Streetcar Film (short version)

modern streetcar via ProTransit.com


If you didn't make it out to the Carnegie Arts Center in Covington to see the screening of "Taken For a Ride", the film about how GM killed America's streetcars... don't worry.

You can catch it on Youtube, in two parts.





Obviously the people who need convincing about the need for streetcars and light rail were not in attendance, but plenty of like minded people like myself were present. We all hooted and hollered, and laughed at some of the blatant propaganda showcased in the film (A mother stands up in her town hall meeting and states, "highways are the best thing for our children and their future!" The other mothers started weeping)

I didn't know that streetcars were America's mode of transportation for so many years. Many, many people were not happy when they were gone. As in, riots. Protests. Visits to congress. But they took out the light rail and put in the diesel bus, advertising "the wave of the future" and "the modern way". The modern way that clogged up traffic and was slow and inefficient. The effect? Buy a new (GM) car, of course!

Now... we can't even fathom life without a car.



the LA street car circa 1912



LA as we know it today