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Taken for a Ride - The U.S. History of the Assault on Public Transport in the Last Century

PEACE REBEL · documentary · Watch on YouTube

Transit, cities & urban planningWorld historyDocumentaries & storytelling

What it is

A 1996 documentary on the twentieth-century American decline of public transport and the role of car companies and the highway lobby in it. It is best known for its account of GM's streetcar buyouts.

Why Hacker News recommends it

HN cites it as the go-to documentary on how car-industry interests undermined US transit.

  • 2 people recommended it
  • 2 different months
  • 0 strong recommendations
  • first 2015, last 2025

What HN commenters said

  1. “I think the documentary Taken for a ride(1996)”

    1996 documentary on the assault on US public transport.

    myth_buster, 2015-08 · Recommendation · in “The Uber endgame: privatized public transit”

  2. “Seen this?”

    Documentary on powerful interests undermining public transport.

    caravaggi0, 2018-12 · Recommendation · in “Fundamental rule of traffic: building new roads makes people drive more (2015)”

Excerpts from Hacker News comments, linked to the originals. Summaries and labels were written by a language model from those comments.

Topics: streetcars, highway lobby, gm, urban transit, car dependence

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