TRANSIT IN MAJOR CITIES

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A brief historical look at the streetcar companies and early bus companies in various major US cities, and how their routes evolved into today's bus routes.

ADDITIONAL MIDWEST TRANSIT SYSTEMS

Transit histories for several additional Midwest cities.

ADDITIONAL WEB SITES

Links to other Web sites detailing transit histories and operations in additional major cities.

ABOUT THIS PAGE

I added this section to the Web site, after I ran out of transit oriented projects in the Chicago area, for the time being. Also, because this is the kind of material that I would hope to see on the Web, for all transit systems throughout the world.

I have made Chicago the main focus for this Web site, while appreciating the efforts of transit fans in other parts of the country,who have created Web sites covering transit in their areas. Click above for links to some of these fine Web sites.

But unfortunately, not every area's transit history is adequately covered on the Web. What I attempt to do here, is to link between the present and the past. Relate today's bus routes to the past streetcar and bus companies, tracing the route history back to the beginnings of public transportation in that area. At times it can be fascinating, untangling the sometimes complex transit histories, especially in areas where multiple transit companies operated.

For each city covered, the information on this Web site is by no means complete. For more contemporary transit fan information, links are usually provided to other such Web sites. The route histories usually do not include the most recent information. Availability of information is usually dependent on how much has been published about the different city transit systems. In many cases, the history covered focuses on prior to the public takeover of many transit systems.

Information contained on this site is unofficial. Any suggestions for additions and improvements to this site are welcome. Also, any information not yet included on this site, along with any leads towards rare out of print books or any other hard to find information, would be appreciated. Thanks for visiting! Bill Vandervoort

Current routes for above transit systems were checked in March, 2008. Any tips on route changes would be appreciated.

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