First Horsecar Offers Bump-Free Rides in New York City in 1832

The first horsecar went into operation in New York City on November 14, 1832. 🐴🚃 Marketers promoted the horsecar as "the improvement of the age," and horsecars were supposed to replace omnibuses.

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Horserides traveled at about seven miles per hour, increasing the half-hour commuting distance for New Yorkers from two to three miles, and offered a comparatively smooth, bump-free ride. 💨☀️ They were local versions of the stagecoach lines and picked up and dropped off passengers on a regular route. 🚏

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John G. Stephenson created them, before he built the first American omnibus and later patented the first streetcar. 🔨💡 In 1832, John Mason, president of the New York and Harlem Railroad Company, commissioned Stephenson to design and construct a railcar for use on New York City streets. 🛤️

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The new transit system was an improvement over the omnibus. Placing the public vehicle on rails reduced friction and utilized horsepower more efficiently. 🐴💨 Rails were seen as all-weather because streets of the time were often poorly paved, or not paved at all, allowing wagon wheels to sink in mud during rain or snow. 🌧️❄️

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The amazing thing is that Stephenson and Mason were able to plan all rides, schedules, stops, streetcar maintenance, and repairs without work management solutions. At that time, it was all on paper!

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© A horse-drawn tram along 23rd Street and 4th Avenue in New York City. Bettmann / Getty Images