![]() Unlike horsecars, both cable-car and electric-streetcar systems required substantial capital for the power plants, maintenance shops, tracks, electrical conduits, and rolling stock. Inaugurated in Richmond, Virginia, in 1889, streetcars - also known as trolleys - rapidly displaced horsecars, so that by 1902, 94 percent of street railway mileage in the United States was electrically powered, and only one percent horse-powered, with cables and other power sources making up the difference. They were relatively clean and quick, and more efficient than cable cars. In most cities, however, electric streetcars seemed the ideal urban vehicle. San Francisco, whose hills challenged electric streetcars, remains a visible exception. This proved a fairly inefficient means of transmitting power, and though twenty-three cities had cable operations in 1890, most soon scrapped them in favor of electric traction. Steam engines in central powerhouses turned these cables in endless loops, allowing operators of cable cars to grip the cable through a slot in the street and be towed along the route. Looking for cleaner alternatives, inventors turned to underground cables, first deployed in 1873. Steam locomotives on elevated tracks were even noisier, and their smoke and ash was no more welcome than the horse’s manure. Horse-drawn vehicles were noisy and smelly, and their motive power vulnerable to disease and injury. This was the nation’s first rapid transit: local transit running on an exclusive right-of-way between fixed stations. ![]() After a few false starts, by 1876 New York had its first “el,” or elevated railroad. Following the Civil War, some New York entrepreneurs hoped to bring the speed of these steam railroads to city streets by building elevated tracks on iron girders. ![]() Yonkers, New York Newton, Massachusetts Evanston, Illinois and Germantown, Pennsylvania, all grew as bedroom communities, connected by steam locomotive to New York City, Boston, Chicago, and Philadelphia. Wealthy merchants and professionals could afford the fares or annual passes between leafy village and bustling downtown. Steam railroadsĮven as some workers learned to depend on omnibuses and horsecars for their daily commute, others began riding intercity trains between home and work. After the Civil War, these companies began to merge, reducing competition. Whether running omnibuses or horsecars, private operators were granted government franchises to operate their vehicles on specific routes. By 1853, horsecars in New York alone carried about seven million riders. First introduced in New York City in 1832, horsecars spread in the 1850s, thanks to a method of laying rail flush with the pavement so it would not interfere with other traffic. In contrast, horsecars running on iron rails provided smoother and faster travel. Omnibuses spared their passengers some fatigue, but they subjected them to a bumpy ride that was scarcely faster than walking. ![]() Omnibuses - stagecoaches modified for local service - originated in France, and the idea spread to New York City in 1829, Philadelphia in 1831, Boston in 1835, and Baltimore in 1844. The history of mass transit on land in the United States begins in the 1830s with the introduction of horse-drawn omnibuses and streetcars in Eastern cities. The Era of Private Entrepreneurs Omnibuses and horsecars And in an age of concern about greenhouse gases and petroleum dependence, mass transit provides an important alternative to the automobile to millions of Americans. But while mass transit may seem insignificant on this national scale, since the early nineteenth century it has shaped American cities and continues to do so. Nationwide in 1990, mass transit carried only 5.3 percent of commuting trips, down from 6.4 percent in 1980, and an even smaller percentage of total trips. In the United States mass transit has, for the most part, meant some kind of local bus or rail service, and it is on these modes that this article focuses. Even this definition embraces horse-drawn omnibuses and streetcars, cable cars, electric streetcars and trolley coaches, gasoline and diesel buses, underground and above-ground rail rapid transit, ferries, and some commuter rail service. The term “urban mass transit” generally refers to scheduled intra-city service on a fixed route in shared vehicles.
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