 Cadillac Place, the GM headquarters building as seen in 1981 | |
| Date | 1938–1951 |
|---|---|
| Location | United States |
| Accused | |
| Charges | Violation of the Sherman Antitrust Act |
| Verdict | GM fined $5,000 |
The General Motors streetcar conspiracy refers to the convictions of General Motors (GM) and related companies that were involved in the monopolizing of the sale of buses and supplies to National City Lines (NCL) and subsidiaries, as well as to the allegations that the defendants conspired to own or control transit systems, in violation of Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act. This suit created lingering suspicions that the defendants had in fact plotted to dismantle streetcar systems in many cities in the United States as an attempt to monopolize surface transportation.
Between 1938 and 1950, National City Lines and its subsidiaries, American City Lines and Pacific City Lines—with investment from GM, Firestone Tire, Standard Oil of California (through a subsidiary), Federal Engineering, Phillips Petroleum, and Mack Trucks—gained control of additional transit systems in about 25 cities.[a] Systems included St. Louis, Baltimore, Los Angeles, and Oakland. NCL often converted streetcars to bus operations in that period, although electric traction was preserved or expanded in some locations. Other systems, such as San Diego's, were converted by outgrowths of the City Lines. Most of the companies involved were convicted in 1949 of conspiracy to monopolize interstate commerce in the sale of buses, fuel, and supplies to NCL subsidiaries, but were acquitted of conspiring to monopolize the transit industry.
The story as an urban legend has been written about by Martha Bianco, Scott Bottles, Sy Adler, Jonathan Richmond,[3] Cliff Slater,[4] and Robert Post. It has been depicted several times in print, film, and other media, notably in the fictional film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, documentary films such as Taken for a Ride and The End of Suburbia and the book Internal Combustion.[not verified in body]
Only a handful of U.S. cities, including San Francisco, New Orleans, Newark, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Boston, have surviving legacy rail urban transport systems based on streetcars, although their systems are significantly smaller than they once were. Other cities, such as Washington DC, and Norfolk, have re-introduced streetcars.
- ^ Ruggles, C.O. "Problems in public utility economics and management". McGraw Hill. Retrieved 2014-11-19 – via Hathitrust.org.
- ^ U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Antitrust and Monopoly (1973). The Industrial Reorganization Act: Hearings, Ninety-third Congress, First Session [-Ninety-fourth Congress, First Session], On S. 1167. U.S. Government Printing Office. Retrieved 2014-11-18 – via Hathitrust.org.
- ^ Richmond, Jonathan. Transport of Delight The Mythical Conception of Rail Transit in Los Angeles. University of Akron Press.
- ^ "General Motors and the Demise of Streetcars" (PDF). Transportation Quarterly. US: 45–66. Summer 1997.
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