Chapter 2, Traffic Summary and Analysis

Traffic in the large American city (author Bettman almost always uses New York) was hideous due to the prevalence of the horse and cart. In the winter the street car became freezing; in summer it was suffocatingly hot. It was also dangerous to take a street car; some advised a street car rider to bring a knife and small pistol (derringer) with him or her. Streetcars were crowded, for reasons of profit, as full as they could go, leading to massive overcrowding.

Railroads were built straight through towns. They added to the pollution and also the noise and danger. In one year, Chicago accounted for a record 330 grade-crossing depths.

The El Train was introduced in New York in 1868 to relieve massive crowding (mainly due to incoming immigrants) on Manhattan Island. The El created as many problems as it solved...