Photograph courtesy of the Kenan Research Center at the Atlanta History Center
Of the many subjects Atlantans love to argue over—who has the best lemon pepper wings, the term “Hotlanta,” whether the Hawks will ever win anything—public transportation is always at the top of the list. As we reported in our February issue, the plan to build light rail on the BeltLine has drawn opinions from all corners of the city: Advocates say it will provide desperately needed alternatives to cars, while critics say it will only cause more crowding on the pedestrian paths.
It may be hard to imagine today, when gridlock traffic is synonymous with Atlanta, but riding public transit was once the norm. For the first half of the twentieth century, Atlanta’s public transportation system rivaled even that of bigger Northern cities like Baltimore and Pittsburgh. By 1928, the city’s streetcar system was so extensive, you could hop on in East Point and ride up to North Druid Hills, only changing trains once. Before cars became ubiquitous and city planners carpeted the city with multi-lane highways, Atlantans rode public transportation to work, school, shopping and entertainment. They didn’t all do it together: Atlanta’s streetcars and trolleys were strictly segregated until Civil Rights activists integrated them in 1959, and transit routes often favored riders in white neighborhoods. Racism underlies the long history of public transportation in Atlanta and shaped the system as we know it today.
Here, a brief look at the city’s former streetcar system and why Atlanta’s public transit had such a decline.
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