Who killed Houston's streetcars? - Transit - HAIF - Houston's original social media

Who killed Houston's streetcars? - Transit - HAIF - Houston's original social media

"In his 1997 book, Houston Electric: The Street Railways of Houston, Texas, Steven M. Baron writes, 'For half a century, life in Houston was unimaginable without streetcars. Merchants, clerks and factory workers went to work on them. Shoppers boarded them with the day's purchases or the groceries. Young people rode them to school and on dates. Accounts of life in Houston during the decades surrounding the turn of the century are full of references to streetcar travel, for it was the dominant mode of transportation for all but the richest citizens... even after the automobile began replacing the horse, most Houstonians still relied on public transit for everyday commuting. Only in the 1920s did this pattern begin to change significantly.... Until the 1920s virtually every significant land development was located on or near an existing or proposed streetcar line.'...

"As Streetcars had operated on the same 1890s fare for decades, Houston Electric (the streetcar company) eventually ran into financial trouble. Additionally, they were burdened by the city's requirement that they bear the costs for paving streets where they extended their railways. This would essentially usher in their eventual downfall by subsidizing greater ease of mobility for private automobiles....

"In 1924 when the city denied Houston Electric (HE) a fare increase to account for inflation, the company resorted to a federal lawsuit. In a city referendum that year, HE agreed to drop the lawsuit in exchange for the city's abolition of jitney service. HE also agreed to build 8 city-specified extensions of the streetcar system as well as 3 new bus lines, thus turning itself into a hybrid bus and streetcar service."