The Decline of Transit: A Corporate Conspiracy or Failure of Public Policy? The Case of Portland, Oregon

Abstract

In his 1974 testimony before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust and Monopoly, Bradford Snell lay partial blame for the decline of mass transit in the United States on a targeted program, spearheaded by General Motors (GM), with the goal of “substitution of buses for passenger trains, streetcars and trolley buses; monopolization of bus production; and diversion of riders to automobiles.” Snell argued that General Motors and its subsidiary company National City Lines were responsible for “the destruction of more than 100 electric surface rail systems in 45 cities including New York, Philadelphia, Baltimore, St. Louis, Oakland, Salt Lake City and Los Angeles.”