Transitioning Seattle’s transit network from streetcars to buses and trolleys was greeted as cutting edge in 1940. It doesn’t feel that way now. Regardless, this promotional video (by Cinema Screen Service Seattle) for the looting of the streetcar network offers plenty of interesting footage of what Seattle and its transit network looked like in the 1940’s.

Seattle’s streetcar system stretched far, but, by 1941, it was in its death throes as tracks were dismantled and service was replaced by buses. The trolley wires remained on some routes, allowing the city a gentler transition; our trolley buses still use those same overhead wires today in many cases. (City of Seattle)
Article Author
Doug Trumm
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Doug Trumm is publisher of The Urbanist. An Urbanist writer since 2015, he dreams of pedestrianizing streets, blanketing the city in bus lanes, and unleashing a mass timber building spree to end the affordable housing shortage and avert our coming climate catastrophe. He graduated from the Evans School of Public Policy and Governance at the University of Washington in 2019. He lives in East Fremont and loves to explore the city on his bike.