Post offers Urban Mass Transit--The Life Story of Technology, a well-written book that traces the development of the trolley and streetcar to today's light rail transit (LRT). The book includes material on urbanization and transit via horsepower; introduction of mechanical means to run cable railways; electrification and the rise of the trolley; motor vehicle developments and trolley use decline; and rapid transit expansion and the revival of mass transit. The book includes a time line, glossary, and list of resources. Post has done an excellent job, using stories, photographs, sketches, and facts to construct a fascinating historical account of innovation. An appealing work for the general public as well as students and others with interests in public transit. Recommended. General readers; lower-division undergraduates through professionals.

Choice

Narrating the life story of urban mass transit in the United States, Post focuses on streetcars, trolleys, light rail, and similar transport and pays significantly less attention to buses and subways. His primary theme as he explores the mass transit developments in the 20th century concerns the ways public and decision makers evaluated the costs and benefits of various transit choices, both in strictly economic terms and in terms of wider societal concerns, including noise, pollution, and even aesthetics.

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