The Philadelphia
trolleybus
A trolleybus (also known as trolley bus, trolley coach, trackless trolley, trackless tramin the 1910s and 1920sJoyce, J.; King, J. S.; and Newman, A. G. (1986). ''British Trolleybus Systems'', pp. 9, 12. London: Ian Allan Publishing. .or troll ...
system forms part of the
public transportation
Public transport (also known as public transit, mass transit, or simply transit) are forms of transport available to the general public. It typically uses a fixed schedule, route and charges a fixed fare. There is no rigid definition of whi ...
network serving
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
, in the state of
Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...
, United States. It opened on October 14, 1923,
and is now the second-longest-lived trolleybus system in the world. One of only four such systems currently operating in the U.S., it presently comprises three lines and is operated by the
Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), with a fleet of 38 trolleybuses, or trackless trolleys as SEPTA calls them.
The three surviving routes serve
North
North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating Direction (geometry), direction or geography.
Etymology
T ...
and
Northeast Philadelphia
Northeast Philadelphia, nicknamed Northeast Philly, the Great Northeast, and known colloquially as simply "the Northeast", is a section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to the 2000 census, Northeast Philadelphia has a population of betw ...
and connect with SEPTA's
Market–Frankford rapid transit
Rapid transit or mass rapid transit (MRT) or heavy rail, commonly referred to as metro, is a type of high-capacity public transport that is generally built in urban areas. A grade separation, grade separated rapid transit line below ground su ...
line.
History
The first ''trackless trolley'' (trolley bus) service in Philadelphia was operated by the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company, which had been established in 1902 by the merger of several then-independent transit companies operating within the city and its environs. Through a reorganization, the company became the
Philadelphia Transportation Company
The Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC) was the main public transit operator in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from 1940 to 1968. A private company, PTC was the successor to the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company (PRT), in operation since ...
(PTC) on January 1, 1940. The PTC was transferred from private to public ownership on September 30, 1968, when SEPTA (formed in 1964) took it over.
Of more than 300 trolley bus systems in operation worldwide (as of 2011),
Philadelphia's is the second-oldest, exceeded in longevity only by that of
Shanghai
Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...
, China (in operation since 1914). That also makes it the oldest system in the
Western Hemisphere
The Western Hemisphere is the half of the planet Earth that lies west of the Prime Meridian (which crosses Greenwich, London, United Kingdom) and east of the 180th meridian.- The other half is called the Eastern Hemisphere. Geopolitically, ...
.
The three Northeast Philadelphia trolley bus lines operating out of Frankford Depot, and the two South Philadelphia lines which operated out of Southern Depot, always existed in isolation from each other; there was never any trackless route or non-revenue 2-wire connection between those two networks. In addition, from 1941 to 1961, there were actually three disconnected trackless networks in the city, as PTC Route 61 operated out of Ridge Depot (closed on December 4, 1960) and did not connect with any other trackless line. (Pre-
MBTA
The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (abbreviated MBTA and known colloquially as "the T") is the public agency responsible for operating most public transportation services in Greater Boston, Massachusetts. The MBTA transit network in ...
Boston, and the former
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
system, also featured two or more disconnected trolleybus networks.)
20th century
The city's first trolley bus line was route 80-Oregon Avenue, an east–west route in
South Philadelphia
South Philadelphia, nicknamed South Philly, is the section of Philadelphia bounded by South Street to the north, the Delaware River to the east and south, and the Schuylkill River to the west."." ''City of Philadelphia''. Retrieved November 8, ...
which ran from 22nd Street to Delaware Avenue, a distance of . Service began on October 14, 1923, with a fleet of 10 vehicles: nine built by the
J. G. Brill Company
The J. G. Brill Company manufactured streetcars,Young, Andrew D. (1997). ''Veteran & Vintage Transit'', p. 101. St. Louis: Archway Publishing. interurban coaches, motor buses, trolleybuses and railroad cars in the United States for nearl ...
(a major U.S.
streetcar
A tram (also known as a streetcar or trolley in Canada and the United States) is an urban rail transit in which vehicles, whether individual railcars or multiple-unit trains, run on tramway tracks on urban public streets; some include s ...
manufacturer) and called the "Rail-less Car" model, and one experimental unit built by the Commercial Truck Company (the only trolley bus ever built by that company). A tenth Brill unit was acquired the following year. All were replaced by more modern Brill T30 trolley buses in 1935.
After the opening of route 80, 18 years would pass before a second trolley bus line was opened. Route 61-Ridge Avenue became a trolley bus line on October 5, 1941, converted from streetcar operation. It was a much longer (11 miles) and more heavily used route. It ran from the
Manayunk neighborhood, in the northwest, to the
city center
A city centre, also known as an urban core, is the commercial, cultural and often the historical, political, and geographic heart of a city. The term "city centre" is primarily used in British English, and closely equivalent terms that exist in ...
(locally known as Center City), and ultimately it was the only trolley bus route ever to serve Philadelphia's city center. PTC purchased 50 new, larger Brill trolley buses for this conversion, bought another 10 in 1942 and six vehicles from
Pullman-Standard
The Pullman Company, founded by George Pullman, was a manufacturer of railroad cars in the mid-to-late 19th century through the first half of the 20th century, during the boom of railroads in the United States. Through rapid late-19th century d ...
in 1944.
A total of five additional routes were opened later:
29-Tasker-Morris in 1947,
75-Wyoming Avenue in 1948,
59-Castor Avenue in 1950,
66-Frankford Avenue in 1955, and lastly
79-Snyder Avenue in June 1961. However, routes 80 and 61 were converted to diesel buses in May 1960 and March 1961, respectively, so the system never had more than six routes in operation concurrently. The conversion of route 79 may have been prompted by a desire or need by PTC to make use of some of the trolley coaches made surplus by the conversion of routes 61 and 80 to diesel buses.
The five trackless routes in place in mid-1961 continued to be served by trolley buses for the next four decades, and three remain so in 2025. The
rush hour
A rush hour (American English, British English) or peak hour (Australian English, Indian English) is a part of the day during which traffic congestion on roads and crowding on public transport is at its highest. Normally, this happens twice e ...
service on route 66 includes several express trips, and one section of Frankford Avenue is equipped with a second set of trolleybus wires (in each direction) to enable trolley buses on express runs to pass those on local service. (A second section of express wires, located farther out along route 66, between Ryan Street and Rhawn Street, was removed around 2007, its scheduled use having been reduced to just one trip per day by 1998.)
[''Trolleybus Magazine'' No. 219 (May–June 1998), p. 69. National Trolleybus Association (UK).] Route 66 also has
"Night Owl" (all-night) service.
By 2001, the number of trolley buses needed for peak-period service had declined to 66, and consequently many of the 110 AM General trolley buses had been retired and used as sources of parts for the remaining units.
Until the retirement, in 2003, of the last trolley buses with rollsign-type
destination sign
A destination sign (North American English) or destination indicator/destination blind (British English) is a sign mounted on the front, side or rear of a public transport vehicle, such as a bus, tram/streetcar or light rail vehicle, that di ...
s,
short-turn
In public transport, a short turn, short working or turn-back is a service on a bus route or rail line that does not operate along the full length of the route. Short turn trips are often scheduled and published in a Public transport timetable, ti ...
trips were indicated to riders by a red "slash" through the route number (known as a ''barré'' in
British English
British English is the set of Variety (linguistics), varieties of the English language native to the United Kingdom, especially Great Britain. More narrowly, it can refer specifically to the English language in England, or, more broadly, to ...
, and ''barrata'' or ''barrato'' in Italy, where such practice was also common). Also used on Philadelphia's streetcar routes, this practice was very uncommon on trolley buses in North America.
21st century
Until June 2002, five SEPTA routes used trolley buses, using AM General vehicles built in 1978–79. Routes
29,
59,
66,
75, and
79 used trolley buses, but were converted to diesel buses for an indefinite period starting in 2002 (routes 59, 66, 75) and 2003 (routes 29, 79). In the case of routes 59, 66 and 75, which are based at SEPTA's
Frankford depot (garage), the initial reason for the conversion to buses was major reconstruction of the garage and the adjacent
Market-Frankford "El" viaduct, and construction of a new
Frankford Terminal
Frankford Transit Center is a transportation terminal in the Frankford section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It was once known as the Bridge-Pratt station before a complete reconstruction in 2003. Frankford Transit Center is th ...
. That work necessitated the temporary removal of the
overhead trolley wires used by trolley buses both at the garage and along the
deadhead
A Deadhead or Dead head is a fan of the American rock band the Grateful Dead. The Deadhead subculture originated in the 1970s, when a number of fans began traveling to see the Grateful Dead in as many shows or festival venues as they could. As mo ...
route (running along Frankford Avenue, directly beneath the El viaduct) connecting routes 59 and 75 to the garage. Other reasons prompted the suspension of trolley bus service on routes 29 and 79, in 2003. At the time, the cessation of trolley bus service was expected to be permanent;
[''Trolleybus Magazine'' No. 252 (November–December 2003), p. 138.] the 110
AM General
AM General is an American heavy vehicle and contract manufacturer, contract automotive manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana. It is best known for the civilian Hummer H1, Hummer and the military Humvee that are assembled in Mishawaka, Indiana. ...
vehicles that had provided service on SEPTA's then-five trolley bus routes never returned to service
(and all were scrapped in 2006).
[''Trolleybus Magazine'' No. 273 (May–June 2007), p. 71. National Trolleybus Association (UK).]
However, in early 2004 SEPTA began to consider reinstating trolley bus service at Frankford Division after the authority was informed that it would be required to repay some
Federal Transit Administration
The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) is an agency within the United States Department of Transportation (DOT) that provides financial and technical assistance to local public transportation systems. The FTA is one of ten modal administration ...
(FTA) funds used in the 2002–2006 renovation of that garage (including renewal of the yard wires) and the adjacent route 66 terminal if trolley bus service did not resume.
[''Trolleybus Magazine'' No. 255 (May–June 2004), p. 74. National Trolleybus Association (UK). ISSN 0266-7452] In early 2006, the authority ordered 38 new
New Flyer
New Flyer is a Canadian multinational Bus manufacturing, bus manufacturer, specializing in the production of transit buses. New Flyer is owned by the NFI Group, a holding company for several bus manufacturers. New Flyer has several manufacturing ...
low-floor trolley buses, enough for routes 59, 66 and 75.
In October 2006, the SEPTA board voted not to order additional vehicles for routes 29 and 79, and those routes became permanently operated with diesel buses.
However, electric propulsion on these routes was expected to be resurrected upon the delivery of 25 new
battery electric bus
A battery electric bus is an electric bus that is driven by an electric motor and obtains energy from on-board batteries. Many trolleybuses use batteries as an auxiliary or emergency power source.
Battery electric buses offer the potential for z ...
es in 2017 using an FTA grant.
The pilot new low-floor trolley bus arrived in June 2007, for testing,
but not in passenger service. The production-series vehicles were delivered in 2008 and began to enter service in April, enabling a resumption of trolley bus service in Philadelphia after a suspension of nearly 5 years. Trolley bus service resumed on routes 66 and 75 on April 14, 2008, and on route 59 the following day, but it was initially limited to just one or two vehicles on each route, as new trolley buses gradually replaced the motor buses serving the routes over a period of several weeks.
In October 2023, the system became only the second trolley bus system in world history to reach 100 years of age, after the
system in Shanghai, China.
[''Trolleybus Magazine'' No. 373 (January–February 2024), p. 41. National Trolleybus Association (UK). ]
Routes
Current
Trolley buses currently still operate on only the following three SEPTA routes:
Former
Fleet
Past fleet, through the 1970s
Philadelphia's first trackless trolleys were supplied by the
J. G. Brill Company
The J. G. Brill Company manufactured streetcars,Young, Andrew D. (1997). ''Veteran & Vintage Transit'', p. 101. St. Louis: Archway Publishing. interurban coaches, motor buses, trolleybuses and railroad cars in the United States for nearl ...
in 1923. Brill was based in Philadelphia, but was one of the largest manufacturers of trolley ''cars'' (streetcars, or trams) in the world from the 1890s to the 1920s (last making streetcars in 1941), and produced trolley buses from 1921 to 1954. Philadelphia purchased more trolley buses from Brill than from any other manufacturer, a total of 133. However, vehicles were also purchased from other builders, most notably
Marmon-Herrington
The Marmon-Herrington Company, Inc. is an American manufacturer of axles and transfer cases for trucks and other vehicles. Earlier, the company built military vehicles and some tanks during World War II, and until the late 1950s or early 1960s w ...
(71 units) and
AM General
AM General is an American heavy vehicle and contract manufacturer, contract automotive manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana. It is best known for the civilian Hummer H1, Hummer and the military Humvee that are assembled in Mishawaka, Indiana. ...
(110).

The original fleet of ten Brill "Rail-less Cars" of 1923–24 was replaced in 1935 by eight Brill T30 vehicles, another short vehicle. With the conversion of the major Ridge Avenue route (61) to trolley buses in 1941, Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC) again turned to Brill for the needed additional vehicles. PTC purchased 60 Brill trolley coaches (as such vehicles were then commonly called in the U.S.) in 1941–42, this time of the larger model 40SMT that the manufacturer had introduced in 1938. In 1944, six new trolley coaches were purchased from
Pullman-Standard
The Pullman Company, founded by George Pullman, was a manufacturer of railroad cars in the mid-to-late 19th century through the first half of the 20th century, during the boom of railroads in the United States. Through rapid late-19th century d ...
, but that small batch was not followed by any other purchases from Pullman. In 1947, PTC purchased another 65 Brill vehicles, these being ACF-Brill model TC44, Brill having merged in 1944 with
American Car and Foundry Company
ACF Industries, originally the American Car and Foundry Company (abbreviated as ACF), is an American manufacturer of railroad railroad car, rolling stock. One of its subsidiaries was once (1925–54) a manufacturer of Motor bus, motor coaches ...
. Some of these 1947 TC44 trolley buses remained in service on the Philadelphia system as late as 1981.
The next purchases were from the
Marmon-Herrington Company. PTC brought 28 of that builder's model TC46 in 1949 and then 43 of the larger model TC49 in 1955. These were the last trolley buses acquired for more than two decades. Most of the older, pre-war trolley buses were scrapped in the 1960s. SEPTA took over the transit system in 1968, and by the 1970s the normal operating practice was for the Brill TC44 trolley buses to be used on the two
South Philadelphia
South Philadelphia, nicknamed South Philly, is the section of Philadelphia bounded by South Street to the north, the Delaware River to the east and south, and the Schuylkill River to the west."." ''City of Philadelphia''. Retrieved November 8, ...
routes, 29 and 79, and Marmon-Herrington vehicles to be used on the three
Northeast Philadelphia
Northeast Philadelphia, nicknamed Northeast Philly, the Great Northeast, and known colloquially as simply "the Northeast", is a section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. According to the 2000 census, Northeast Philadelphia has a population of betw ...
routes, 59, 66 and 75.
Post-1970s

In the late 1970s, SEPTA partnered with
Seattle's trolley bus system to place a joint order with
AM General
AM General is an American heavy vehicle and contract manufacturer, contract automotive manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana. It is best known for the civilian Hummer H1, Hummer and the military Humvee that are assembled in Mishawaka, Indiana. ...
for new trolley buses, 110 for Philadelphia and 109 for Seattle. Numbered 800–909 in SEPTA's fleet,
these vehicles were model 10240T, but had the same body style as
Flyer Industries' model
E800, used on several other U.S. and Canadian trolley bus systems from the 1980s to the 2000s, because the two manufacturers had worked together on the body design. These 219 vehicles were the only trolley buses AM General ever built. The first one built, SEPTA's No. 800, was tested on the
Dayton trolley bus system in fall 1978.
[''Motor Coach Age'', December 1978, p. 24. West Trenton, NJ: ]Motor Bus Society The Motor Bus Society (MBS) is a United States–based non-profit organization formed by a voluntary association of persons who share an interest in buses and bus transportation in North America and, in particular, the history of the same. Founded ...
. The remainder of SEPTA's 110 units were built in 1979, and they arrived and entered service in 1980. They were the system's first
air-conditioned
Air conditioning, often abbreviated as A/C (US) or air con (UK), is the process of removing heat from an enclosed space to achieve a more comfortable interior temperature, and in some cases, also controlling the humidity of internal air. Air c ...
trolley buses. The last active Brill and Marmon-Herrington trolley buses were retired in 1981.
Because of service reductions in the 1980s and 1990s, the number of trolley buses needed for scheduled peak-period service on the five routes had declined to only 51 (plus spares) by at least the mid-1990s.
Forty-four of the 110 AM Generals were placed in storage and later used for parts; in 2002, these were sold for scrap.
The remaining 66 were placed in storage when all five routes were converted temporarily to diesel buses in 2002 and 2003. That conversion was later made permanent for routes 29 and 79.
The stored AM General trolley buses, which were already 24 years old by 2003, did not return to service and were scrapped in mid-2006, but earlier the same year, SEPTA placed an order with New Flyer Industries for 38 new low-floor trolley buses. Philadelphia's AM General trolley buses operated in service for the last time on June 30, 2003, the last day of trolley bus service on route 79.
They were the last AMG-built trackless trolleys in service anywhere, because the only other transit system to use such vehicles, Seattle, retired its last AM Generals in March 2003.
For the 38 new vehicles from New Flyer, SEPTA reused the same fleet-number series as had been used for the AM Generals; the Flyers are numbered 800–837.
Current fleet
The present Philadelphia trackless trolley fleet consists of 38 conventional-configuration (two-axle) trolley buses:
SEPTA placed its order for these trolley buses in February 2006.
The first vehicle was delivered in June 2007, and the remaining 37 were received by SEPTA during 2008.
These trolley buses have a diesel-driven
auxiliary power unit
An auxiliary power unit (APU) is a device on a vehicle that provides energy for functions other than propulsion. They are commonly found on large aircraft and naval ships as well as some large land vehicles. Aircraft APUs generally produce 115&n ...
, which provides electric power to the motors to enable limited operation away from
overhead trolley wires.
Preserved vehicles
A few retired Philadelphia trolley buses have been saved for historical preservation, including at public museums. 1947-built
ACF-Brill
The J. G. Brill Company manufactured streetcars,Young, Andrew D. (1997). ''Veteran & Vintage Transit'', p. 101. St. Louis: Archway Publishing. interurban coaches, motor buses, trolleybuses and railroad cars in the United States for nearl ...
s 205 and 210 were acquired by the
Shore Line Trolley Museum
The Shore Line Trolley Museum is a trolley museum located in East Haven, Connecticut. Incorporated in 1945, it is the oldest continuously operating trolley museum in the United States. The museum includes exhibits on trolley history in the vis ...
in 1981, when withdrawn from service in Philadelphia. Number 205 is in operating condition, and in 2009 it became the first trolley bus ever to operate at the museum (powered normally, from
overhead wires
An overhead line or overhead wire is an electrical cable that is used to transmit electrical energy to electric locomotives, electric multiple units, trolleybuses or trams. The generic term used by the International Union of Railways for the tec ...
), when it tested the first section of a short trolley bus line that is under construction there.
The
Seashore Trolley Museum
Seashore Trolley Museum, located in Kennebunkport, Maine, Kennebunkport, Maine, United States, is the world's first and largest museum of mass transit vehicles. While the main focus of the collection is Tram, trolley cars (trams), it also incl ...
's collection includes ex-Philadelphia trolley bus 336, a 1955
Marmon-Herrington
The Marmon-Herrington Company, Inc. is an American manufacturer of axles and transfer cases for trucks and other vehicles. Earlier, the company built military vehicles and some tanks during World War II, and until the late 1950s or early 1960s w ...
TC49;
it is not currently in operating condition. A few other ex-Philadelphia ACF-Brill and Marmon-Herrington trolley buses have been saved by private individuals, including one Marmon TC46. No other types of Philadelphia trolley buses, such as AM Generals or earlier types of Brill vehicles, have been preserved.
See also
*
List of trolleybus systems in the United States
*
SEPTA City Transit Division surface routes
The City Transit Division of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) operate almost all of Philadelphia's public transit, including all six trolley, three trackless trolley, and 70 bus lines within city limits. Some o ...
References
Sources
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External links
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Philadelphia Trackless Photosat Trolleybuses.net – Pictures, advertisements, literature about Philadelphia tracklesses
{{UStrolleybus
Philadelphia
Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...
Trolleybus transport in the United States
1923 establishments in Pennsylvania