Trolley Modernization is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reimagine one of the nation’s largest light rail networks to dramatically improve transit accessibility, capacity, and reliability for the benefit of communities.

About the Program

Every weekday prior to the disruption of the COVID-19 pandemic, approximately 80,000 riders relied on trolleys to get where they needed to go—nearly as many riders as the regional rail system.

The trolley network spans the City of Philadelphia and Delaware County, directly serving 12 municipalities in the County. An integral part of SEPTA’s Rail Transit network along with the Market-Frankford, Broad Street, and Norristown High Speed Lines, the trolleys carried approximately 80,000 people per weekday in 2019.

Trolley Modernization will increase capacity by 167% through:

Procuring new larger vehicles.

Constructing a new maintenance facility to store and service new vehicles.

Improving tunnel communications and signals and on-street and right-of-way operations. Creating new on-street and right-of-way stations and improving tunnel stations and platforms.

Creating new on-street and right-of-way stations and improving tunnel stations and platforms.

Trolley Modernization will deliver benefits across the region:

Make the trolley system fully accessible to people with disabilities and seniors, as well as easier to use for passengers with small children or baggage.

Catalyze over 38,000 permanent jobs across the region.

Improve direct access to approximately 350,000 jobs and major healthcare centers including 260,000 jobs in the region’s two largest job centers of Center City and University City.

Increase of $5.8 billion in property values across the region.

Improve transit service for communities of color, as 59% of the population served by trolleys are people of color – disproportionately more than the region at large.

Project Implementation

The Trolley Modernization Program includes planning, engineering, and construction elements across much of the network. SEPTA has developed a program schedule reflective of line-by-line phasing to minimize sustained disruptions during the construction phase.

Blossom at Bartram! Complete Streets Project

SEPTA, in partnership with the Philadelphia Industrial Development Corporation and the City of Philadelphia, is taking a holistic look at all modes and users on the Grays Avenue Corridor to improve safety, public health, and livability. Our focus is roadway safety and access to economic opportunity.

The Grays Avenue corridor has been identified by the City of Philadelphia as part of its High Injury Network, with three people killed and one seriously injured between 2014 and 2018. This corridor—located along Grays Avenue and Lindbergh Boulevard—is also home to a segment of the Route 36 trolley.

This critical corridor connects residential areas and a potential health sciences hub to major nearby employment centers in University City and Center City. However, the roadway safety issues make it difficult for residents to access these opportunities, and ridership at trolley stops along this portion of the Route 36 are low. High-speed vehicle traffic caused by a poorly defined right-of-way and limited speed controls makes safely boarding and exiting the Route 36 trolley difficult, and significant issues with short dumping, abandoned vehicles, tractor trailer storage, and auto-body shop overflow leads to unsafe and blocked pedestrian and bicycle facilities.

Earlier this year, SEPTA was awarded funding from the Federal Transportation Administration’s (FTA) HOPE Grant program to support transportation improvement projects in areas of persistent poverty that enable economic opportunity. SEPTA’s HOPE Grant study period is scheduled to be completed by summer 2022.

Designing Modern Trolley Stations

Trolley Modernization is more than new vehicles: it’s the total transformation of three of SEPTA’s six Metro lines. That’s why we’re designing and building new on-street stations and improving underground and SEPTA off-street stations.

SEPTA’s new trolley fleet will be fully accessible, featuring low floors and ramps with multi-door boarding. However, our current trolley stops and stations are unable to serve new these vehicles.

To modernize the system and make it entirely accessible, each stop must have near-level platforms that serve all doors on the new, longer, higher capacity Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) compliant vehicles. This requires constructing new stations where none exist on-street, and new platforms and amenities like higher platforms, ramps and elevators at existing stations.

Along with SEPTA’s Metro Project, this project is much more than ADA compliance: it’s the opportunity to remake service operations and raise the visibility of three of SEPTA’s six Metro Lines: the T, D, and G Line services. Stops and stations are the first things riders interact with when they ride SEPTA trolleys—yet they often lack amenities or any signifier that they’re part of a larger network, the Metro system. This is our chance to fix that.

That’s why we’re creating the Trolley Station Design Manual to ensure that every trolley station offers riders a consistent, high-quality experience. This is our opportunity to improve public space, enlarge the pedestrian zone, and make public transit more attractive and conspicuous—all while making necessary improvements to our trolley network.

Detailed Studies

Design Guides:

• Modern Trolley Station Design Guide: Routes 10, 11, 13, 15, 34, and 36
• Modern Trolley Station Design Guide: Routes 101 & 102

Operations:

• Analysis of Modernization Scenarios for SEPTA Route 34
• Route 15 Trolley Modernization: Operations Analysis for Eastern Girard Avenue
• Darby Borough Grade Crossing Study, Phase 1
• Darby Borough Grade Crossing Study, Phase 2

Extensions:

• Eastwick Intermodal Center
• Centennial District Trolley
• Concept Development for Transit on Delaware Avenue