>>2011628It would have had to become either publicly-owned or subsidized. The sad irony is that many US transit systems closed down because they weren't profitable and they wouldn't get subsidized, only for the cities to later implement publicly-owned and highly subsidized transit services. If they had just taken over the existing systems, tho more expensive to operate, they also would have had more passengers and more revenue. At worst it would have been slightly more expensive to keep and run but with massively better service.
The PE network after WW2 was quite serviceable. It would have benefitted for either full grade separation or at least transit-only lanes for its streetcars. In the long run an additional southwest-northeast tunnel through downtown LA so that especially the expansive southern and eastern lines could have achieved better speeds. Rolling stock was getting dated, they could of bought more PCCs, maybe even second-hand, afaik PCCs easily achieved speeds of 60 mph so they could be used on the private ROWs as well.
The PE running an interurban-type operation with private ROWs and street-running is in retrospect actually a really good concept, at least if you want to save the cost of expensive tunneling or elevated tracks. This idea is being re-invented now as so-called tram-trains.
