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By 1920, the network of interurbans in the US was so dense that a determined commuter could hop interlinked streetcars from Waterville, Maine, to Sheboygan, Wisconsinâa journey of 1,000 milesâexclusively by electric trolley.
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The tracks, and often the wires, extended deep into forest and farmland, making the railroads de facto intercity highways; after nightfall in the countryside, farmers would signal drivers to stop by burning a rag next to the track.
Streetcars and interurbans became the dominant mode of urban transportation in North America, carrying 11 billion passengers a year by the end of the First World War.
For those reasons, and others, I considered Switzerland an anomaly, hardly a model to be extrapolated to other nations. But I see its fantastic non-car transport options have a lot to teach the world.
I was staying near a village with a population of 780 in the canton of Vaud, in the foothills of the Jura Mountain. To get there from the #Geneva airport, I hopped on to a high-speed train, an escalator ride away from the baggage carousel...
â #Switzerland has the best public transit in the world.â đšđ
Thatâs what many transport experts told me when I was researching my book #Straphanger.
After 6 weeks of getting to know the countryâs network, Iâm beginning to think they have a point. Hereâs why⊠đ§”đȘĄ
Thatâs what many transport experts told me when I was researching my book #Straphanger.
After 6 weeks of getting to know the countryâs network, Iâm beginning to think they have a point. Hereâs why⊠đ§”đȘĄ
I'd been to Switzerland a few times before, and was duly impressed with its rail network, and the transit in its larger cities...
...esp. #Zurich, with its trams. "There's little reason to travel in an automotive cocoon when, for a fare of only a few francs, an efficient, stately tramway will provide transportation from point A to B at a level of comfort an emperor might have envied."
âAlain de Botton
âAlain de Botton
By 1920, the network of interurbans in the US was so dense that a determined commuter could theoretically
hop interlinked streetcars from Waterville, Maine, to Sheboygan, Wisconsinâa journey of 1,000 milesâexclusively by electric trolley.
hop interlinked streetcars from Waterville, Maine, to Sheboygan, Wisconsinâa journey of 1,000 milesâexclusively by electric trolley.
The video above shows a vintage 1932 trolley from Scranton, the "Electric City" of Pennsylvania.
The wires extended deep into forest and farmland,
making the electric railroads de facto intercity highways; after nightfall in the countryside, some farmers would signal the motorman to stop by burning a rag next to the track.
making the electric railroads de facto intercity highways; after nightfall in the countryside, some farmers would signal the motorman to stop by burning a rag next to the track.
