August 15th, 2009
A PCC-II Streetcar on the 15 Girard Route
After my visit to New York City, where I visited Times Square and the new High Line Park (amongst other things), I moved on to Philadelphia, where one of my aims was to try out the South East Pennsylvania Transit Authority (SEPTA) system. SEPTA is rather unique as it operates six different transit modes in the Metro Philadelphia area: diesel bus, trolley bus, streetcar, subway (and elevated), regional rail, and an unique interurban “high-speed” line. SEPTA runs a true legacy system - there’s very little new transit infrastructure at all in this city (apart from a downtown regional rail tunnel and a line to the airport, more on that below the fold), but a collection of different services melded into one. The only transit services in Philadelphia not operated by SEPTA are the commuter-subway PATCO Speedline to New Jersey as well as NJ Transit buses serving the communities on the other side of the Delaware River.
Most of the streetcars (called trolleys there) run in a partial subway downtown, much like the MBTA Green Line in Boston or the MUNI Metro in San Francisco, but two routes (the 101 and 102) are legacies of a suburban trolley system, and one, the 15-Girard, runs using restored PCC equipment.
Despite being purchased by National City Lines, the abandonment of Philly’s expansive trolley network was never completed. In the 1960s the state-formed SEPTA took over the NCL-owned Philadelphia Transportation Company. At the same time, it took over the responsibility for the Reading and Pennsylvania Railroads’ commuter services and the various suburban services. In the 1970s, Philadelphia still had 6 surface trolley routes and 5 subway-surface routes, as well as two suburban trolleys; but by 1992, all surface routes were busituted, partly due to the deterioration of the PCC fleet.
Inside a PCC-II car.
In 2005, service resumed on the 15 Girard Route. The infrastructure was rebuilt (though all wire and tracks from the 1992 abandonment are all in place) and 18 PCCs were completely rebuilt, with modern interiors, wheelchair lifts, air conditioning (and sealed windows), and the historic PTC colour scheme. The streetcars service the near north end and Delaware River shore, a transitional area between the poorer North Philly and downtown, and an area of gentrification. Two other routes, the 56 Erie and 23 Germantown (perhaps the longest streetcar route in the United States), are pending reconstruction.
May 5th, 2008
Spacing’s spring 2008 issue release party at the Gladstone Hotel Sunday evening was a lot of fun and attracted over 200 people throughout the night. Yvonne Bambrick, who runs the floor of the Centre for Social Innovation where Spacing has an office, took a handful of great photos to show readers what you missed.
February 28th, 2007
It has been a bit of a mystery to me why the TTC (and Toronto for that matter) doesn’t take its transit history as seriously as it should. London, New York and Philadelphia operate transit museums and …
February 5th, 2007
On Sunday, nearly 100 Toronto transit enthusiasts converged on the Gladstone Hotel to take part in Toronto Transit Camp. The gathering was called an “un-conference” because the schedule and topics of discussions are dictated by the participants …
February 4th, 2007
If you mixed these two together, what would Toronto get?
Anyone who knows me well knows that my biggest pet peeves are bad public transit and bad design.
Unfortunately for me (and you), the TTC represents both in …
September 14th, 2006
Liz Clayton has a story this week in Eye about the new store TTC Transit Stuff (she also wrote about Spacing’s subway buttons). Read the full article, but first a quote:
…so it was with …
June 12th, 2006
More ideas for potential TTC merchandise: iPod skin of the subway system. Over at GelaSkins, you can buy an ultra-thin, high-grade vinyl skin of the Tokyo transit map design for your iPod.
The best part is you …
May 27th, 2006
John Lorinc has a piece in the Globe and Mail today about the TTC’s lack of good merchandise available to the public. And the Spacing buttons are part of the article’s analysis.
No one expects the sale of …
March 23rd, 2006
On a day when transit advocates like myself should be cheering (see money influx from Ontario budget announced today), I want to highlight a transit lowlight.
The month of April will mark the launch of TTC’s Pizzazz …
