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Streetcars, invented in the late nineteenth century, were a cross between trains and a buses. They ran on tracks similar to railroad tracks, and were powered by an overhead electric wire. Most streetcars ran down the center of the road, but some also ran on the side, leaving just enough room to park a horse and carriage between it and buildings along the road.
In the late nineteenth century, two kinds of streetcars ran in Ann Arbor. The first electric streetcar ran locally to various locations within city limits, beginning in 1890, under the local control of the Ann Arbor Street Railway. The company constructed a single route around the downtown and central campus areas. A second system of streetcars, the interurbans, began running in 1891, between Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor. This line, known as the "Ypsi-Ann" train was steam powered, at first, but Ann Arbor residents objected to the noise and filth steam engines generated, and the train was not allowed into the city limits. Rather, it followed Packard Street just to the municipal border, where passengers had to get off and then walk a few hundred yards to board the local electric cars that would take them into town.
In 1896, the city consolidated control of both local streetcars and interurbans, and chartered the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti Electric Street Railway to run them. The interurban was electrified that same year, and steam engines no longer ran. Over the next five years, this company controlled the local streetcars around Ann Arbor and expanded the interurban railway east to Detroit and west to Jackson.
Ann Arbor residents approached this new motive power with both anticipation and apprehension. The streetcar company was concerned that residents would not understand how to interact with the new cars safely and appropriately. This poster from the 1890s showed women how to properly board a streetcar, demonstrating concern with both safety and "grace." Residents, however, were more concerned with the opposite—which streetcars interact appropriately with the city and its citizens. Some citizens expressed concerns with the safety and courtesy of streetcar operators. One article from the Ann Arbor Argus of 1894, How to Stop a Streetcar, pointed a sarcastic finger at rude and unsafe drivers.
City records show that ordinary citizens were very engaged in transportation issues, filing petitions that made several requests of city officials. Many residents wanted service extended to them so that they could more easily reach downtown areas, making shopping and leisure more convenient. Running at about eight miles an hour, these early streetcars could move people about town at least twice as fast as they could walk, and people could sit and set down packages aboard a streetcar.
More important to Ann Arbor residents, however, were concerns about the effect streetcars might have on their streets and neighborhoods. Many of their petitions showed concerns about the safety of streetcars, worrying that electric lines would prove harmful to children and animals—mainly horse teams pulling buggies—that used the streets. Others feared the depreciation of property values on streets with railway tracks, arguing in some cases that streets were "too narrow to admit operating electric cars without greatly damaging and depreciating [lowering] the value of property in the residence part and also the business part of said street." Residents worried in particular about the dust and noise streetcars caused, and about the destruction of their "beautiful shade trees" installing overhead wires would require. This petition from 1902 asked that the city require the streetcar company to sprinkle water along the tracks to minimize dust and to level the track so that streetcars did not pound and make so much noise as they traveled. In response to citizens' concerns, the city tried to regulate streetcars to make them as appealing as possible. The Ann Arbor Police Department enforced speed limits, safety regulations, and even a law requiring electric poles to be "painted to correspond in color with the foliage of the shade trees."
Early regulations like these illustrated that, in its formative years, public transportation in Ann Arbor was always a local affair owned, operated, and controlled by Ann Arbor firms in cooperation with municipal government. Street railroads and interurbans continued to expand through 1907. That year, however, a Detroit-based railway company purchased both the local public streetcars and the interurbans from Detroit to Jackson. Their charter required a specific amount of local service and made provisions for the responsibility of road maintenance to be shared with the city. However, since local cars had been operating below cost for several years while interurbans thrived, the new ownership often ignored local transportation concerns and placed their emphasis on maintaining and improving interurban railroads.
City officials were unhappy that the Detroit owners seemed unconcerned with Ann Arbor's transportation needs. City Council passed many resolutions demanding that the new company keep up its end of the bargain. Moreover, the company often shirked its maintenance commitments. From 1908 to 1913 the City Council continued to pressure the railway owners to repair sections of roads that had washed out or otherwise damaged. In this document from 1913, the city finally threatened to sue the Detroit company to repair a portion of West Huron Street.
In 1922, frustrated with years of financial loss, the owners in Detroit sold all local streetcar lines to the City of Ann Arbor, retaining only the more profitable interurban lines. The city would only retain control of local public transportation for a few years, however—in 1924, the People's Motor Coach Company, also based in Detroit, began organizing a motor bus system to replace the streetcars.
Ann Arbor residents were much more enthusiastic about buses than they had been about the streetcars years ago. In January 1925, the city held a celebration of sorts to mark the switch from streetcars to buses. Newspapers reporting the event emphasized the novelty of a more modern transportation system, comparing it to the old, run-down, and outdated streetcars. The city's last streetcar made its final trip along State Street with a banner that said, "Goodbye Folks! The Scrap Heap for Mine." The Ann Arbor Times News reported on January 31 that the streetcars were so old and in such disrepair that,
"Theodore Libolt, mechanical foreman, for 25 years busy day and night patching and repairing the "dinkeys" to keep them in some sort of running condition, was a passenger on the car, armed with tin, nails, and a set of tools ready to meet any emergency and nurse the "dinkey" on its last trip to the old car barns."
In contrast with the old, run-down streetcars, "shining commodious and easy-riding motor coaches" followed, equipped with banners announcing the beginning of new, "up-to-date services for this up-to-date city." One image described in an article in the previous day's paper seemed to capture the initial enthusiasm over the new-fashioned public transportation system:
"A number of children from the school were nearby and it was decided to ask them to sit in the cars and coach for a picture. But do you think one of them could be influenced to climb aboard the streetcars? Not a one. The[y] just piled over one another into the motor coach, fairly howling with joy."
The People's Motor Coach Company offered free bus rides the next day, hoping to encourage better patronage—and better profit—than the streetcars had produced. Initial advertisements emphasized that the continuation of bus services depended on public demand. Despite their campaigns, the People's Motor Coach Company was only moderately successful at generating customers. Only one year after their grand ceremonial start, they reduced the number of available routes from six to five, and the bus system remained in place with only minor modifications until 1929.
In the wake of competition from the automobile and the railroad, the interurban streetcars stopped running altogether in September of 1929. In October of that year, the Great Depression in Ann Arbor capped decades of financial losses incurred by the public transportation system. During the 1930s, ownership of the local bus system shifted several times, as the railway was sold and re-sold in search of profit. Services were spotty and often lapsed for months at a time. One newspaper article from 1936, Transportation Systems Find it Difficult Here, attempted to make sense of the financial troubles of public transportation in Ann Arbor by suggesting some barriers to successful public transportation in the city. This article argued that Ann Arbor had "an unusually large walking population, including thousands of university students, and a disproportionate number of persons driving private automobiles." It described the failures of the bus system in 1933, replaced by much smaller vehicles that year.
In 1936, public transportation was taken over by Ann Arbor City Bus, Inc., which remained in control until they sold to Greyhound in 1943. Greyhound operated the buses at a loss until 1956, when it discontinued service. The next year, voters rejected proposals to create a city-run transportation system. Small owner-operated or city-operated buses ran off and on until 1968, when the formation of the Ann Arbor Transportation Authority began to develop the Ann Arbor bus system that we know today.
Discussion Questions
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From the Ann Arbor Argus, October 26, 1894, p. 1 How to Stop a Streetcar If you wish to ride on the street cars make some motion to indicate the same in order that the conductor or motorman may know. -Times. Yes, many people forget, and the cars go by. There are several ways of stopping the car. The proper thing to do, at first is to stand out in the mud, just ahead of the crossing, lay your umbrella and bundles down and placing your left thumb to your nose and your right to the little finger of your left hand, give your fingers a wriggling movement. If the blind motorneer don't see you, shake your fist at him and address him biblically; then if you haven't secured his attention, spring on with him as the car goes by and knock him off. We have generally had to do the latter, to get the car stopped. The conductor will stop the car to pick up the dead body of the motor fiend. |
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From the Ann Arbor Daily News, Tuesday, May 19, 1936, p. 37. Transportation Systems Find It Difficult Here Caught between an unusually large walking population, including thousands of University students, and a disproportionate number of persons driving private automobiles, local public transportation systems have found it hard to survive, let alone flourish. A fleet of small "jitney" buses, giving speedy service but seating few passengers with comfort, has been operated by the Ann Arbor Transportation Co. for the three years since regulation-size buses operated by other firms proved a failure and were abandoned, threatening the city with a complete absence of public transportation. Electric trolley service pioneered in Ann Arbor in the early '90s, and street cars ran for nearly 35 years. At first independent, the local system was consolidated with the Ypsilanti-Ann Arbor intururban line in 1895, the latter being extended to reach Jackson and Detroit. Always Poor Street Car Town Even before the advent of the automobile, however, Ann Arbor apparently was a poor street car town, for early accounts tell of the extension of a bargain fare to encourage the public to spend summer evenings riding aimlessly around the city, as a means of stimulating business and helping the citizenry cool off. One of the first cities to have electric street cars, Ann Arbor also lead the almost universal parade to buses. By Feb. 1, 1925 arrangements had been made to abandon street cars and establish a bus system that set out to provide service to all sections of the city, more frequent headway and greater convenience and comfort. The new transportation system was ushered in with acclaim, including a parade of street cars labeled "The scrap heap for mine" and a full day of free get-acquainted rides on the buses. The history of motor bus service here proved to be only one of steady retrenchment. Before the first month was up, one of the original six lines was abolished, and by the end of eight months, the Peoples Motor Coach Co., first operator of buses, announced a $40,000 loss. Finally Given Up The Eastern Michigan system, which still runs interurban buses between Ann Arbor and neighboring cities, took over the local system following the Peoples Co. and continued for several years. Lines were frequently rerouted, or curtailed, Sunday service was abandoned and finally the most modern buses were brought here in a last effort to save the system, but in 1933 regular bus service was given up and the city had a brief interlude without any public conveyances other than taxis. Believing that a bus system suited to transportation needs could yet be devised, the Ann Arbor Transportation Co. instituted "jitneys" built on passenger car chasis and has continued operations since. Two full-time lines are operated, serving the west side, the Michigan Central station and University Hospital section, Washtenaw Ave. district and Packard St. and Burns Park areas. Buses run on 20-minute headway, meeting at the common transfer point at S. Main and Washington streets. Efforts have been made to extend part-time service to other sections of the city, such as the north side. Several larger buses are owned by the company and run during rush hours, principally on Washtenaw and Geddes avenues, where student traffic is heaviest. But through the worst, Ann Arbor has remained philosophical about its transportation problems. |