Phoenix rapid transit plan, 1989 cable car replacing the horses and mules

replacing the horses and mules that had pulled the trains before

Starting in 1947

The mob took control and accelerated the pace of the streetcar shutdown

The problem

and the growing number of motorists on the city's streets weren't making matters any better

Phoenix rapid transit plan, 1989 cable car replacing the horses and mulesIn 1984, the Valley of the Sun was booming, traffic was miserable, and greater Phoenix had nowhere near the infrastructure to deal with it. So a deal was struck in the State Legislature: two separate infrastructure taxes would be put to a vote: one for better mass transit, and one for more freeways. The freeway tax passed handily in 1985, but the mass transit plan, depicted here, was a hot mess. The $8 billion price tag, of course, was the problem and