In the 1960s, when congressional subsidies began to reinvigorate mass transit, heavy-rail systems opened in cities such as San Francisco and Washington D.C., followed by light rail systems in San Diego, Portland, and other cities in the next decades. Mass transit’s importance in the lives of most Americans started to decline with the growth of automobile ownership in the 1920s, except for a temporary rise in transit ridership during World War II. During this era, mass transit had a significant impact on American urban development, suburbanization, the rise of technological networks, consumerism, and even race and gender relations. A half century later, technological innovation and urban industrialization enabled the electric streetcar to become the dominant mass transit vehicle. Expanding networks of horse railways emerged by the mid-19th century. Regular steam ferry service connected Brooklyn and New Jersey to Manhattan in the early 1810s and horse-drawn omnibuses plied city streets starting in the late 1820s. Mass transit-streetcars, elevated and commuter rail, subways, buses, ferries, and other transportation vehicles serving large numbers of passengers and operating on fixed routes and schedules-has been part of the urban scene in the United States since the early 19th century. Today concerns about environmental sustainability and urban revitalization have stimulated renewed interest in the benefits of mass transit. In the 1960s, congressional subsidies began to reinvigorate mass transit and heavy-rail systems opened in several cities, followed by light rail systems in several others in the next decades.

During this era, mass transit had a significant impact on American urban development. The electric streetcar became the dominant mass transit vehicle a half century later. Regular steam ferry service began in New York City in the early 1810s and horse-drawn omnibuses plied city streets starting in the late 1820s. Mass transit has been part of the urban scene in the United States since the early 19th century.

Mass transmit definition