying streetcar companies. Think vultures, not eagles. And when we talk about the GM conspiracy charges... GM-affiliated National City Lines actually kept streetcars running longer than peer systems. 10/

The final closure of LA's streetcars was actually carried out by the predecessors of the LA Metro. /11

There was, however, one exception to this: Minneapolis-St Paul. There, a finance bro, the mob, and a crooked lawyer really did buy the trains and sell them for scrap - but that was the exception, not the rule. 12/12

(addendum: if you want to read the book, it's called "the lost subways of north america". if you get a copy directly from me, i'll sign it for you)

This is fascinating. I knew elements of this history. But hadn’t had it explained in terms of unpopular monopolies, capital order investment etc.

...the tech barons have seemingly no desire to be loved, no noblesse oblige, no desire to publicly appear virtuous. It's absurd to imagine Zuckerberg, Musk or Ellison funding a modern-day equivalent of a Carnegie Library.

Generally agree, but Zuck’s name is on San Francisco General Hospital.