Notes on "Taken for a Ride"

You are introduced early on to Bradford Snell who has been working on a history of GM for over 16 years (and if he is still working on that project, it would be 26 years). He wrote the original article "American Ground Transport" (50pp), which detailed the role of GM and several other corporations in buying up and then dismantling electric trolleys in cities across the country.

He noted that in 1922 only 1 in 10 Americans owned a car. Alfred P. Sloan of GM recognized the obvious -- that there was a huge potential market for cars. But that meant you needed roads and access to them, and you'd have to get rid of the street cars. So, GM launched a motorization campaign, which at first involved replacing street cars with diesel buses, and eventually cars. National City Lines Bus Co. (which was financed by GM) bought up these electric trolley systems across the U.S. and started to cut back service and did not maintain tracks and cars, raised fares, made them less attractive. Eventually, they were simply dismantled. And remember that GM, among some other major corporations, was convicted in federal court in the late 1940s of criminal conspiracy in buying up and dismantling these trolley systems. GM was fined a neglible $5,000.

1. Despite some of these moves, people overwhelmingly supported trolleys -- in L.A. 88% wanted rail service retained and improved. But that was not enough.

Perhaps what clinched the deal for the car was building sprawling suburbs which could only be served by private automobiles

That scene of burning street cars is a graphic illustration of the forces of creative destruction.

Note the occasional propaganda film clips, such as "Diesel and Dollars," and that nice school teacher talking about building more roads for the sake of the children (which in my humble opinion is enough to make you gag because of the adverse consequences of those roads and cars for the health and well-being of those children).

Charles Wilson, who had been GM CEO, was the Secretary of Defense in 1953, and was a moving force behind the Eisenhower Adm.'s decision to build the Interstate Highway system. DuPont family was also behind it. This was the largest public works project in American history.

"Trouble in Paradise" Shows scenes of growing traffic congestion. Roads that did not work such as I-93 thru Boston (which has been put underground at a cost of some $12 billion!!). Mayor Alioto of San Francisco opposing a downtown expressway.

1. Early 1970s hearings in Congress over how to divide up the highway trust funds. Senator clearly voicing interest of the auto companies. But Alioto says, at one point, that: "What was good for GM was not good for American cities."

2. Lewis Mumford poses an intersting question about transportation and cities -- does the city exist for people or cars? By the 1960s the answer was clear -- for cars.

"Back to the Future" -- some efforts to restore light rail systems have been successful (such as Baltimore, Portland, Oregon). But the big bucks are still behind the automobile and raod system, as in the Intelligent Highway Vehicle System (or IHVS) -- futuristic computer operated roadways.

(A final note about what happened to those bus systems -- many went bankrupt and are now managed by cities, often at a loss and inadequately.)
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That's it. Please incorporate these comments in your notes. If I ask anything on the final exam about this video, it will come from these posted comments. Next Tuesday I'll be talking about The Geography of Nowhere, hopefully get through Chapter 8. AND DON'T FORGET ABOUT ESSAY II, WHICH IS DUE THEN.