How General Motors’ Destroyed the Streetcar
The story about the Streetcar Conspiracy states that the death of the electric street cars is no accident. Many people believe that, between 1938-1950, General Motors’(GM) conspired with other companies, including Standard Oil and Firestone Tire’s, to put an end to electric street cars. During this time, the electric street car is a popular method of transportation but GM wanted it gone so it could sell diesel and gasoline buses instead. The urban legend states that, GM began purchasing street car lines, advertising a trend away from them, and then not long after shutting them down. Thus, 90 percent of the population is left without transportation options.
During the mid 19th century, the rail is
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So, the Chairman for General Motors’, Alfred P. Sloan, didn’t just want to demolish the electric railways, he wanted to replace them with something else: buses. He is hoping that no one would want to ride the buses due to bad service, which would ultimately lead to purchasing a General Motors’ automobile for private …show more content…
But with or without them purchasing the local streetcar systems, automobile sales were increasing everywhere. Even without their involvement, Streetcars were being converted into buses, in cities like London, and England, because at the time buses were the new technology. For example, in the 1974 Senate testimony, George W. Hilton explains that Snell’s explanations are not correct. He writes, “I would argue that these interpretations are not correct, and, further, that they couldn’t possibly be correct, because major conversions in society of this character – from rail to free wheel urban transportation, and from steam to diesel railroad propulsion – are the sort of conversions which could come about only as a result of public preferences, technological change, the relative abundance of natural resources, and other impersonal phenomena of influence, rather than the machinations of a monopolist” (p.
How do Blanche Dubois’s interactions with males in A Streetcar Named Desire lead to her self-destruction?
The electric car was also challenged by economic factors. Because the EV1 was not being mass-produced, it was never able to benefit from the cost reduction that comes with economies of scale. Because of this, the car was more expensive for consumers, which limited its market to those who could afford it.
Since the beginning of the United States the American people have been on the move. Public transportation has played a major role in the development of this nation and in bringing its citizens together. In the book “Divided Highways”, author Tom Lewis takes the reader on a journey of the building of the Interstates and the consequences(good and bad) that came from them. Lewis believes that the Interstates are a physical characteristic of America and that it shows “all our glory and our meanness; all our vision and our shortsightedness”(xiv).
... as “cheap electrification” because it had many of the advantages of traditional electrification, but the initial cost was dramatically cheaper(Lecture Notes, 2/19/14). The story of railway electrification showed that just because a particular technology is better than an existing one, does not necessarily mean that it will win out in the end. The success of the “better” technology largely depends on what people want at the time, the magnitude of change required to adopt the “better” technology, and people’s willingness to accept that degree of change.
Firstly in document one, it shows an interview with William H. Vanderbilt, Vanderbilt explains that the railroads are for the benefit of the stockholders and not for the benefit of the consumer. He also says “We only run it because we are forced to do so by the action of the Pennsylvania road. It doesn’t pay expenses. We would abandon it if it was not for our competitor keeping its train on.” like it is a pain for his business to do something that is not making any money. He even says that “the public be damned. What does the public care for the railroads except to get as much out of them for as small consideration as possible?” going even further and saying that the public does not care about his product. In document three which is an article
In the late 1800’s and early 1900’s the invention of the automobile was still relatively new. Railways served as a primary means to transport commodities across America. However, before World War I and then again after, wealthy businessmen privately owned and controlled the operations of these railroads. The United States still recovering from the global conflict, noticed an upswing in the national economic markets, like the housing market, and needed to implement legislation to ensure railway service continued to increase commerce in America (Federal Railroad Administration, 2012). The Great Railway Strike of 1877 and the Pullman Strike of 1894 revealed nationally, the vulnerabilities of railroads systems due to stoppages relating to labor
Roads had been paved, parking lots and filling stations had drastically increased in number, and millions of new jobs had been created in Canada8, impacting, for the better, lives all across North America. No longer was travel, like communication, an issue for Canadians. Instead of having to walk or take public transportation, purchasing a car was the obvious and more efficient solution. This invention had impacted Canadian lives and would continue to impact them until
One positive of the new transportation networks was how it made travel faster around the country. “They made travel, if not enjoyable, at least faster, less expensive, and less perilous than it had ever been. The 1830s had reduced the travel time between Boston and New York to a day and a half” (Historical Background on Traveling in the
"Do you think me, because I am poor, obscure, plain and little, I am soulless and heartless?" (Bronte). In this Charlotte Bronte quote you can see that social class is a determining factor in a person's view towards another. The rich look down at the poor as obscure and worthless due to their social class. This is evident in the world famous play A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams through the colliding personalities between the main characters Stanley Kowalski and Blanche Dubois. The critical lens of Marxism can be applied to the play due to the tensions between the rich and the poor, the downfall of the old south, and different views/changes in the southern economic system.
By the early 1900’s, automobiles had become a common sight on the roads of the United States. Edison tried to create an electric battery that could power an electric car. Due to the abundant availability of gasoline, the electric car did not receive the response that Edison hoped for. However, the car battery was a huge success, and still plays a pivotal role in the automobile industry.
In the July 1997 issue of Commentary, James Q. Wilson challenges the consensus among academia’s finest regarding the automobile in his bold article, Cars and Their Enemies. Directed towards the general public, his article discredits many of the supposed negatives of the automobile raised by experts, proves that the personal car is thriving and will continue to thrive because it meets individual preference over other means of transportation, as well as presents solutions to the social costs of cars. Wilson emphasizes that no matter what is said and done in eliminating the social costs of the automobile, experts are not going to stop campaigning against it.
The imagined community at the front of the train has little knowledge of the conditions that the less fortunate passengers of the train are subjected to. The existence of the imagined community that is comprised of ticketed passengers is integral to the sustenance of the train. Nixon writes, “the modern nation-state is sustained by producing imagined communities” (Nixon 167). While the train is by no means a modern nation-state, the privileged passengers are vital. Unlike the unimagined community in the back of the train who are decidedly rebellious, they seem to have largely submitted to the authority of Wilford. Without this submission the train would not be the microstate, it is. Rather, the train would be little more than a shelter from the icy wasteland earth has become. This reliance on an imagined communities is paralleled in all nations today. Without a submissive faction that realises and legitimises their government, the state holds no actual
In the twentieth century, the introduction of the motor vehicle in the United States became not only noteworthy, but also vital in the development of modern American civilization. This technologically complex machine led citizens to vast future dependence on the invention. While mobility was suddenly not limited to alternative, more convoluted options such as railroad stations or bicycles, yet copiously amplified to aid convenience and expanded leisure opportunities. From auto-racing to redesigning infrastructure, motor vehicles allowed progression, digression, and essentially uttermost change to the lifestyles of the American people. This radical idea of the automobile permeated throughout America with most, if not all, credit renowned to Henry Ford.
Car culture had caused some serious headaches for city planners in the 1950s. They had not anticipated the added traffic when building cities and were forced to adjust their plans with mixed results. There were many side effects to the restructuring of the city, and most were not good for the city center. Business and customers were no longer funneled into the now crowded city center in favor of the more spacious and convenient periphery. Community life as well as business in the city center really suffered as a result of suburbanization caused by the car. Jane Jacobs says in her chapter called "Erosion of Cities or Attrition of Automobiles" in the book Autopia, "Today everyone who values cities is disturbed by automobiles (259...
In the 1950s, everybody is dreaming of having a big car and cars became increase among the suburban and they are the heist who bought almost eight million cars in 1955. “Nine out of ten suburban families owned a car, as compared to six of ten urban households.” (Tindall and Shi 1255). New Technology changed everything, there transportation system were easy and this makes them travel from one place to another, the car changed their social life and make it suitability for them to go for shopping, better than riding animal and walking.