A friend sent me this newspaper article about South Philadelphia residents fighting for the restoration of their ETB service. Apparently SEPTA replaced the ETBs with buses in 2003 on Routes 29 & 79 due to construction and equipment problems. SEPTA kept the buses in South Philadelphia while adding ETBs in North Philadelphia.
Thanks a bunch. I'm glad to see folks are fighting for the ETBs. Also, there's an error in the article on the route number 79. Route 79 should be 75. SEPTA three ETB routes are 29, 66 and 75.
Thanks for the article! It is nice that they are still passionate about having the tracklesses return to South Philadelphia (much unlike those who live along the 56 who wanted the trolley and the infrastructure to be removed).
One of the main problems is that Pier 70, which is where the 29 was extended when it was "dieselized", absolutely refuses to have those wires on its property. Cutting the 29 back to its old terminus would not be a good idea as the Pier 70 extension generated significant ridership and connects these very residents to shopping and restaurant opportunities at Walmart and other locations. In fact, if I remember correctly there was talk about extending the 79 up there as well. If they could find some way to get a SEPTA owned off-street terminus for the lines, then maybe I could see this happening.
I keep hearing about issues with the tracklesses running in the Northeast, especially with the 75 and the amount of times it has to detour and such. The auxilary engine is wearing out (and those trackless trolleys are LOUD in diesel mode!). It has come to the point where diesel buses are being used to fill in the gap left by the trackless trolleys. Some people (drivers?) are complaining that SEPTA should've just purchased more of the hybrids that are running on the 29 and 79 right now, which are very quiet.
To be honest, if SEPTA must go electric on those lines, I'd rather see them look into some sort of battery powered electric bus, rather than having to re-string wires and such. It would also allow for diesel free and most importantly wire-free flexibility that's not available in trackless trolleys. Also, the lines are pretty short and slow, as they are essentially neighborhood connector routes. The only problem is finding a full sized 40 foot electric bus in the US that can provide the same "fast charging" capabilities as the Proterra bus.