The mass transit system in California has gone through many stages of development since the years of its inception. Shortened to SDER, the San Diego Electric Railway had humble beginnings associated with the developer and heir to a fortune made through the sugar trade, businessman John D. Spreckles. In the beginning, the network was small and used simple streetcars that were actually drawn by horse. The system consisted of only five routes, whereas at the peak of development, SDER consisted of 165 miles of coverage.You can find a quick rundown here The amount of coverage today is still considerably high despite despite tumultuous interest in the project over its lifespan. The new lines were instated as the demand for them grew. Eventually the demand was high enough and the technology was available to incorporate more cars and more a sophisticated means of driving them. 1888 marks the first year that the company put an electric streetcar into operation. This named San Diego as the prime innovator in incorporating ‘ground return’ technology on the west coast. By 1921 the first motor bus went into operation after many years of complications regarding energy demand and financial barriers that kept cropping up under the electrical system used to power the vehicles. These buses started out rather primitively in contrast to today’s standards of public transit, consisting of only plywood for the body and utilizing a four stroke engine. The bus lines did not totally replace the streetcars however. Their combined services provided transportation for over ninety four million people in 1942. It wasn’t until 1946 that bus lines completely phased out streetcars. Workers began to remove the overhead electrical lines that once served the streetcars. San Diego took its place as the first major city to completely convert to public transit division consisting of only bus lines. But the streetcar does ultimately gain public interest again, in the form of the “San Diego Trolley.” While the bus system remains the primary mode of public transportation, 1981 saw the first streetcars back on San Diego roadways. The inaugural run was 15.9 miles. While the future of streetcars in Sand Diego is uncertain the preservation of their interesting past is tightly secured.