The Key System

>>1088341
>1) Was the Key System considered an interurban or a rapid transit system?

Interurban, like the Sacramento Northern and SP interurban lines running through the area simultaneously.

>2) In its final years, had the development of the metropolitan area rendered it obsolete, or did it still serve a viable route?

During WW2 parts of the line were rebuilt and extended to serve war industries and meet increased need for transportation. It was a viable route and with proper management and public support could have been maintained.

>3) Would it have been possible for the city/state to take over and modernize it (e.g. buy new cars, get the right-of-way out of streets, subsidize it) rather than building BART from scratch?

Maybe not the state itself, but a BART type arrangement within the region that also incorporated the Sacramento Northern lines could have easily been implemented if the will to do so was there in the 1940s.

Interesting cars. They look almost more European than American.

>>1088354
I often wonder how American interurban cars would have continued to develop and evolve beyond the 1930s-1940s.