Route 15

I saw a PCC car on the Girard Ave bridge this morning... more testing?

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

That's correct. About 2 miles (+/-) remain separated from the road system. There is no fencing or other protection so the operators have to contend with people using the busway as a kind of recreational trail.

A few of the old trolley shelters remain as forlorn reminders of what was.

I don't see why the 10 has to be suspended, as I see 10s going on and off duty on Woodland all the time, presumably coming from Elmwood. Anyone dare to shed some light on this?

And the dispute over operating on 59th is in fact the reason for the hold-up (info straight from SEPTA operations people on that one).

WTF. Is SEPTA so dumb that they think that they can get away with this and have no one complain?

Someone oughta call NBC 10. Or FOX.

queenlnr8 brings up a good point... Why hasn't this 59th Street issue made the local news? And why, after spending big $$$ on new traffic islands and catenary, isn't the city siding with Septa?


Makes me almost miss Frank Rizzo.

Urban D Kaye wrote:queenlnr8 brings up a good point... Why hasn't this 59th Street issue made the local news? And why, after spending big $$$ on new traffic islands and catenary, isn't the city siding with Septa?

Nope in fact the Councilman whom represents this area is actually spear heading the movement which is highly unlike him.

The plot thickens. Is there anyplace on the web where I can get the big picture on this story? I keep getting snippets and glimpses.

Alright I'm a Septa employee. My boss tells me this:

As most of you know 59th Street and clearance is the main problem. 11 years ago when the 15 trolley became bustituted 59th was a one way street. Since then its become two ways with parking on both sides, causing the whole big clearnace problem. The residents of the area are staunchly opposed to making it one way again. Building a new switch to use tracks on 60th St is being considered at this time.

As for the 10 being bustituted, you must remember that the Calowhill pickings effective for Sunday have already happened, and there are a whole slew of Calowhill operators slated to work the 10. Instead of moving them all down to Elmwood for a short time, they would rather just have them run busses out of Calowhill.

Supposedly this whole 59th Street problem was only realized on Monday, leaving little time to rectify. How it slipped by that long is beyond me, considering K-Cars have been running around Calowhill testing the tracks and wires already.

I've heard the 10 and 15 should be back to trolleys in about a week, but don't hold me to that.

wagz -
Ah, very enlightening. Thank you.

Heck, political issue aside, I don't see why SEPTA and the City can't "temporarily" suspend parking for the people on 59th St.

SEPTA doesn't have the authority to regulate parking anywhere in the city of Philadelphia, save their own parking lots (such as those at stations). SEPTA, like every other entity in Philadelphia, must petition the streets department to regulate parking on any street.

You know, I am sure that SEPTA has some clout in the inner workings of the city. All they have to do is utter the word 'strike' and the city will most often capitulate on practically any issue that they put forth.

"Suspend parking on 59th or the 15 won't go into service for a long while." "Fine."

Is it SEPTA that holds sway within the city government or the other way 'round? Remember that the only reason that we're anticipating the return of trolleys to Girard Ave is because the city demanded that SEPTA do so.

I wonder if the city's pro-trolley movement is dead? They arent complaining that the Rt56 tracks are being paved over now.

I've also contacted KYW & NBC-10 to "clue them in" on this story. Would be a perfect 'Denenberg's dump' story. $56 million & no trolley, in fact SEPTA managed to kill 2 trolley lines with this project.

Anyone interested can also contact local news agencies, it might help some. Most news tips can be given online too, so instead of surfing here, send in a news tip. We need to bring SEPTA's incompetence to the spotlight.

I heard one conspiracy theorist on the old railroad.net site suggest that maybe SEPTA and the city made a trade: operate the 15, scrap the 56 and/or 23. I laughed at the time...