Shocking Facts of GM’s History and Current Bankruptcy

Shocking Facts of GM’s History and Current Bankruptcy: "Shocking Facts of GM’s History and Current Bankruptcy



The automobile did not end up dominating American transportation by chance -- or by public choice. There was a plan by automakers to buy up and destroy mass transit companies. General Motors led the way.

In the 1920s, many American cities and towns were connected by a network of electric railroads and interurban trolleys. Within cities, electric street railways, trolleys, and elevated trains moved large numbers of people easily and cheaply.

But between 1920 and 1955, General Motors bought up more than 100 electric mass transit systems in 45 cities, allowed them to deteriorate, and then replaced them with rubber-tired, diesel-powered buses. Buses are more expensive, less efficient, and much dirtier than electric/rail systems -- and of course automobiles are even less efficient than buses."


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Personally - we live in the country, and public transportation is not an option. But having a car is a huge chunk of our budget between gas and upkeep, the car is paid for, but now the AC is again not working, added to a long list of "not working" electronic items, like rolling the window up and down, or popping the trunk.

When we lived in Colorado, we had just the one car, but I was able to ride the buses and get where I needed to go when I really wanted to do so. I had 3 different bus lines withing easy walking distance and could pick and choose depended on where I wanted to go - it wasn't perfect - one transfer was a 50 minute wait on a shadeless corner without a bench. I chose instead to walk the 2 miles home and usully was within site of the house when the bus I would have taken overtook me. Then I discovered the trails connecting a series of elementery and Jr. high school and parks - and made a game of walking the trails and getting home before the bus! It was fun - but that was before children too.