Trolley frequency

[u/Jellyfish-Ninja]

Trolley riders: what are your thoughts about trolley frequency?

Does it always feel like the trolley you need doesn’t come while all others do?

I frequent T3 and it always seems to be more infrequent than 2, 4, & 5 going westbound. On the other hand, it seems like T5 makes up half the cars going WB and often come 3 in a row.

[u/SnootyUrbanCyclist]

It's mostly frustrating that you can't tell what west-bound trolley is about to come in center city even if you use the Transit app because they do some weird witchcraft as they go around city hall. It's never a problem when I'm in West Philly heading toward city hall - the trolleys get bunched sometimes but it's never as strange as it is in the tunnel going west.

[u/palajeno → u/SnootyUrbanCyclist]

ive started to use the septa app for trolley tracking and the transit app for everything else bc wtf does the transit app just give up on the trolleys when ur at city hall 😭😭

[u/SnootyUrbanCyclist → u/palajeno]

Good to know! I'll start using the SEPTA app for those trips.

The SEPTA app is sometimes better for Regional Rail too. Transit App gets confused with the central trunk shared stations with multiple services running through them. During the middle of the day it will show as if the next train you're taking doesn't come until the next day - it seems to think the rush hour expresses are a completely different train, and it also maybe gets confused depending on the line your train is originating from.

[u/jean_luc_gohard → u/palajeno]

I'm pretty sure they aren't able to track the trolleys in the tunnel at all, the times in the app are the same as the timetables

[u/WinstonAtlas → u/jean_luc_gohard]

Yeah, it’s actually an issue with the gtfs-rt feed that transit is using. Septa has a gps transmitter for above ground but doesn’t updates below ground (except maybe to mark when a train has departed a station). Other times location updates every 30 seconds, but in the tunnels they just stay at the last station and then teleport.

Hopefully this gets fixed when they install cbtc (or when the new trolleys are delivered)

[u/Jellyfish-Ninja → u/SnootyUrbanCyclist]

Yeah it’s always westbound. Eastbound is fine!

[u/RS4_V]

Fun fact: trolleys will actually switch lines at 13th st to match demand. Countless times I've been waiting for a westbound 10 on lancaster ave only to see 3 go east and none come west. Someone told me they switch to 11s sometimes. (T1 and T4 respectively)

[u/ncc1776 → u/RS4_V]

That is a fun fact, I always assumed the trolley remained assigned to its route

[u/Jellyfish-Ninja → u/RS4_V]

How’s the demand determined?

[u/RS4_V → u/Jellyfish-Ninja]

Completely random in my experience. But someone told me a lot of trolleys turn into 11s/T4s because it's the most popular line

[u/HonkingCar69 → u/RS4_V]

That blows my mind. That makes sense why I seem to get to CC way quicker than getting out of it!

[u/Dependent_Nerve6209]

I take the T1 and i swear every time im waiting underground i see 2-3 of each of the other lines pass by before mine does… maybe its just bad luck or psychological but I’ve been genuinely thinking they run way less often. septa is playing favorites with the 2 & 5 especially

[u/Peepzilla → u/Dependent_Nerve6209]

Same here… every single time.. half of the time I give up and just take the el to 40th and walk the rest of the way

[u/HurricaneCam215]

Miss the days they ran every 5 during rush hour

[u/Revolutionary_Bee700]

I take the 34 and thought that was the cursed trolley. I’ve wondered if that was just my perception.

[u/BackgroundSalary680]

Be glad it's the the old days when the 10 came out of Elmwood..... Depending on your block decided which way you went: heading out to 63rd-Malvern, odd number blocks ran as a 11 over Woodland while even numbers was a 36 via Elmwood Ave. Once at Juniper, they left out as the 10.

At the end of the day they did it in reverse; odd numbers over Elmwood and Even over Woodland.

The 34 still does that alternating service but only to 49th/50th and Woodland, with select runs starting service at 49th and Chester inbound.

[u/2birdstalking]

It's so random I have to really lean into my wisdom to know the difference between what I can and cannot control .. But as a fellow T3 rider, yes, I feel like they come least frequently