Transportation,+Public--Evolution+in+Philadelphia

Technology has become so integrated with modern culture, and has become so established as an institution that it is easy to be swayed into thinking that it is what changes the course of history. Countries have grown powerful because of technology, people make a living from it, and men have died fighting for it (or for the resources that feed it). However this is not the case. Technology is socially constructed, and therefore is subject to choices made by us. For this reason technology is a part of our culture and history, not the other way around. The evolution of public transportation around the city of Philadelphia has not only altered the way people move about the region allowing for it to grow into the 5th largest US city, but itself has grown and changed through conscious social and culturally relevant decisions throughout the city’s history. This paper will explore the growth of public transportation in Philadelphia from horse and buggy into SEPTA (Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority), the sixth-largest transit system in the entire country. My study will include the historical context in which a transportation system was first developed and how the relationship with that technology has shaped history and our culture.
 * Society and Technology: The Evolution of Public Transportation**

Contents: 1 Early Industry and Transit 2 Electrification and Incorporation 3 The Modern Era 4 Technology in Historical Perspective 5 Public Transportation Today 6 Bibliography


 * Early Industry and Transit **

By the mid 1800s Philadelphia had established itself as an industrial powerhouse (especially in textiles). This was made possible by the construction of canals, streets and railroads in addition to an influx of immigrants. With so many businesses and factories now based in the city it was only natural that the working class began to edge out the upper class (who subsequently moved to the suburbs). The problem that emerged was that with Philadelphia expanding in all cardinal directions at once, many working class families were forced to live further and further away from their place of employment. During the 1860s horse railways had dominated transportation. In this time of incredible growth for the city the way in which it was organized and handled was abysmal. Streets were poorly constructed, too numerous, and incredibly cramped. Rails and roads alike were unorganized and as a result citizens were constantly subjected to traffic jams and delays. Legislative charters had given too much power to the private sector, leaving the municipalities without a say in the construction. The political climate throughout the late 1800s was heated. The Republican Party which had dominated post civil war elections allowed corruption to creep into the city to power its political machine. //Harper’s Magazine// commented that “The one thing unforgivable in Philadelphia is to be new, to be different from what has been.” (Cheape) Getting fed up with corporate agendas, cries for reform arose which lead to improvements in the police force, fire department, education and transportation. During the 1880s a population boom lead to the specialization of the city. For the first time there were now discrete business and residential districts, an important organizational change as now the commutes for those living in these expanding regions were too long by conventional means. Higher demand in conjunction with new charters requiring that companies get municipal consent before building more rail networks meant the promotion of a consolidated industry while simultaneously encouraging competition. As a result the Philadelphia Traction Company (PTC) was chartered in 1883. The Philadelphia Traction Company, wanting to stay competitive, quickly began to improve the quality of its lines throughout the city by using cable cars. This expansion of the rail network was expensive and time consuming to build. The increasing number of riders meant a constant demand for improved services. By 1889 passengers could finally travel across the city for a single fare, although soon both cable cars and horse cars would be abandoned forever in favor of electrically driven trains. Electrification of the city began in 1892 and the PTC wasted little time in seeking ways to electrify its lines. An agreement was soon reached between the leaders in the industry (of which PTC was in the forefront) on standards and common practices. This served to prevent hassles in the future, such as what happened early on when the rails were first being constructed. An unintended consequence of electrification caused a positive change in Philadelphia. Reforms associated with using electricity lead to the private transportation companies agreeing to repave roads along the entire width of operation, bury trolley wires, keep fares low and avoid blocking elevated railroads. Philadelphia was transformed from one of the worst paved cities to one of the best by the turn of the century. Paving and electricity was not without its drawbacks. Investments in street railways and paving expenses nearly tripled to 14 million dollars. After the electric trolley officially replaced cable and horse cars in 1897 passengers saw a number of benefits. Greater speed, more power and larger cars encouraged urban expansion. A total of 220 million passengers were reported to utilize the rail networks which was double that of 1885 traffic. With such large increases in physical size and capital required to build and maintain the networks more mergers were pursued. Amongst the private transportation companies, Union Traction Company (UTC) was formed in 1895. The UTC created a monopoly of street railways in Philadelphia. Poor service in conjunction with political turmoil over a corrupted gas industry made its citizens dislike privatization. Public pressure eventually prompted a take-over by Philadelphia Rapid Transit (PRT). Rapid Transit leased UTC (indefinitely) and assumed all of its operations, creating an absolute monopoly of rapid transportation in 1907. Philadelphia’s public transportation in its modern form evolved from the PRT monopoly. Decreased revenues during the Great Depression forced the Philadelphia Rapid Transit company to go bankrupt in 1934 and become reorganized as Philadelphia Transportation Company (not to be confused with Philadelphia Traction, mentioned earlier) by 1940. Adding more acronyms into the history books, the government sponsored entities PSIC (Passenger Service Improvement Corporation) and SEPACT (Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Compact) were formed to work with regional rail companies such as the Reading and Pennsylvania railroads along with the surrounding counties to resolve transport issues and improve service. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) was first created via state charter on August 17th, 1963 to coordinate government subsidies. Throughout the rest of the 1960s SEPTA would go on to acquire or absorb predecessor agencies PSIC, SEPACT, PTC, and the Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company (Red Arrow). This effectively formed what is now known as the SEPTA city and suburban divisions. The third division of SEPTA is the regional rail service which SEPTA took over from Conrail in the 1980s, acquiring all operations and assets. SEPTA continues to operate today where it interconnects with other major rail networks including Amtrak at 30th street station and New Jersey Transit in Trenton. Technology is dependent on society and culture as well historical decisions made prior to it. The evolution of many disjointed private transportation companies into the unified public authority SEPTA was no accident. Macro-level demands (straight forward incentives) to build permeate the growth of the service. Back in the 1800s waves of immigrants were pouring into Philadelphia making it into an industrial giant. Families who had never owned a house before moved into city homes that were relentlessly erected row by row. The work was plentiful, wages were low and the days were long, yet the poverty was much less severe than where these migrant workers hailed from. Rapid construction to keep pace with a ballooning population only naturally would lead to the shoddily paved roads, narrow streets and redundant rail networks that were commonplace during that era. The demand for public transportation was real, as people depended on it to get to work just like today. In response to this the very nature of American enterprise had to change. Two themes dominated this point in Philadelphia’s history: the pressure of an ever-expanding population and the ability to use technology in a way that catered to that growth. Both the public and private industries alike shaped the concept of an “industrial statesman.” (Cheape, pg.1) Business leaders who would replace scattered small companies with much larger and dominant firms. These new types of firms knew the value of technology, wasting no time in applying it to current needs and had a direct hand in the urban decision making process. Aggressive expansion of the city continued into the 1900s with families moving into the suburbs, further and further away from the locus of business in Philadelphia. The growth of public transportation however soon languished behind that of other industries. It quickly became unprofitable to expand lines further and so economically it simply was not feasible anymore. The newfound utility companies (gas, electric, telegraph, etc) were able to quickly and cheaply expand along with the residential and commercial zones in what is termed central station economics. (Cheape, pg.16) However in order for the transportation to accomplish this same feat they not only had to contend with expensive generator equipment, but the pricey permission to build on public streets. The PTC would have to build across crowded intersections and deal with traffic among other factors outside of their direct control – issues other industries never had to encounter. Demand did not simply diminish. Eventually, due to the inability to expand, congestion of Philadelphia’s busiest streets fostered criticism that sparked new policies. With current trolley technology no longer meeting society’s needs it became necessary to develop and rely on more expensive rapid transit solutions (i.e. subway). The shift to rapid transportation created new jobs and new fields. Two categories of jobs exist in regards to the transit system: employment made accessible to people who wouldn’t ordinarily be able to make the commute and work created as a result of a new technology being implemented. Choosing complex technology and higher cost to achieve better service would affect infrastructure and policy changes in the future. To answer the question about whether public transportation in general is vital to a city’s operation one must look no further than the state of a city during a strike. By the 1940s the transportation industry had been unionized – giving more rights and better working conditions to its employees. In this pre-civil rights era World War II had sucked much of the workforces into the armed forces. Realizing that a potentially untapped labor source was needlessly being refused by the still private Philadelphia Transit Company, the US government’s Fair Employment Practices Commission ordered the company to hire blacks to work on buses and streetcars as motormen, conductors and drivers. PTC refused the order claiming it was unfair to the men on the line who might return one day to find their job was no longer there for them. When the union representing PTC agreed to the presidential order and black streetcar operators were getting trained, a strike initiated by PTC officers completely halted public transportation in the city. President Roosevelt responded quickly as Philadelphia was a major contributor to the war effort. For ten days troops were ordered to operate the transportation network and keep the city on its feet. Once the strike had ended PTC was left with an integrated work force, yet the image of a US soldier operating a bus on the behalf of a minority was forever etched into the minds of Philadelphians. As a result of the 1944 federal occupation the government began to make the first steps to ridding the city of discrimination in the workplace. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority has the 7th largest transit system in America and serves 3.8 million people in and around the city of Philadelphia. It covers over 2,200 square miles with its 196 routes comprised of 450 miles of track. Despite these impressive statistics demand for public transportation continues to outstrip the coverage SEPTA provides. Even with the limitations of a public transit system studies have shown that there are definite benefits. A 1960 study showed that 50 percent of business district rush hour traffic in the major East-coast cities (Philadelphia, New York and Boston) was from rapid transit. (Cheape, pg.219) Another study by SRI conducted between 1960 and 1980 showed that using public transportation over owning a car saves 3.4 million dollars annually. The importance of a public transit system in any major city of an industrialized nation should never be questioned. Technology is a powerful thing that has allowed the human race as a whole to accomplish things never thought possible and push the boundaries of what we are capable of. It is vital then that we recognize that it is only because of us, the people, that it exists in the first place. In this isolated case of Philadelphia’s transportation service it is clear that the development of the technology was not simply an application of the science or the natural economic choice, but a social decision. Population growth and the organization of the city dictated how the rails and routes would spread, government policies controlled how powerful the monopoly became, and Philadelphians themselves used their ability to vote with the dollar and protest to ultimately choose how the service grew. Men may have died in the name of technology but they have also helped to build it. It is society that directs where technology takes us. Primary: “Pennsylvania rail road and its connections. Office of the Pennsylvania railroad company Philadelphia, November 3d, 1857” [|An American Time Capsule: Three Centuries of Broadsides and Other Printed Ephemera] .The Library of Congress: American Memory. 19 January 2009 <[]>.
 * Electrification and Incorporation **
 * The Modern Era **
 * Technology in Historical Perspective **
 * Public Transportation Today **
 * Bibliography **

Sloan, Anthony R. and Blatteau John W. __Reestablishing the Link; a Study of the Commuter Rail Station__. Philadelphia: Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, 1970. Secondary: Cheape, Charles W. __Moving the Masses: Urban Public Transit in New York, Boston, and Philadelphia__. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1980.

DeGraw, Ronald. __The Red Arrow; a History of one of the most Successful Suburban Transit Companies in the World__. Haverford, Pennsylvania: Haverford Press, 1972.

Licht, Walter, __Getting Work__. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1999.

Sheldon, Nancy W., and Brandwein Robert. __The Economic and Social Impact of Investments in Public Transit__. Lexington, Massachusetts: Lexington Books, 1973.

Wilson, George. __Yesterday's Philadelphia__. Miami, Florida: E.A. Seemann Publishing, Inc., 1975. Reference: "History of Philadelphia". Wikipedia. 19 January 2009 <[]>

"SEPTA". Wikipedia. 19 January 2009 <[]>

"SEPTA Facts". SEPTA. 19 January 2009 <[]>.