Urban Public Transportation in the United States basically experienced rise, prosperity and fall before 1960s. 1830s-1890s is an era of horse-drawn streetcar, which is the beginning of public transportation, subways, cable cars and commuter trains developed as well in this period. 1890s-1920s is an era of electric streetcar,which is the prosperous period of public transportation, the electric streetcar became the main transport in American cities. However, since 1920s, the transit industry began to decline, influenced by different factors inside and outside of transit industry. And the United States stepped into an era of automobiles and suburbanization.