The City Transit Division of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) operate almost all of Philadelphia's public transit, including all six trolley, three trackless trolley, and 70 bus lines within city limits. Some of the bordering municipalities are served by the City Transit division, despite not being part of the city. For example, Cheltenham Township has 13 city division routes and no Suburban Division ones. The City Transit division also operates the 400 Series routes which are designed to serve students attending schools in the city of Philadelphia. The City Transit Division is broken down into seven districts (Allegheny, Callowhill, Comly, Elmwood, Frankford, Midvale, and Southern) and Contract Operations.

History

Transit in Philadelphia began with multiple independent horse car, cable, and traction companies, including the privately established entities: Philadelphia Passenger Railway Company, the Thirteenth & Fifteenth Street Passenger Railway Company, West Philadelphia Passenger Railway Company, etc. In 1895 these companies began amalgamating into three large operations: the Electric Traction Company, the People's Traction Company, and the Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC). The following year they consolidated as the Union Traction Company (UTC). In 1902 UTC went bankrupt; it was reorganized as the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company (PRT) on July 1. Despite efforts by Thomas E. Mitten, PRT itself went bankrupt in 1939. A new Philadelphia Transportation Company was formed in 1940 to assume PRT's business. National City Lines (NCL) took over management of the PTC on March 1, 1955, and began a program of converting streetcar lines to bus routes. SEPTA was created in 1962, and purchased PTC's transit operations on September 30, 1968. The former Philadelphia Suburban Transit Company's Red Arrow Lines followed on January 29, 1970, after which SEPTA designated the city services as its "City Transit Division". Many of today's bus and trackless trolley routes were once streetcar lines. Many of the numbered routes were once lettered or named bus routes. The first bus route was Route A, established in 1923 between Center City Philadelphia and Frankford Terminal via Strawberry Mansion, Hunting Park Avenue, and Roosevelt Boulevard. Route R replaced Route A along Hunting Park and Roosevelt. Route A then served Roxborough and Andorra within Philadelphia and Barren Hill in Montgomery County. Route A was eliminated and replaced by bus Routes 9, 27, and 32 on February 4, 1984.

List of routes

Numbered routes

Current routes

School routes

SEPTA operates bus routes numbered in the 400 Series which are designed to serve students attending schools in the city of Philadelphia. Per federal regulations, SEPTA is not allowed to offer charter bus service for the School District of Philadelphia, so all riders are allowed to utilize the 400 Series routes.

Former routes

Lettered routes

LUCY routes

The LUCY**** routes (Loop through University CitY) follow a circular route in University City. There are two lines—Green and Gold—both of which travel along the same streets, but in opposite directions. Technically, there are no terminal stops, but the schedules lists 30th Street Station as its end point although drivers take their layovers on JFK Boulevard just west of 30th Street.

Boulevard Direct

The Boulevard Direct, which is part of the SEPTA DIRECT BUS brand, operates along Roosevelt Boulevard between the Frankford Transportation Center and the Neshaminy Mall. Boulevard Direct offers limited-stop service along Roosevelt Boulevard, with service operating every 10–15 minutes during most times on weekdays and every 15 minutes on weekends. The service offers improved travel times compared to traditional bus service along Route 14, with more frequent service and several bus stops located on the far side of intersections to improve performance. SEPTA offers a free interchange between the Boulevard Direct and the Route 14 bus for same direction travel. The Boulevard Direct service was launched on October 22, 2017. The Boulevard Direct is operated by the Comly District.

SEPTA Owl Link

SEPTA Owl Link was an on-demand microtransit service that provided late night connections from City Transit routes to employers in lower Bucks County. The service connected with the Route 14 bus at Horizon Boulevard, the Route 56 bus at the Torresdale & Cottman Loop, and the Route 66 trackless trolley at the City Line Loop. Trips on SEPTA Owl Link were free with a SEPTA Key card. The SEPTA Owl Link service started on May 10, 2021, as a pilot program. The service ended on February 12, 2022.