ABSTRACT

During the 15 years commencing about 1895, the American urban transit press would regularly report on the beneficial effect on suburbanization of the almost universal five-cent flat fare, compared with the graduated fares prevalent in Britain. Between 1890 and 1917 street traction in the United States experienced massive expansion, driven by the economic and technological benefits of electrification. The 1890 census of street railways in the United States recorded an 182 per cent increase in the length of line since 1880, to 5,783 miles. In the early days of electric traction, when cities had effectively given the streets away for nothing, venal politicians had disdained to secure cheaper fares. They saw it as their right to collect personally whatever the going rate for their votes amounted to. If the ward bosses had comprehended the potential of electrified streetcars to ease population congestion, they would have opposed it.