Also listed are the historic companies which had previously operated the bus and streetcar systems in each city, and years of last streetcar, and first and last trolleybus. Also mentioned are systems with rapid transit lines and new "light rail" lines. Most transit systems became publicly owned during the 1970's. Some publicly owned transit systems began as city systems, but later expanded into regional systems, as indicated.
Some smaller transit systems eventually evolved to dial-a-ride operations, no longer with scheduled fixed routes. Some dial-a-ride systems are only available to people with disabilities or to senior citizens.
Next to certain company names in parentheses are holding companies, ultimately owning a particular company.
Streetcar companies are mentioned in the Moody and the Poor investment manuals, and "The Trolley And Interurban Directory", by Joseph Gross. But it is possible, that some streetcar systems failed to be completed, and were never actually operated.
A few bus companies are identified as "Private bus co. in 1952". The history of many bus companies is obscure, and the only references found for these bus companies are listings in the 1952 "Mass Transportation's Directory".
One purpose of this section, is to illustrate how well the transit systems have evolved to serve the metropolitan areas, most of which have experienced population growths. Metropolitan areas are defined by the US Census Bureau, and now always consist of one or more whole counties. An area is considered as "metropolitan", if the presence of the city results in a significant amount of travel and commerce between that area and the main city, or sometimes immediately surrounding suburbs also. In addition, the US Census Bureau has recently adopted the definition "micropolitan", which is a smaller kind of metropolitan area.
For each state, metropolitan areas are listed first, beginning with the largest and oldest metropolitan areas. Many of these large metropolitan areas are grouped as a "Combined Statistical Area", defined by the US Census Bureau as a larger area with some degree of travel and commerce. But these Combined Statistical Areas are only mentioned where there is some degree of connectivity between the transit systems. US Census Bureau defined areas are not always strictly observed with these pages, often instead reflecting the areas covered by a given transit system, or where metropolitan areas exist in more than one state.
The large metropolitan areas are followed by other older metropolitan areas, recognized as metropolitan areas at least by the 1950 Census. And followed by newer metropolitan areas, which were recognized as metropolitan areas with later censuses.
Within each metropolitan area, counties are listed. Beginning with the county or counties with the principal city, followed by "additional metropolitan counties". Some older metropolitan areas recognized by the 1950 Census, have "new additional metropolitan counties", which were not recognized as metropolitan counties until later censuses.
For each state, two micropolitan parts may be included, according to whether those cities have a history of privately owned public transportation in the past. These micropolitan parts often are a key indicator in how supportive a state is with public transportation. Progressive states may have several micropolitan areas, with transit systems in cities where there was no previous history of privately owned transit systems. While states where support has been lacking will have cities where privately owned transit systems previously existed, but now are with no transit.
Many metropolitan areas have been growing, with more distant counties evolving from rural to developed suburban, and added after 1950 to the definitions of the metropolitan areas. But unfortunately these new areas have generally evolved around the automobile. And in most areas of America, the development of public transportation in these areas has been seriously lagging. Travel and commerce may occur to and from these new areas, but unfortunately the automobile usually remains the only means of transportation in these areas. Or the only public transportation consists of a rural dial-a-ride service, rarely providing service into the main city. Very few outlying counties have urban type fixed route bus systems, whether parts of multi county transit systems, or separate county transit systems with connecting routes. While a few outlying counties have express commuter bus routes operating to and from the main city.
Fixed route transit systems are usually most appropriate for urban or metropolitan areas, while dial-a-ride systems are usually most appropriate for rural areas. For the metropolitan areas, this section illustrates the extent of transit in the outlying counties, and how well they connect with the main transit systems. And the most significant rural transit systems are also mentioned.
Information is not always certain to be accurate, mainly because of many transit systems which still do not have official Web sites. More often, rural transit systems do not have Web sites. And for most transit systems without Web sites, they are assumed here to be rural type dial-a-ride systems.
Definitions/Additional Information
Further information and definitions with transit systems, and the areas served.