Is public transport in the USA owned by car makers? (lemmy.world)

submitted 11 months ago by sir_pronoun@lemmy.world to c/asklemmy@lemmy.world

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I once heard that in the middle of 20th century, public transportation in the USA was widely privatized and bought by automotive manufacturers, and then wilfully left to rot, so that people would buy more cars.

However, I can't find anything backing that up. Do you know whether that's true, and where I can find some sources for that?

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[-] Rhoeri@lemmy.ml 3 points 11 months ago

Public transport is mostly going to be owned by local, state and federal agencies. I’d be willing to bet that what you read was written by someone that likes to make shit up.

[-] sjmulder@lemmy.sdf.org 23 points 11 months ago

It did happen: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspiracy

[-] otter@lemmy.ca 11 points 11 months ago

Yea I'm pretty sure this is what OP heard about, it's a common tidbit that gets shared

Ownership wasn't secret then, and it's not secret now. What happened then was that they bought transit things and shut them down. That COULD happen now too, but it would happen pretty publicly

They do lobby governments though

[-] sir_pronoun@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago

This is what I had heard of ages ago, thanks a lot!

If I understand this correctly, GM conspired to undermine public streetcars not to sell more private cars, but to sell public buses and supplies for them?

So I guess the part about selling cars that I heard was a myth, or at least not supported by evidence. Who knows what really went on in the GM executives' minds, though?

this post was submitted on 23 Nov 2023

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