A Route 15 trolley decorated for the holidays. (Photo courtesy of SEPTA)
SEPTA will suspend 15 trolley service beginning Sunday, Jan. 26 for 12 to 18 months due to ongoing trolley car maintenance issues and road projects. Bus service will be offered during this time, according to SEPTA.
Most of the 73-year-old Route 15 trolleys are aging fast, according to SEPTA. Only four out the 18 cars used on the route are in good working order. The 18 historic green-and-tan cars were rebuilt during the first Route 15 trolley service suspension (due to budget cuts), which lasted from 1992 until 2005.
Route 15 serves over 8,200 riders each day, according to SEPTA.
Eventually, SEPTA plans to replace its trolley fleet, including five trolley lines in West Philadelphia, with new light rail cars as part of a modernization project. New vehicles will be ADA-accessible with multi-door boarding and deployable ramps. SEPTA is planning to spend at least $1.3 billion on this project.
You can read more about Route 15 history and SEPTA plans in this article by Plan Philly.
January 22nd, 2020 at 11:50 pm
So why hasn’t SEPTA fixed any of the 14 trolleys that aren’t in good working ordering the past, and what makes it possible, other then not using the other 4 good trolleys, that these 14 will be brought back into running ordering the next 12-18 months?
In other words why should we believe that SEPTA is going to put time and resources into the route 15 line when its common knowledge that they want to close it? The route 23 line was trollyless for several decades believe SEPTA actually admitted they had no plans to restore the line.
I wonder if there’s a real black and white, written down plan for the work that’s needed or is this just a smoke screen.