Route 60 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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![]() The Route 60 trolley at the intersection of Allegheny Avenue and North Broad Street during May 1976. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Overview | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Operator | Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Garage | Luzerne Depot | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Began service | 1906 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ended service | 1977 (as a streetcar line) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Route | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Locale | Philadelphia | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Communities served | East Falls, Swampoodle, Tioga, Harrowgate, Port Richmond | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Start | East Falls Loop | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Via | Allegheny Avenue | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
End | Richmond-Westmoreland Streets Loop | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Length | 5.6 miles (9.0 km) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Service | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Journey time | 29 minute | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Ridership | 2,968,097 (FY2019) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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SEPTA's Trolley Route 60, the Allegheny Avenue Line is a former streetcar line and current bus route, operated by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) in Northwest and Northeast Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It connects to the East Falls to the Port Richmond, and runs primarily along Allegheny Avenue.
The route starts at a loop in the vicinity of 35th Street and Allegheny Avenue. It is a route shared with the SEPTA Route 1 and Route R bus lines until it reaches the five-way intersection between US 13 (West Hunting Park Avenue) and Henry Avenue, where the two bus lines move away from Allegheny Avenue and go northeast on US 13. Also near the intersection are Mercy Vocational High School as well as SEPTA Route 32 and the northern terminus of SEPTA Route 48.
Continuing eastbound, Route 60 encounters the intersection of 22nd Street which leads to Allegheny Regional Railroad Station on the Manayunk/Norristown Line. It is one of three stations named after the street that carries most of Route 60. Both the Manayunk/Norristown and the Chestnut Hill West Line cross over Allegheny Avenue and Route 60 at the northeast corner of 21st Street. After the two bridges, it enters the Allegheny West neighborhood, skipping past 20th and 19th Streets, before passing under the Lansdale/Doylestown Line between North Broad and Wayne Junction stations. Route 60 provides no access to this line, but at the intersection with Broad Street it does allow access to Allegheny station on the Broad Street Subway Line, which is the second SEPTA station to be named after the street.
Immediately after the intersection with Germantown Avenue and the SEPTA Route 23 line, the Trenton Line interrupts Allegheny Avenue, forcing Route 60 northeast onto Sedgley Avenue. Sedgley runs along the north side of the Trenton Line until it reaches Erie Avenue, which carries the SEPTA Route 56 line. Allegheny Avenue resumes at the eastern terminus of Westmoreland Avenue and southern terminus of 9th Street, then goes south under the Trenton Line until it reaches Glenwood Avenue, which runs along the South Side of the Trenton Line. After Glenwood, Allegheny Avenue and Route 60 resume their previous alignment.
When Route 60 meets Kensington Avenue beneath Allegheny station along the Market-Frankford Line in Harrowgate, Allegheny Avenue ends its run as an east-west road, and turns southeast-to-northwest. This is the third and last station to be named after the street. The next major intersection along the route is Frankford Avenue, which the Market-Frankford Line runs above northeast of this intersection. In between Frankford and Aramingo Avenues, Route 60 passes by Northeastern Hospital.
Most Route 60 buses make a left turn onto Richmond Street and terminate at the Richmond-Westmoreland Loop, which is also the eastern terminus for SEPTA Route 15. Limited service south of Richmond Street exists across I-95 to Delaware Avenue and the Tioga Marine Terminal, then north to Lewis Street across I-95 again, and back west on Richmond Street to Richmond-Westmoreland Loop.
The Allegheny Avenue trolley was established in 1906 and ran between Richmond Street and 17th Street. In 1910 the line was extended west to Ridge Avenue, partially on Lehigh Avenue between 17th and 21st Streets (past the site of Shibe Park, the 1909 home of the Philadelphia Athletics). Between 1923 and 1939, Philadelphia Rapid Transit (PRT) Route 60 was split with an extension from 21st Street and Ridge Avenue known as Route 60A, while Route 60 itself ran between 21st Street and Richmond Avenue. [1]
This discontinuity of Route 60 between 17th and 21st Streets existed in order to avoid crossing three different railroad lines at grade between those streets that were present when the trolley line was first established in 1906: the Reading Railroad's Ninth Street Branch (now part of SEPTA's Main Line), the Chestnut Hill Branch of the Pennsylvania Railroad, and the Reading's Norristown Branch, in westward succession, all featuring extremely heavy passenger traffic. The crossings of the first two lines were eliminated in 1911 and 1916, but the latter one, which crossed at a hazardous acute angle (and was electrified in 1933) remained until 1939. In that year, trolley tracks were finally installed between 17th and 21st as the Reading completed a project grade-separating the branch (now SEPTA's Manayunk/Norristown Line) over Allegheny, 21st and 22nd Streets through the neighborhood. [2]
Unlike the vast majority of trolley routes in Philadelphia, Route 60 never utilized either the 1,500 single-ended Nearside cars or the 535 8000-series Peter Witt cars, and was operated with double-ended cars by PRT and successor Philadelphia Transportation Company until 1956. On February 24 of that year, a loop was constructed at 35th and Allegheny, [3] and the line's eastern terminus was soon changed from the Richmond & Allegheny crossover to the adjacent Richmond & Westmoreland loop used by Route 15, thus allowing Route 60 to be assigned PCC cars cascaded from Callowhill Depot. These cars, idle during the summer when schools were out, would no longer be needed at Callowhill due to the impending bus conversion of Route 42 and the rerouting of Route 13 into the subway, events which occurred simultaneously over the weekend of September 8–9. Richmond Depot, which had housed the cars that served Route 60 up until this point in time, was closed, and the PCC cars used on the line operated out of Luzerne Depot for the remainder of its existence as a trolley route. [4]
SEPTA replaced the trolleys on Route 60 with buses on September 4, 1977, the first trolley line abandoned in the city since Route 47 in 1969. A shortage of operable trolley cars had plagued SEPTA since a disastrous fire at the Woodland Depot in fall 1975; although 30 used PCCs from Toronto, Ontario were subsequently purchased (and used on routes such as the 60), some of these cars had major end-of-life issues, while SEPTA's maintenance of its existing trolley fleet remained abysmal. Route 60 remained physically intact until a 1983 water main replacement near the intersection of Kensington and Allegheny Avenues required the removal of track; the Philadelphia Water Department was told by SEPTA management that the trackage would not be used again, and thus did not replace it. [5] The overhead was soon removed as well, and the rest of the tracks were paved over by the end of the decade. [6]
Currently, there are no indications that SEPTA has any plans to restore the trolleys along Route 60. The route (along with all SEPTA fixed bus routes) is ADA-compliant, and the buses contain bicycle racks. The line is one of SEPTA's "Night Owl" routes.
On March 23, 2023, SEPTA released their new draft plan for Bus Revolution, a bus network redesign. As part of the plan, Route 60's limited service to Delaware Avenue would be discontinued, and the route would be extended westward to Wissahickon Transportation Center to enable additional transfers. These changes were included in the final plan, approved on May 23, 2024. [7] [8]
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is a regional public transportation authority that operates bus, rapid transit, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolleybus services for nearly four million people in five counties in and around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It also manages projects that maintain, replace and expand its infrastructure, facilities and vehicles.
Transportation in Philadelphia involves the various modes of transport within the city and its required infrastructure. In addition to facilitating intracity travel, Philadelphia's transportation system connects Philadelphia to towns of its metropolitan area and surrounding areas within the Northeast megalopolis.
The 69th Street Transportation Center is a SEPTA terminal in the Terminal Square section of Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania. It serves the Market–Frankford Line, Norristown High Speed Line, and SEPTA Routes 101 and 102 trolleys, and multiple bus routes. It is located at the end of 69th Street, a major retail corridor in Upper Darby Township across Market Street from the Tower Theater. Until 2011, the station was primarily known as 69th Street Terminal.
The SEPTA subway–surface trolley lines are a collection of five SEPTA trolley lines that operate on street-level tracks in West Philadelphia and Delaware County, Pennsylvania, and also underneath Market Street in Philadelphia's Center City. The lines, Routes 10, 11, 13, 34, and 36, collectively operate on about 39.6 miles (63.7 km) of route.
Route 15, also known as the Girard Avenue Trolley, is a trolley line operated by SEPTA along Girard Avenue through North and West Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. As of 2007, it is the only surface trolley line in the City Transit Division that is not part of the Subway–Surface Trolley Lines. SEPTA PCC II vehicles are used on the line.
SEPTA Route 13, also known as the Chester Avenue Line, is a trolley line operated by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) that connects 13th Street Station in downtown Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, with Yeadon and Darby, Pennsylvania. It is one of five lines that are part of the Subway-Surface Trolley system. Route 13 will be rebranded as the T3 as part of the transition to SEPTA Metro.
SEPTA's Subway-Surface Trolley Route 36 is a trolley line operated by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) that connects the 13th Street station in downtown Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to the Eastwick Loop station in Eastwick section of Southwest Philadelphia, although limited service is available to the Elmwood Carhouse. It is the longest of the five lines that are part of the Subway-Surface Trolley system, and was even longer between 1956 and 1962 when the western terminus was at 94th Street and Eastwick Avenue. From 1962 through the 1970s, it was at 88th Street and Eastwick Avenue, making the route 16.2 miles (26.1 km) long. Since 1975, it only goes as far as what was once 80th Street at the southern edge of the Penrose Plaza shopping center parking lot. Route 36 will be rebranded as the T5 as part of the transition to SEPTA Metro.
Girard station is an elevated rapid transit station which is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on SEPTA's Market–Frankford Line. It is situated at the corner of Front Street and Girard Avenue in the Fishtown neighborhood.
Allegheny station is a rapid transit station on SEPTA Market–Frankford Line in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is located at the intersection of Kensington and Allegheny avenues and H Street in the Kensington neighborhood of North Philadelphia. The station is also served by SEPTA City Bus routes 3, 60, and 89.
U.S. Route 13 (US 13) is a United States Numbered Highway running from Fayetteville, North Carolina, north to Morrisville, Pennsylvania. The route runs for 49.359 miles (79.436 km) through the Delaware Valley in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. The route enters the state from Delaware in Marcus Hook, Delaware County. It continues northeast through Delaware County, passing through the city of Chester before heading through suburban areas along Chester Pike to Darby. US 13 enters the city of Philadelphia on Baltimore Avenue and runs through West Philadelphia to University City, where it turns north along several city streets before heading east across the Schuylkill River along Girard Avenue. The route turns north and heads to North Philadelphia, where it runs northeast along Hunting Park Avenue. US 13 becomes concurrent with US 1 on Roosevelt Boulevard, continuing into Northeast Philadelphia. US 13 splits southeast on a one-way pair of streets before heading northeast out of the city on Frankford Avenue. The route continues into Bucks County as Bristol Pike, heading northeast to Bristol, where it becomes a divided highway. US 13 becomes a freeway in Tullytown and continues north to its terminus at US 1 in Falls Township, near Morrisville. US 13 roughly parallels Interstate 95 (I-95) through its course in Pennsylvania.
SEPTA Trolley Route 23 is a former streetcar line now operated with buses. It is operated by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The line runs between the Chestnut Hill and Center City neighborhoods via Germantown Avenue, 11th, and 12th Streets.
SEPTA's Trolley Route 56, the Erie and Torresdale Avenues Line, is a former streetcar line that is now served by bus. It is operated by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The line runs between the Tioga and Tacony neighborhoods primarily along Erie Avenue and Torresdale Avenue. Route 56 was one of three "suspended" by the SEPTA board effective June 12, 1992. The two others, Routes 15 and 23, were then also operated by buses as of the same year; however, the Route 15 Trolley has since been restored back to trolley as of September 5, 2005.
SEPTA Route 66 is a trackless trolley route in Northeast Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It connects the Market–Frankford Line at the Frankford Transportation Center to Wissinoming, Mayfair, Holmesburg, and Torresdale along Frankford Avenue, which is US 13 and includes the historic, colonial Frankford Avenue Bridge.
SEPTA Route 53 is a former street car line and current bus route, operated by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The line runs between the West Mount Airy and Hunting Park neighborhoods primarily along Wayne Avenue.
Callowhill Depot is a bus and trolley barn operated by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA), located in West Philadelphia, near the Delaware County border. It was built in 1913 by the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company (PRT) and was later operated by the Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC) before being taken over by SEPTA. The depot was constructed as part of the Thomas E. Mitten modernization program. Since its construction, the depot has suffered fire damage and reconstruction in 1949, 1950, and 1995.
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Cheltenham Avenue is a major east-west road in Philadelphia and its suburbs. It is served by SEPTA bus routes, trolleys, regional rail, and subway. Cheltenham Avenue is an unsigned quadrant route in Montgomery County. It serves as the border between Springfield and Cheltenham townships. A section of the road along the Philadelphia border with Cheltenham Township is part of PA Route 309.
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Olde Richmond is a neighborhood in the River Wards section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is notable for its historically large Polish immigrant, Polish American community, and Irish American community. The U.S. ZIP Code for Olde Richmond is 19125 and its post office is located at 1602 Frankford Avenue.
Route 35 is a bus route operated by the SEPTA in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States.