Pacific City Lines

Pacific City Lines was a company formed in 1937 as a subsidiary to National City Lines in Oakland, California. Its function was to purchase streetcar systems in the western United States as part of what became known as the Great American streetcar scandal. General Motors made investments in 1938.[1]

In 1947 Pacific City Lines, was indicted with General Motors and others on two counts:

  • conspiring to acquire control of a number of transit companies, forming a transportation monopoly
  • conspiring to monopolize sales of buses and supplies to companies owned or controlled by National City Lines, Inc., or Pacific City Lines, Inc.[2]

The company was merged into National City Lines in 1948.[3]

  1. ^ "Before delving into the creation of National City Lines in 1936" (PDF). NCL executives decided to push streetcar replacement efforts west. To do this a new subsidiary, Pacific City Lines was formed. If anyone would know how to come up with financial backing, it would be PCL executive Glenn Traer, who had been a successful Minneapolis investment banker. He and another financial expert, Matthew Robinson, prevented creditors from pulling the plug on the overextended Greyhound in the first full Depression year of 1930.
  2. ^ Walter C. Lindley (January 3, 1951). "UNITED STATES v. NATIONAL CITY LINES, Inc., et al". United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit. Archived from the original on 2008-06-08. Retrieved 2009-04-05.
  3. ^ "Paving the Way for Buses – The Great GM Streetcar Conspiracy Part II - The Plot Clots". Archived from the original on 2004-07-02. Retrieved 2010-10-23. National City Lines and Pacific City Lines merged in 1948 and continued their practice of "bustitution."