stonedotjimmy

and he's southern? swoon

gay-Inquisitor

holy shit, that's the perfect answer to this question.

In LA (as in many American cities) starting around the 1920s oil, rubber, and car manufacturing companies teamed up to buy out the faltering transit lines. LA's famous Red Car line was a system of trolleys that crisscrossed the city, but with the rise in popularity of automobiles, use was declining. This allowed the huge conglomerates to buy out the companies and slowly shut them down/convert them to bus lines. They also bought out LA's subway and closed off tunnels. Then, by slowly making the bus lines worse and worse, weaned Angelenos completely off of them and into their cars.

i'll look around, but i make no promises

edit: here are some easy ones, i'll try to find something more academic

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pacific_Electric#Decline

• http://www.usc.edu/libraries/archives/la/historic/redcars/