[PRCo] Re: Why did trolleys take the business?

[Dennis F. Cramer]

Henry Ford gave the country what it wanted, or at least he convinced us that 
is what we wanted; Independence.  The streetcars gave us the first suburbs 
and then the post WWII housing boom created suburbs to the suburbs and we 
just continued to grow.  The peak of the electric age was circa 1918 and 
peak bus ridership was in the early 1950's.  Our country continued to move 
farther and farther away due to incredibly cheap fuel prices and now we are 
beginning to see the mistakes that were made.

We got spoiled and now want to complain.  The talk everywhere is about the 
price of fuel, but I see few people parking their large vehicles.  There was 
a brief bit on the news this morning that a developer is making condos out 
of the old Horne's and Murphy buildings in Pittsburgh because people are 
wanting to move back into town.

I just got back from Italy and fuel there is 1.54 Euros a litre.  That comes 
out to about $9.00 a gallon at the current rate.  A Ford Focus is a large 
car and flying into both Paris and Rome show few sprawling suburban areas 
like we have.  I bought a 24 hour pass on the Rome system for 4 Euros.  That 
covered bus, Metro, trams and their regional rail line; much cheaper than a 
taxi at morning rush.

Europe and Asia want more fuel than ever before.  Our gas is still 
relatively cheap and we still are unhappy.  When I started working 33 years 
ago, gas was close to $2.00 a gallon and it has doubled.  My salary went up 
over 7 times in the same position.  Is the glass half full or half empty?  I 
have had a wonderful weekend:  drove home from Delaware County on the 4th, 
played a wedding with my quintet in Clarion and came home to barbecue 
outside on the 5th; and will finish the weekend off today by driving 120 
miles round trip to volunteer at PTM.  Now if I can just get Air France to 
get my luggage to me from Paris I will come home to a much more relaxed 
wife.

I bought a new Nikon D60 before I left for Europe and have posted the raw 
images here:

http://picasaweb.google.com/altotrombone

Dennis F. Cramer
      Trombone