Customer Reviews

Cash, Tokens, & Transfers: A History of Urban Mass Transit in North America

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I'm the type of person who gets excited to read at about a subject and then fills a shelf full of half read books. I have become very interested in Mass Transit and Urban Development as of late. I was worried that this book would end up getting a the short end of my attention span because of it's outwardly bland appearance. However, I read the book in three sittings, which is a record for me. Cudahy gives a fascinating account of horse drawn street cars, cable cars, electric trolleys, subways, buses and several other curiosities that don't usually get discussed. It is short, to the point, and interesting.

While this book provides an interesting history of urban mass transit, Cudahy's writing style is distracting and overly tangential. Many chapters in the book are puncuated by random segues into non-related historical footnotes, which I found to be very distracting. Some of the points Cudahy makes, like why buses are cheaper than streetcars, were not backed up by any clear evidence outside of the footnotes.

In short, this book reads like a tale being told by an easily distracted old codger. While informative, it relies heavily on opinion and anecdote. I was hoping for something a little more data-rich. It is fairly short, though, and provides a good overview of the subject. It's worth reading, but not worth buying.