Trolley Coaches

Where on the Septa system are trolley coaches currently operated?

SEPTA has multiple trolley routes: the Route 15 trolley, which runs from NoLibs to West Philadelphia via Girard Ave, and uses heritage PCC II cars, Route 10, running from City Hall to 63rd and Malvern, Route 11, running from City Hall to Darby, Route 13, running from City Hall to Yeadon with occasional service to Darby, Route 34, running from City Hall down Baltimore Ave, and Route 36, running from City Hall to 80th and Eastwick.
There are also two suburban trolleys, the 101 and 102 out of 69th st. The 101 runs to Media and the 102 runs to Sharon Hill.

I think he is referring to the trackless trolleys aka trolleybuses. They run in Northeast Philadelphia on routes 59, 66, and 75.

My question refers to the trackless trolley/trolley coaches. I want to confirm that they are currently in service and no "bustitution" is in effect.

According to SEPTA's website http://www.septa.org/media/50th/trackless-trolleys.html the three listed northeast routes are still active, served by 38 New Flyer vehicles. The page also states that the two South Philly routes (29 and 79) are in an indefinite status; my understanding though is that the experimental order of Proterra battery-powered buses will be assigned to those routes for testing.

My 2¢ is that given the pace at which storage technology's advancing, we may be saying farewell to wired trolleybuses within a decade.

The page also contains an ugly bit of historical whitewashing: Additional plans to further expand the trackless network were developed by PTC, but a new team of stockholders controlling PTC in the early 1950's shifted gears and began the process of phasing out most of the streetcar network and converting to bus operations.

Can we say "National City Lines", boys and girls?

Trackless trolley Rte. 66 is using buses this summer due to Pennypack Creek bridge work.

JeffK wrote: My 2¢ is that given the pace at which storage technology's advancing, we may be saying farewell to wired trolleybuses within a decade.

Well I think those trolley buses are here to stay. Battery Tech has hit a bit of a wall in the past 30 years with nothing being able to surpass Li-ion (4.32 MJ/L) or Li-Polymer energy density storage wise. Even experimental super capacitors just cannot compete with gas (34.2 MJ/L) or diesel (35.8 MJ/L) for energy density. Copper wires are the best solution for the moment, although studies are being made into battery busses that can temporarily go off wire around traffic.