SEPTA Route 23

Route 23 was established sometime prior to 1877 as the Germantown Avenue Line, and ran from Germantown Depot to 8th and Dauphin streets. In 1890 the line was extended to the 4th and 8th Street trolleys and renamed the Pelham Line. It was combined with the Mermaid and Chestnut Hill Line in 1913, and renamed the Germantown, 10th and 11th Streets Line. The northern terminus was extended to the Bethlehem Pike Loop in 1920, while the southern terminus was extended to 11th Street and Pattison Avenue in 1926, and to 10th Street and Bigler Avenue in 1957.[4]

On December 29, 1957, the Route 20 trolley on 12th and 13th Streets was abandoned and combined with the 23, which thereafter operated on 11th and 12th Streets just as it does today.[6] Route 20 service on 13th Street and to Olney Terminal was eliminated with this merge.

A Route 23 PCC Streetcar on Germantown Avenue at Venango Street in 1980.

PCC cars were introduced to the line in 1947 and 1948, replacing Nearside cars which had operated the route since the teens. The Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC) attempted to introduce a fleet of 100 PCCs to the line in 1942, but an insufficient power supply for climbing Chestnut Hill caused these cars to be sent to Luzerne Depot to serve other routes instead. After World War II and its materials shortages and restrictions ended, a substation was built at Germantown Avenue and Mermaid Lane, and PTC assigned 85 new PCCs to the line; the difference in number of cars was due to postwar ridership declines.[7]

On September 5, 1976, the Route 23 trolleys were moved from Germantown Depot to Luzerne Depot, making Luzerne the operating depot for the six remaining North Philadelphia streetcar routes: 6, 23, 50, 53, 56, and 60. A pamphlet was issued by SEPTA informing the Route 23 operators of this change. After the move, the route's PCC all-electric cars were replaced with pre-war PCC "air cars", which incorporated the use of pressurized air to power certain aspects of the car (such as sanders for traction) in order to provide greater reliability on Germantown Avenue's hills.

By this time, only two trolley lines operated from Luzerne Depot: routes 23 and 56. Along these last two routes, diesels buses were often substituted for months at a time, whenever utility construction occurred along those routes. Gone were the days when contractors were instructed to work around the streetcars. It was simply easier to suspend trolley service.

In a 1974 pamphlet, SEPTA presented route 23 as the world's longest trolley car route known to them.[4] In 1992, the streetcar service along route 23 was suspended and replaced by bus

Trolley service had been bused off and on due to street and trolley track construction, but buses permanently replaced trolleys on February 27, 1992.

However, weekend streetcar service was restored on the Chestnut Hill portion of the route under the Chestnut Hill Trolley name. Service ran on Germantown Avenue from Westview Avenue to Bethlehem Pike from September 13, 1992 until June 15, 1996. In Center City, the Welcome Line trolley operated on 11th and 12th streets between Girard Avenue and Bainbridge Street in 1995, as well as the 1996 and 1997 holiday seasons. Since then, trolleys service along the Route 23 has been non-existent.

In 2015, to make scheduling more manageable, the shorter and more densely-traveled southern segment of the route from Oregon Avenue to Market Street was separated and re-designated Route 45. Routes 23 and 45 make shared stops along 11th and 12th streets between Walnut and Callowhill streets, and SEPTA Key users can make a free transfer between the two routes for same-direction travel.[3]

Route 23 utilizes several short-turn loops or cross-street cutbacks to allow for operational flexibility. Historically, those have been Germantown & Mermaid, Germantown & Gorgas (a large universal loop serving Germantown Depot), Germantown & Venango (later moved to Germantown & Ontario; both were the cutback to get to Luzerne Depot), 10th & Susquehanna, 12th & Bainbridge, and 12th & Snyder. The only currently-scheduled short-turn is Germantown Avenue and Ontario Street, which is the southern terminal for all late-night service.[3]

In March 23, 2023, SEPTA bus revolution, which is SEPTA's bus redesign program, proposed to cut back Route 23 to Erie station. This is because the route south of Erie runs similar to other bus routes. SEPTA is proposing to build a loop for Route 23.