The triumph of the trolley represented a transformation of not only urban technology but also urban culture. A change in meaning that city residents associated with the street. The ascendancy of the trolley was a victory for the instrumental approach to urban streets; streets came to be viewed primarily as transportation arteries rather than centres of social life.

After electrification reformers urged that parents should keep the children away from the streets. Instead of making streets safer reformers now sought to segregate children into playground. The triumph of this instrumental view of the urban streets transformed urban culture literally paving the way for automobile and finally to the slippery slope that led to urban freeways.  

Ultimately the trolley’s supporters were fighting a losing battle, and after World War II most major American cities abandoned their trolley systems in favour of motor buses.

Both the trolley’s triumph as well as abandonment must be understood as contingent outcomes of political and social struggles that simultaneously shaped both physical artifacts and cultural meanings.