I wanted to try to avoid including any conspiratorial content in the article and try to stick to the facts of how we got to where we are today with our car culture. But I am familiar with the conspiracy, which does sound convincing. However, the demise of the streetcar system seems to have occurred due to economic reasons as buses were more economical, rather than a nefarious plot by GM and others to destroy the streetcar system. This tracks with what I learned in my Transportation and Smart Growth class, which is that streetcar lines were discontinued ultimately due to competition from buses. And then transit ridership in general declined with the rise of the suburbs and increased auto ownership.