What was the purpose of the electric streetcar?

Question

What was the purpose of the electric streetcar?

Answer 1

to replace the horse drawn street car....no mess, easier to replace part, and no feeding either.

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Answer 2

The electric streetcar was used in cities and towns along heavily traveled routes. It was a great alternative to walking, riding a horse, riding a bicycle or other forms of local travel. The route was fixed by the tracks that the cars rode upon. They were low maintenance and low cost. They wouldn't normally be used for a cross-country trip, but instead would be used to travel across town or in and out of town.

Timothy D.

West Melbourne, FL

Answer 3

They were the only form of "rapid" transit available to most people before auto's came into use.

Answer 4

They were the first non-horse-drawn mass transit, and they worked nicely.  They were used for both local and long-distance travel--look up 'inter-urban cars' in Google.  You could, with the proper transfers, ride from Pennsylvania to Maine on long-distance streetcars at one time.  

The problem is that the tracks required a good deal of maintenance.  But they, or their no-track brethren, will be back when oil gets short in a few years.

Answer 5

Electric cars are useful because they can be charged at night when the power plants produce more power than is used, so it gets wasted, and that means they produce zero emisions.