[mvpel]

By 1911 the Mitten interests in Philadelphia had bought out the smaller street railroads and created the great PRT -- Philadelphia Rapid Transit.

How much of that was aided and abetted by crony politics and palm-greasing, though, rather than fair-and-square free-market competition?

[Publius]

I'm not sure what the (Republican) Vare and Penrose machines did in regard to the 1911 merger. The books on Philadelphia transportation history don't mention any role by the city's corrupt ruling machine, although that doesn't rule out its involvement.