Route 15

On June 13 Route 15 will change from bus service to bustituted trolley service.

SEPTA advisory:
Travel Advisory:
Route 15 trolley service will operate with buses beginning Sunday, June 13 until further notice. During bus substitution, all vehicle boarding and exiting will be at curbside. Buses will not board from the center islands. This bus substitution is required until service is restored on 59th St between Girard Ave and Callowhill St.

k s heinle wrote:Several years ago SEPTA purchased most of the City Branch between Broad Street and the tunnel under Eakins Oval, in order to preserve future transportation options. Presently, there is a study underway to determine potential markets along the ROW, the most efficient routing into the Convention Center area [snip].

The technical aspects of selecting a route to get from the City Branch to Market St. were already analyzed as part of the Schuylkill Valley study (though I'd want someone else to verify the results before using them--there were some inconsistencies the consultants and SEPTA missed the first time around). Shouldn't need to reinvent at least that wheel.

IIRC, they settled on Broad St. as the preferred route. It's more complicated than just looking at destinations and connections and figuring out which alignment gets the most potential riders. You must also consider traffic impacts like parking garages emptying onto the various numbered streets, left turns being made by autos and trolleys, and making sure the trains won't block cross streets (a big problem when SEPTA was trying to route Schuylkill Valley Metro via the City Branch).

It's problematic that the City Branch runs parallel to but does not penetrate the central business district. That said, it was a good thing that SEPTA purchased the right of way.

My own personal and completely unanalyzed thought is that the City Branch right of way might best work as a busway to speed up heavily used routes like 33 and 48.

I would like to see the right of way used too......but it really is problematic that it does not intersect with the main business district.

The busway idea is a good one, except that the buses would be bypassing the very popular west business district, and city hall. There are not as many offices on the east side of market street anymore......

The Red Arrow replaced its Ardmore Trolley Line with a private busway back in 1966---- It only lasted a few years, and eventually, the ROW was given to the State for Highway purposes. Whether or not this would ultimately happen in the area being discussed here is a question that should be considered.

What happened with the ROW for the Ardmore line? It doesn't look on the map like there are any roads that would have been built on a route from 69th Street to Ardmore -- did the state never actually do anythign with the ROW?

I am not certain, but I believe that at least a portion ( the portion on Darby Road) was simply incorporated into the existing road system. I know that, in spite of the installation of some crossing gates which had been acquired from the North Shore Line as barriers, the Red Arrow had problems keeping automobile traffic off the busway, and the gates didn't always open when activated by the control installed in the buses. Finally, either the Red Arrow, or SEPTA, gave up and "donated" the ROW to the State.

When driving through the 60th & Girard area last week, you can clearly see that SEPTA is still in the midst of track replacement in the area.....looks like the trolley service start delay is due to construction running late

The delay in trolley service has nothing to do with construction. There is a dispute between residents on 59th St and SEPTA. SEPTA wants to eliminate parking on one side of the street for trolley clearance, and the residents said no, with the city backing them up. Until this is resloved, the 15 will not operate since they cannot get cars in and out of Callowhill.

Love how they waited till the last minute to realize this. Good ol' SEPTA

jfrey40535 wrote:The delay in trolley service has nothing to do with construction. There is a dispute between residents on 59th St and SEPTA. SEPTA wants to eliminate parking on one side of the street for trolley clearance, and the residents said no, with the city backing them up. Until this is resloved, the 15 will not operate since they cannot get cars in and out of Callowhill. Love how they waited till the last minute to realize this. Good ol' SEPTA

Aaah, only in Philadelphia...and tho I'm not accustomed to taking Septa's side, I'm having a li'l trouble understanding why the city would hold up a project as large the restoration of trolley service over a few parking spots. Is one of the 59th Street residents Milton Street? (for those of you not from Philly, that's the Mayor's brother)

The city seems to have no problems eliminating parking spots in other areas of town...for example, the east side of Sixth Street between Arch and Market (near the Constitution Center) was until a 2 weeks ago open to parking. But no more. And south of Market on the west side of Sixth, the city took away a dozen spots for the "Duck Boats" and the "Big Bus"... two really idiotic contraptions designed to haul goggle-eyed tour-ons around our fair town. And what about all the spots lost to valet parking for the Richie-Rich restaurants?

Can somebody please just pay the appropriate bribe to the appropriate goon so we can get the trolleys on track.

walt wrote:I am not certain, but I believe that at least a portion ( the portion on Darby Road) was simply incorporated into the existing road system. I know that, in spite of the installation of some crossing gates which had been acquired from the North Shore Line as barriers, the Red Arrow had problems keeping automobile traffic off the busway, and the gates didn't always open when activated by the control installed in the buses. Finally, either the Red Arrow, or SEPTA, gave up and "donated" the ROW to the State.

I think the busway is still active from the intersection of Eagle Rd and Darby Av to Countly Line Av and Lippincott. It's indicated as such on the schedule, there's a hole in the streets on mapquest there, and the one time I was in that neighborhood, there was something that certainly could have been the private busway.

walt wrote:The Red Arrow replaced its Ardmore Trolley Line with a private busway back in 1966---- It only lasted a few years, and eventually, the ROW was given to the State for Highway purposes.

AFAIK, portions of the busway are still bus-exclusive ROW to this day. It's visible from the P&W at Ardmore Junction.

mannynews wrote:I would like to see the right of way used too......but it really is problematic that it does not intersect with the main business district.

The busway idea is a good one, except that the buses would be bypassing the very popular west business district, and city hall. There are not as many offices on the east side of market street anymore......

See that's the problem with the City Branch as rail too. The effect might not be as bad if you use it as a trunk haul for the routes serving the west half of North Philadelphia--perhaps the workers from there are distributed more evenly through Center City, with fewer in the big office buildings on West Market.

Oh the Route 10 will also be shut down as well as the operators on the 10 have been relocated from Elmwood Depot to Callowhill. A stunning victory for SEPTA, they managed to kill 2 rail routes.

It not says on septa.org that it will remain a bus (including after June 13) due to problems with the switches to callowhill depot.

Huh?

Route 15 trolley service will operate with buses beginning Sunday, June 13 until further notice.

So essentially, trolley service has been restored just in time to suspend it again? With that kind of circular logic, trolley service could be restored all over the city without investing a dime.

Thanks for not unanswering my question.

It's very simple.

Route 15 is a bus line through June 12.

On June 13, Route 15 becomes a bustituted trolley line.