SEPTA--Route+104

SEPTA's Route 104
= = = = The **SEPTA Route 104** is a public transit bus route which operates between Philadelphia’s 69th Street Terminal and West Chester via West Chester Pike. The Route 104 is and has always been a very popular and heavily ridden means of suburban transportation. As an original “Red Arrow” route, it retains an interesting history which leads back to the late 19th century. The Red Arrow lines were a system of public transportation routes which serviced the western suburbs of Philadelphia, specifically Sharon Hill, Media, Ardmore and West Chester. The Route 104 originated as a trolley line servicing the growing western suburbs of Philadelphia. Throughout its existence, the route has experienced many changes, both influencing, and being influenced by the area it served. The route’s most interesting transition period includes the decision to abandon the trolley system and convert the route entirely to buses. This is especially interesting because it is the large success and popularity of the trolley line which prevents its continuation and paves the way for the introduction and advancement of the bus system.

Contents

 *  1. History
 *  1.1 Ownership
 *  1.2 Early Forms of Transportation
 *  1.3 Electric Trolleys
 *  1.4 Double Tracking
 *  2. Surrounding Growth
 *  2.1 The Suburbs of Philadelphia
 *  2.2 Suburban Picnics and Fairs
 *  2.3 Population Trends
 *  2.4 Early Transit Ridership Trends
 *  3. The Transition From Trolleys to Buses
 *  3.1 Widening West Chester Pike
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> 3.2 The Last Attempts to Save the Trolleys
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> 3.3 The Last Trolleys
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> 4. The Bus Route to West Chester
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> 4.1 Popularity and Growth
 * <span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> 4.2 Today

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Ownership
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">In 1848 the desire for transportation between Philadelphia and West Chester, two growing areas, led to the construction of a plank toll road between the two cities by the Philadelphia and West Chester Turnpike Road Company. The Turnpike Company maintained the transportation route until 1895 when it was incorporated into a slightly broader company known as the Philadelphia and West Chester Traction Company. A few years later, in 1899, a wealthy young man by the name of A. Merritt Taylor became the president of the Traction Company. It was Taylor, his son Merritt H. Taylor and his grandson Merritt H. Taylor Jr. who would manage the route to West Chester through most of the twentieth century. These men were powerful forces behind each of the decisions made with respect to the route and closely managed the company through its many transitions. In 1936, Taylor merged the Traction Company into yet another broader company called the Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company. This was the point at which the lines received the name “Red Arrow” due to their red colored trolleys. The PSTC was eventually sold to SEPTA in 1970.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Early Forms of Transportation
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">The plank toll road from Philadelphia to West Chester, while a foundational part of the suburbanization of Philadelphia, was originally a simple answer to the difficulty of transportation between the two cities. To ease the pain of travel and freight shipping even more, tracks began to be laid, and from 1859-1865 the main mode of transportation between Philadelphia and West Chester was horse drawn rail cars. Then, due to the increased development of the steam engine in the 19th century, steam powered trolleys known as Steam Dummies made their first appearance on the route to West Chester in 1864. While the Steam Dummies were a great improvement over the horse cars, it still took an hour and fifteen minutes to ride eight miles from 63rd street to Newtown Square. Due to this and the unreliability of the Steam Dummies, ridership between Philadelphia and West Chester remained limited and mostly consisted of freight.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Electric Trolleys
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">By the late 1800’s electricity was well under way to becoming a new great source of power. Just before the turn of the century a Motor Power Act was passed, allowing the use of electric motor trolleys instead of horse drawn cars. The Traction Company immediately began to push for the switch to electric trolley cars, however, legal disputes and hesitations concerning safety delayed the process initially. Permission was eventually granted, in 1896, to install overhead wires for electric trolley use to West Chester. A few years later, in 1899, although the line was not entirely finished, A. Merritt Taylor ran the first electric trolley car from Philadelphia to West Chester. The electric trolleys were far superior to the Steam Dummies in speed, efficiency and reliability, and thus began the attraction of public transportation out through the suburbs. The first trolleys did have their rough spots. There were breakdowns and derailments, and the ride was far from smooth. However, the electric trolleys saw many innovations in design over their years of operation and overall they continued to be a great success through the first half of the 20th century.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Double Tracking
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">The success of the trolleys to West Chester eventually proved the original single track design, severally inadequate. By 1905 the section from 63rd In 1921 the double tracked section was lengthened to include the area from Manoa to Westgate Hills. By 1930 most of the other western suburban trolley lines had been completely double tracked, however, much of the West Chester line, a good distance out from Philadelphia, remained single tracked. street to Manoa was double tracked in order to handle the mass of people traveling to the suburbs and to provide them with more frequent trips.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> The Suburbs of Philadelphia
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">In the last half of the 19th century, suburban Philadelphia, while settled, was only sparsely inhabited by small agricultural towns. A number of mills had been constructed but many of them were established along the rivers and creeks on the outskirts of urban Philadelphia. Up to the early 1890’s daily life in the suburbs consisted mainly of farming. On the weekends the farmers would load their wagons with their farmed goods and head to the many markets along the West Chester turnpike and in Philadelphia. During these times, the suburban country towns only consisted of a general store and post office, a blacksmith, tavern, town hall, and a few homes. These conditions of suburban life led to more freight being transported through the trolley system then people, at least during the early years of the 20th century. Over the next twenty years the small suburban towns began to grow and new suburban inhabitants settled from the city. By 1926, patron ridership had far surpassed freight and the trolley freight service was discontinued.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> Suburban Picnics and Fairs
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">During the times of the horse cars and Steam Dummies, very few of the passengers were daily commuters. In fact, a large portion of the ridership early on, aside from freight, consisted of families on picnic excursions. The route to West Chester became a popular means of escaping the city and enjoying a family picnic in the countryside. Catching on to the popularity of these suburban trips, the traction company, in 1895, purchased land in Castle Rock for the construction of an amusement park. Other parks and picnic grounds also began to sprout up around the suburban area with the main method of transportation to and from being the public transit trolleys. The Castle Rock Park opened in 1899 and included a merry-go-round, a shooting gallery, a dance pavilion, picnic grounds and swings for everyone. These picnic grounds and amusement parks slowly drew people out of the city and began to implant the idea of suburban life in their minds. Many of these passengers experienced the beauty and space of the suburbs and realized that it might just be a perfect place to live.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> Population Trends
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">The beginning of the 20th century was a period of time marked with extensive growth for the western suburbs of Philadelphia. It seems to be no coincidence that these were the years immediately following the introduction and initial development of the electric trolleys between West Chester and Philadelphia. By the early 1900’s, the small country towns like Newtown Square, now carried a population of anywhere from 500 to 1000. In 1910 about 69.7% of the land in Delaware County was still used for agriculture. From 1910 to 1920 the population in Delaware County went from 78,000 to 98,000 and by 1930 it had doubled, reaching an astonishing 206,000. It did not stop there either. People, other than those interested in farming, were flowing from the city and taking up residence outside of Philadelphia. The trolleys had certainly opened up the area to development but it was the great masses of people and their use of the trolleys for transportation that lead to the growth and popularity of public transit routes such as the one to West Chester.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> Early Transit Ridership Trends
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">As families began to move out of the city and into the suburbs of Philadelphia, many of them remained employed by companies within the city. For the first couple decades of the 20th century, before the personal automobile was made affordable for most people, the trolley was the primary means of commuting to the city. Daily commuters flocked to the West Chester trolleys each day to ride to work and back. By 1920 most of the route within several miles of the city had been double tracked, and by 1922 the trolleys were running short turn cars and rush-hour trips to keep up with all the commuters. The popularity of the trolleys continued through the 1920’s but then the great depression hit everyone hard. Ridership began to decrease through the early years of the depression but while everyone else was raising prices to keep profit margins, Taylor lowered the prices to ride the trolleys. This helped to regain confidence and support of the trolleys and kept the entire suburban transit system in business. By 1934 ridership began to increase again every year through the depression. The total miles traveled by the trolleys increased 33% from 1930 to 1939 even despite the economic times. By 1940 the West Chester route was serving a suburban population which had grown to 237,000. The onset of WWII brought even more people to the rail lines when restrictions were placed on gas and rubber for cars and buses. Ridership continued to grow and the West Chester route kept a steady 15 minute interval service to West Chester all the way through the war.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">The trolley, although quite popular, was not the only means of travel along the route which is now known as West Chester Pike. After the construction of the plank toll road, as maintenance was needed, sections began to be replaced with stone. Then, by 1909, many sections had been paved alongside the trolley tracks. As the design and manufacture of the automobile was developed over the following years, the paved portion of West Chester Pike slowly became just as utilized as the track portion. In addition, by the 1930’s, buses were becoming more and more popular on the public transit scene. However, Taylor did not like the buses, he felt that they were not as efficient as trolleys and were more unreliable. Therefore he continued to run his trolleys along West Chester Pike despite the fact that many companies across the nation were scrapping their trolley lines for buses. A turning point came in 1948, however, when the Pennsylvania Highway Department announced plans for the widening of West Chester Pike to include four lanes of automobile traffic. Traffic up and down West Chester Pike had increased immensely due to the growing population and their new automobiles. West Chester Pike had quickly become a major route to and from the city for the suburban population. In 1951 as the plans were being drawn up, the highway department discovered that widening the Pike would mean tearing down about 100 properties on the south side of the trolley tracks. Of course, the residents fought the proposal in order to save their homes. An argument was voiced in favor of tearing out the trolley tracks and using that space for widening, rather than tearing down homes. The suggestion meant more than just tearing out a few miles of track. The entire western suburb trolley system would have to be abandoned because the trolleys would no longer be able to reach the Llanerch carbarn, the main storage facility for the trolleys. It was then suggested that the highway department purchase all four of the Red Arrow suburban rail lines and turn them into highways. This implied that the trolley routes would then be replaced with buses. At this point the life and success of the trolleys seemed doomed.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> The Last Attempts to Save the Trolleys
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">From the announcement of the widening of West Chester Pike, Taylor insisted that his trolleys would remain. Taylor was not the only one upset either. A few groups were even formed to oppose the abandonment of the trolleys. One group conducted a survey and showed that riders preferred the trolleys to buses five-to-one. In 1952 the widening began and it seemed that the trolleys might be able to stay. The tracks, however, would need to be rerouted in many places. Rebuilding the route as a single track was out of the question. The suburbs were growing so rapidly in the 1950’s that the line was already having difficulties scheduling enough trolleys to handle the rush hour crowds. A double track was a necessity at least as far as Newtown Square. However, Taylor’s company just did not have the money to rebuild a double tracked route. In addition, the line did not have enough one man operated trolleys to handle the rush hours so a number of the two-man operated cars had to be used. This meant paying double the labor cost while salaries were quickly rising in the 1950’s. Taylor was out of ideas.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> The Last Trolleys
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">Taylor finally decided to scrap the 15.5 miles of track from West Gate Hills to West Chester. The remaining 3.5 miles of tracks from 69th Street to West Gate Hills continued to operate during rush hours only. Therefore on June 4, 1954, buses began servicing the route from 69th Street to West Chester. The last section of the West Chester trolleys finally disappeared on August 23, 1958, when the tracks were ripped up from West Gate Hills to the Llanerch carbarn.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> Popularity and Growth
<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;">The new bus line grew just as rapidly as the trolleys had during their prime years of operation. The buses made the same trip from 69th Street to West Chester in five minutes less than the trolleys. Where the trolleys offered service every fifteen minutes to Newtown Square, the buses were operating at 10 minute intervals along the entire route and carrying even more people. Between 1954 and 1959, the first years of the new bus route, the suburban transit system as a whole experienced a decrease in ridership. However, during those same years the bus route to West Chester increased patronage by 23 percent. This was primarily due to the tremendous growth which continued to occur in the area serviced by the buses.

<span style="font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> Today
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%; font-family: Verdana,Geneva,sans-serif;"> The Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company, which was started by Taylor in1936 and owned the route to West Chester, was finally acquired by SEPTA on January 30, 1970. The route was renamed, according to SEPTA’s system, as the 104. The 104 continues to operate between 69th Street and West Chester and is still a quite popular and heavily ridden route through the western suburbs. However, there are still those today who feels that the trolleys were a far more efficient and environmentally friendly means of transit than the smelly and toxin expelling buses which pollute West Chester Pike today. For many people the abandonment of the trolleys was considered a mistake. However, the popularity and growth brought to the trolley system by such supporters was what created such a heavily serviced route which eventually could not fit within the demands placed on it by its booming surroundings. The trolley line’s growth ultimately became a limiting factor in the struggle for its survival.

Primary:

 * 1) “A History of Transportation in Delaware County.” 13-20.
 * 2) Carter, Jane. __Ride The Trolley Lines__. Tourist Information Center: Delaware Co. Chamber of Commerce
 * 3) Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company. __Progress: a record of Red Arrow Lines and the area they serve.__ Philadelphia: PSTC, 1943.
 * 4) Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company. __A 10-Year Report of the PSTC__. Upper Darby: PSTC, 1940.

Secondary:

 * 1) DeGraw, Ronald. __Red Arrow: the first hundred years, 1848-1948.__ Glendale, CA: Interurban Press, 1985.
 * 2) DeGraw, Ronald. __The Red Arrow; a history of one of the most successful suburban transit companies in the world.__ Haverford, PA: Haverford Press, 1972.
 * 3) Kramer, Frederick A. and Samuel L. James, Jr. __The Red Arrow Lines remembered: the years surrounding World War II.__ Westfield, N.J.: Bells & Whistles, 1992.
 * 4) Lindborg, Alice and Carl, et al. __Historic Newtown Township.__ USA: 1984.