Taken for a Ride - The U.S. History of the Assault on Public Transport in the Last Century
PEACE REBEL2 HN recommenders · recommended in 2 months, 2015–2025
documentary · general · evergreen · 2015–2025 on HN
A 1996 documentary on the twentieth-century American decline of public transport and the role of car companies and the highway lobby in it. It is best known for its account of GM's streetcar buyouts.
HN cites it as the go-to documentary on how car-industry interests undermined US transit.
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5 comments from Hacker News
and building trains makes people ride trains. The fundamental rule is path of least resistance, literally and figuratively. It also matters who has the powerful interest. Seen this? Taken for a Ride - The U.S. History of the Assault on Public Transport in the Last Century ▶ this video
I think the documentary Taken for a ride(1996) [0][1] which showed up on /r/Documentaries [2] is perhaps relevant to this discussion. [0] link [1] ▶ this video [2] link
most us cities did have subways (or streetcars), then GM bought 'em all and shut them down. [0] [0] Taken for a Ride - The U.S. History of the Assault on Public Transport in the Last Century: ▶ this video
It had less to do with NIMBYism and more to do with car company profits. [1] Here in the Denver metro area, we used to have trains running all over the place, and 100 years ago, there were daily trains between Denver, Boulder, Golden, and Longmont. Then they ended service and tore up most of the tracks. Fast-forward to 2022, and now they're trying again to put rail between Boulder and Denver, but it's a $1+ billion boondoggle that hasn't gone anywhere in 15 years. [2] [1] ▶ this video [2] link
$7.25 Billion - link Yep, same GM, now add Honda and Son-sama and we're ready for act 2: ▶ this video Just in time for global warming Anecdotally, Cruise has been cruising around the city for years like they're helping rebuild Apple Maps or something. Now we know, hard to miss the big launch, getting out of the 47 Van Ness and seeing the usual special event at SVN West. How ironic it was at the old Honda dealership and less than 1/2 block away from the homeless navigation center. Seeing as homeless folk ride free in MUNI, I have to wonder will they get to cruise in Origin, too? Maybe good Breed PR gesture. Probably not. Wrong use case. If they crash and burn hopefully the IP will be worth something. Otherwise seppuku time. All the data from tooling around the city has got to be worth something.