What caused the demise of the trolley system in New York City?

Question

I was wondering if anyone can help explain to me the mystery as to why they went away.

Answer 1

It also happened in London for much the same reasons as explained for NY in the 1st answer. And yes, they are trying to bring them back, We already have the Croydon Tramlink serving major suburbs in the south of the city (see http://www.croydon-tramlink.co.uk/). There are now plans to bring them back to the centre (http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/projects...

Answer 2

A couple of reasons:

There was a much greater emphasis on the car (a/k/a private transportation).  That allowed people to travel to areas either not covered by public transportation or where it took many changes of trolleys where if traveling by car you went to your destination directly.

The trolley was a very inflexible mode of transportation.  That is, it was limited to where the tracks were placed. If there was a traffic jam then the trolleys were stuck until the jam was cleared.  The rising cost of laying track for new routes and maintaining the infrastructure of the system was a negative factor.  The bus on the other hand was very flexible.  Routes could be set up (and modified) where needed very quickly and, at the time, more economical to run and maintain.

It is amazing, that nearly 50 years after the last trolley ran, that  that mode of transportation is making a comeback as Light Rail systems (Hudson-Bergen Light Rail, Riverline, etc).

There has been talk over the years about bringing a light rail system to Manhattan along 42nd Street from river to river.  It would make 42nd St a one way street with traffic on one side and the light rail on the other.  Unfortunately, it can't get past the planning stages.  The city wants a private company to build and operate it and so far no one company has come up with viable bids or ideas.  Another issue is what to do with the displaced vehicular traffic from the other side of 42nd St.  The neighboring cross streets (40th St, 41 St, 43rd St, 44th St etc) are not wide enough to handle the large influx of cars, trucks and buses.