Re: Melbourne Trams

[David McLoughlin <davemcl@REMOVEiprolink.co.nz>]

MarkBau1 wrote:
> 
> <<<<<> I thought this had been debunked as an "urban myth" a long, long time
> > ago.>>>>>>>
> 
> Not a myth at all, in fact in one the latest US railmags there is a review of a
> book on this very subect. There have also been a few TV documentaries on PBS,
> (kinda like Australia's Aunty) describing this conspiricy in great detail.
> 
> GM even got fined over it but it was a paltry sum such is the power of GM in
> the US and all around the world.

Part of the myth is that GM *was* fined. GM was fined (in 1948) for
trying to dominate the US bus industry, not for conspiring to replace
trams with its buses. And the fine was only a few thousand dollars, a
pittance even then.

The reason the "conspiracy" is a myth is that US trams were on their way
out without GM's help, just as almost all the trams in the UK, Australia
and NZ were replaced by buses without any intervention or conspiracy on
the part of a bus company.

David McLoughlin
Auckland New Zealand