SEPTA Route 79 - End of Trolley Bus Service

End of Trolley Bus Service

Along with SEPTA Routes 59, 66, 75 and 29, the Route 79 trolley bus was downgraded to a diesel bus route in 2003. Trolley buses were used in service on Route 79 for the last time on June 30, 2003. At that time, Route 79 been the only Philadelphia route using trolley buses since February 2003, because Route 29 had been converted to diesel buses in February, and Routes 59, 66 and 75 had already been temporarily operated by diesels since June 8, 2002.

Trolley bus on Routes 59, 66 and 75 was restored in 2008. A proposal to restore trolleybus service along Route 79 (along with 29) was considered by SEPTA in 2006, after the authority had placed an order for 38 new trolley buses for (only) Routes 59, 66 and 75. However, in October 2006 the authority's board voted against any further consideration of purchasing new trolley buses to allow Routes 29 or 79 to be restored, a decision that effectively eliminated the possibility that trolley bus service might return to route 79 (or 29).