SEPTA Route 103

SEPTA Route 103 is a bus route operated by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) on the outskirts of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Route 103 runs between Ardmore and the 69th Street Transportation Center in Upper Darby. It began as a streetcar line in 1902,[2] operated by the Ardmore and Llanerch Street Railway, then the Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company (PSTC, doing business as Red Arrow Lines) until converted bus operation to December 1966. SEPTA acquired PSTC and assumed operations of the Red Arrow Lines in January 1970.

Route 103
Ardmore to 69th Street Transportation Center
Overview
System	Victory District[1]
Operator	SEPTA Suburban Transit Division
Began service	1902 (streetcar) 1966 (bus)
Route
Locale	Delaware Valley
Communities served	Brookline, Overbrook Park
Start	Ardmore (Suburban Square)
End	69th Street Transportation Center
Service
Ridership	1,339 (2018 weekday average)[1]
Timetable	Route 103 schedule
Route map ← 101/102  Suburban Transit Division  104 →

Red Arrow streetcar on route 103 in 1966

Route description

Map of former trolley (now bus) Routes 103 and 104 (orange), as well as existing trolley Routes 101 and 102 (red), and Route 100 (blue)

The route begins at a loop around Suburban Square shopping center in Ardmore, then heads west along Montgomery Avenue. A short distance later, it turns left at Woodside Road, crossing under the Paoli/Thorndale Line near Ardmore (SEPTA station), which also serves Amtrak's Keystone Service. After its stint on Woodside, it takes a left onto Lancaster Avenue. While Route 103 is close to the Ardmore station in this area, it doesn't have a direct connection to the station aside from a walk across the parking lot near the station at Suburban Square.

From Lancaster Avenue, Route 103 is divided. Southbound buses use Rittenhouse Place, East Athens Avenue, and Cricket Avenue to County Line Road. Northbound buses from County Line Road use Ardmore Avenue to Lancaster Avenue. Shortly after the split between Lancaster Avenue and County Line Roads, Route 103 makes a turn onto a private Ardmore Busway, also known as Hathaway Lane, where it immediately encounters County Line Road station, which is little more than a shed. The private busway was originally right-of way for the trolley rails until it was paved over, which is why some of the old P&W/Red Arrow Line sheds still remain intact. The exception to this is the plexiglass bus shelter at Belmont Avenue station.

Although Hathaway Lane continues to serve as a private road strictly for the Route 103 bus south of Haverford Road, there are some sections that contain parallel roads for residents and the general public. Both the busway and West Hathaway Lane go under the Norristown High Speed Line at Ardmore Junction station.[3] Merwood Road station contains residential parallel roads on both sides of the busway.

Though the Ardmore Busway ends at the intersection of Darby Road & Eagle Road in Oakmont, a "Red Arrow" bus shelter can be found after the intersection on Darby Road. The former trolley right-of-way runs west of Darby Road while the current bus route runs down Darby until making a left turn at Brookline Boulevard in Havertown. From there, the bus heads east and makes a right turn onto Earlington Road as it runs south again through Penfield. When Earlington Road ends at Township Line Road the bus turns left then heads up to 77th Street. It then turns right onto 77th Street, entering the Philadelphia city limits.

Route 103 trolley on West Chester Pike in 1964

Route 103 then turns left onto Woodbine Avenue, then a right onto 75th Street. It then travels down that street for about 4 blocks, then buses merge into Lansdowne Avenue before making a quick left onto Cardington Road/Victory Avenue. Buses then make a left onto a private SEPTA access road to terminate at the north terminal of 69th Street Transportation Center.

History

The PRR saw trolleys as a threat and fought hard to prevent them from expanding into Lower Merion.[4] The PRR even tried to buy some of route of the Philadelphia and Lancaster Turnpike to prevent trolleys from expanding on the road.[4] However, these efforts were not enough to prevent the Ardmore trolley from being built in 1902 by the Ardmore and Llanerch Street Railway Company.[4][5] The trolley began operating on May 29th, 1902.[5] The last trolley ran on December 29th, 1966.[5] A portion of the line from Eagle Road in Oakmont was paved over and used only for busses as a "busway". It was the first busway in North America and possibly the world.[5] The Red Arrow also purchased old crossing gates from a Chicago area interurban railway and placed them perpendicular to the busway so as to not allow cars onto the busway. They outfitted the busses with remote radio control so the drivers could raise the gates and go through. These gates were placed at each end of the busway and at each road crossing and started service in March 31st, 1967.[5] The bus maintained the same stopping locations at the former trolley. On January 29th, 1970 the route was purchased by SEPTA and the gates continued to be used until being left in the up position and eventually removed.[5]

Route 103 buses took over SEPTA Route 105 routing from 77th Street & City Avenue to 69th Street Transportation Center in the early 2000s. Before then, the route merged West Chester Pike where it joined its counterpart Route 104 (West Chester Trolley Line), another Red Arrow Bus Lines converted from trolleys in 1954. The two routes together. A mural of a trolley station was painted on a building on the corner where this right-of-way used to exist and was also the site of the Battle of Llanerch which was a physical and legal confrontation between trackworkers from the PRR and the West Chester Rail Company.[6][7] From this point both the Routes 103 and 104 buses and trolleys continued eastward along West Chester Pike until reaching the west terminal at 69th Street. Today the North Terminal is also served by five other SEPTA bus routes; 30, 65, 105, 106, 123. The west terminal continues to serve trolleys today; Routes 101 and 102, the Media/Sharon Hill Line, both former trolleys of the Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company.

See also

• Railroad bus

References

1. "SEPTA Route Statistics 2018" (PDF). SEPTA. Retrieved September 2, 2019.
2. Philadelphia Suburban Transit Routes (ChicagoRailFan.net)
3. Old Ardmore Junction Photo (World-NYCSubways.org)
4. "The Philadelphia & Columbia Railway". Lower Marion Historical Society.
5. Kerr, Richard D. "The Red Arrow Busway" (PDF). Haverford Township Historical Society.
6. Google (September 10, 2019). "Murals at Llanerch Crossing" (Map). Google Maps. Google. Retrieved September 10, 2019.
7. https://www.havtrail.com/hht/site31.html

External links

• SEPTA Route 103 Schedules and Map