The Lost Subways of North America
A Cartographic Guide to the Past, Present, and What Might Have Been
-
-
4.0 • 2 Ratings
-
-
- $34.99
-
- $34.99
Publisher Description
A visual exploration of the transit histories of twenty-three US and Canadian cities.
Every driver in North America shares one miserable, soul-sucking universal experience—being stuck in traffic. But things weren’t always like this. Why is it that the mass transit systems of most cities in the United States and Canada are now utterly inadequate?
The Lost Subways of North America offers a new way to consider this eternal question, with a strikingly visual—and fun—journey through past, present, and unbuilt urban transit. Using meticulous archival research, cartographer and artist Jake Berman has successfully plotted maps of old train networks covering twenty-three North American metropolises, ranging from New York City’s Civil War–era plan for a steam-powered subway under Fifth Avenue to the ultramodern automated Vancouver SkyTrain and the thousand-mile electric railway system of pre–World War II Los Angeles. He takes us through colorful maps of old, often forgotten streetcar lines, lost ideas for never-built transit, and modern rail systems—drawing us into the captivating transit histories of US and Canadian cities.
Berman combines vintage styling with modern printing technology to create a sweeping visual history of North American public transit and urban development. With more than one hundred original maps, accompanied by essays on each city’s urban development, this book presents a fascinating look at North American rapid transit systems.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Cartographer Berman's comprehensive debut succinctly recounts the histories of 23 public mass transit systems built by American cities in the 20th century. With rare exceptions, each city's transit history begins with privately owned horse-drawn or electric streetcars that later became publicly owned and were then replaced by surface buses and highways after WWII. Focusing mainly on subway systems, but also including streetcars, light rail, and bus rapid transit, Berman takes note of the many postwar attempts to expand or modernize transit systems, which mostly faltered in the face of mass suburbanization, federally funded limited-access highways that drained cities of residents and tax revenues, and increasing automobile traffic congestion. According to Berman, America's essentially failed systems include Detroit's People Mover, Miami's Metrorail, and the now-defunct subway in Rochester, N.Y. He also spotlights underperforming systems, such as Dallas's light rail and Philadelphia's regional rapid transit, and systems that have done better, including Houston's light rail and Pittsburgh's buses. Berman nevertheless finds most of these transit systems to be inadequate, blaming restrictive zoning laws, political interference, union intransigence, and the managerial dysfunction of transit agencies. For each city, Berman provides his own exquisitely illustrated maps of past, existing, and proposed transit systems. The result is a valuable resource for transit enthusiasts. Illus.
