March 1: This Date in Los Angeles Transportation History

Written by Kenn Bicknell

1903: Monrovia’s first electric streetcar begins service.

More information can be found in the August 10, 1930 issue of Pacific Electric Magazine.

1903: The California Supreme Court rules that Pacific Electric Railway and Los Angeles Railway are not obliged to issue or accept interchangeable transfers.

1932: The last wooden railway bridge in Los Angeles is removed. Los Angeles Railway makes a complete fill of its right-of-way across Bimini Slough.

1972: Southern California Rapid Transit District‘s Division 2 takes delivery of one of four steam turbine-powered buses for a year-long $7.9 million demonstration project.

The California Steam Bus Project is sponsored by the Urban Mass Transit Administration (predecessor to the Federal Transit Administration) and the California Air Resources Board.

It is the first federally funded alternative fuel transit demonstration project in the United States.

San Diego, San Francisco and Sacramento transit agencies also take delivery of steam-powered coaches.