Philly's Trackless Trolley system
Philly's trackless trolley system was never that big, until recently having only lost routes on Ridge Ave and Oregon to diesels.
In June 2002, the trackless trolleys on the 59, 66 and 75 lines that run out of Frankford Depot were replaced with diesel buses. This was due to a large construction project at Frankford Transportation Center (aka Bridge Pratt) involving amongst other things, a new elevated terminal for the Market Frankford Rapid Transit line and demolition of the old el structure. Despite some speculation that the trackless trolleys might never return, the infrastructure was rebuilt around Bridge-Pratt and 38 new trackless trolleys were ordered from New Flyer Industries. Trackless service resumed on these three lines in fall 2008 as the new units were delivered. In South Philadelphia, the two trackless routes that ran out of Southern Depot were also diselized. In 2002, electric service on the 29 Tasker Morris ended when a large consruction project forced a route detour. That left route 79 Snyder Avenue as the only active Trackless route in Philadelphia. In June of 2003, SEPTA deiced to deselize that route too at least until new Trackless Torlleys could be ordered. When SEPTA placed their order with New Flyer for new trackless trolleys, they decided to only purchase 38 units - enough to fill schedules on the Frankford lines, but not the Southern ones. It looks as though South Philly has seen its last Trackless Trolley.
Click on the links for views of the trackless trolley network before and after the conversion to low floor Trackless units.
Route 59
Route 66
Route 75
Route 29
Route 79
Trolleys
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