text: "...that transit disappeared from the scene due to HEAVY lobbying from oil, gas, and rubber (tires) industries."
  Study more history, not just Al Gore's version. As the price of automobiles dropped, more people bought them because they represented freedom. They no longer had to walk for blocks to catch a streetcar running on a fixed schedule. They didn't have to transfer from one trolley to another. They could go wherever they wanted at whatever time. 
  I own a transportation research company. The evolution of public transit is more complicated than most people realize, and the books and articles written about transit is (typically) slanted toward the interest of the author.
  Big oil didn't kill the privately-owned streetcars - changing demographics was the reason.