100 Years Back: The Streetcar Debate

Coloured postcard of a streetcar, horse and wagons, and automobiles in front of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) station on 1 Avenue South in Lethbridge, 1915.
Galt Museum & Archives, 19891054017

Nowadays, old-timers remember the streetcars fondly—nostalgic reminiscences of their parents catching a ride for 5 cents, going to movies or the exhibition. However, a hundred years ago, the local citizens seemed less enchanted with the urban railway. The articles in the Lethbridge Herald reveal a range of issues that Lethbridgians had with the public transit of the day. They subjected the Lethbridge Municipal Railway to harsh criticism. 

An article published in April 1920 argues that the streetcar is a thing of the past, soon to be replaced by motor truck transit. The writer described streetcars as "noisy clunkers" requiring "unsightly and abominable overhead wires with their appurtenances." In contrast, the writer described the "motor bus" as "the poor man's limousine" that is "swift, sure, silent, comfortable and even luxurious." The author also used the New York City transit system to argue that roadway transit is more cost-efficient and sustainable.

Lethbridge City Council was consistently concerned with the cost of the streetcar transit system since they believed the cost of the system was a large contributing factor to the city's budget problems. One writer in the Herald alleged that the widening revenue gap held "no promise of salvation." The issue became so polarizing in 1920 that City Council considered holding a referendum to delegate the decision about whether to scrap the system entirely to residents. 

The Lethbridge Municipal Railway survived the public controversy of 1920. Its survival was in part due to concerns that scrapping the transit system would damage the City's urban image, and in part due to support from the city's business owners and merchants. The streetcar system continued to appear frequently in the opinion section of the Lethbridge Herald throughout the next decade and a half until a bus transit system fully replaced it in 1946. Was the system inherently unsustainable? Or was it doomed by limited scale, operating failures, or consistent polarizing opposition?

You can learn more about the history of streetcars in Lethbridge at www.galtmuseum.com.