Talking Headways Podcast: The Lost Subways of North America - Streetsblog USA

"Sometime Streetsblog contributor Jake Berman joins the Talking Headways Podcast this week to talk about his book, The Lost Subways of North America: A Cartographic Guide to the Past, Present, and What Might Have Been. Berman and host Jeff Wood discuss transit histories through the lens of racial dynamics, monopolies, ballot measures and overlooked cities. Scroll past the audio player below for a partial edited transcript of the episode - or click here for a full, AI-generated (and typo-ridden) readout."

"Yeah, Philly's system was built out by, I think it was close to 20 different streetcar companies, which ultimately fell under one monopoly, the Philadelphia Transit Co. And for various reasons, Philly ended up using streetcars for the bulk of its in city lines, and most of those lines that really should have been upgraded to carry some sort of subway surface route, like the ones that run to West Philly, just never were."

"I think it's interesting to me to see just the way that Philadelphia really used to be in competition with New York and Chicago for being one of the big three American cities. Philadelphia really does have that sort of legacy where they were, I think number four, number five, well into the 20th century, but for various reasons, they ended up getting lapped by D.C. and New York, and they don't necessarily get treated as in the same league as D.C. and New York."

Philadelphia developed an extremely dense streetcar network built by nearly twenty separate companies that later consolidated under the Philadelphia Transit Co. The city depended on streetcars for most in-city routes, and many corridors that could have been upgraded to subway-surface lines, such as West Philadelphia routes, never were. Philadelphia once competed with New York and Chicago as a leading American city but fell behind Washington, D.C., and New York over the twentieth century. Geographic position between larger metros and differing civic identity contributed to Philadelphia being perceived as less prominent than some peer cities.

Read at Streetsblog