[huxley]

Wish it was that certain.

The US and Canada once had almost 100 municipalities with streetcar lines in the first half of the 20th century, there may be a dozen or so left now. One could blame GM [1] but many municipalities abandoned their systems without much pressure.

Toronto --which I believe has the largest streetcar system in North America-- has had to employ a blacksmith for the last 3 decades to forge parts for the aging streetcars [2], though they apparently expect to retire him as the fleet is modernized.

[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General_Motors_streetcar_conspi...

[2] http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/meet-pat-maietta-the-t...

[andrewliebchen]

They certainly tend to stick around longer than bus routes. Streetcars represent significant infrastructure spending, while a bus route can be changed by a bureaucrat.