Misplaced Pages

Route 104
West Chester to 69th Street Transportation Center
Overview
System	Victory District
Operator	SEPTA Suburban Transit Division
Began service	1895 (1895) (streetcar) 1958 (1958) (bus)
Route
Locale	Delaware Valley
Communities served	Newtown Square
Start	West Chester University
Via	West Chester Pike
End	69th Street Transportation Center
Daily ridership	3,088 (FY 2019)
Annual patronage	969,632 (FY2019)
Timetable	Route 104 schedule
Route map ← 103  Suburban Transit Division  105 →

Route 104 is a bus route operated by SEPTA between Upper Darby's 69th Street Transportation Center and the North Campus of West Chester University in West Chester, Pennsylvania. Route 104 initially was a streetcar line which operated parallel to the West Chester Pike (PA Route 3) and was operated by the Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company (a.k.a. "Red Arrow Lines"). The former line spurred the development of streetcar suburbs in Upper Darby, Haverford Township, and communities in Chester County.

History

Rail service

Route 104 was established in 1895, by the newly established Philadelphia and West Chester Traction Company. In 1936, the P&W went bankrupt and was reorganized as the Philadelphia Suburban Transit Company taking the line with it. At the corner of West Chester Pike and Darby Road was the Battle of Llanerch which was a physical and legal struggle between the PRR and the Philadelphia and West Chester Traction Company. There was concern that a new trolley to Newtown would hurt the PRR line to Newtown and therefore they tried to block it as they had to cross each other at this location.

In 1954, rail service was cut back to the Westgate Hills section of Haverford Township in order to allow the Pennsylvania Department of Highways (now PennDOT) to expand the highway into its current configuration. By 1958, all rail service on the West Chester Pike corridor was replaced by bus service.

Bus service

For many years, bus service operated along the entire length of West Chester Pike between 69th Street Transportation Center and the terminus of the Pike, just east of West Chester Borough, where West Chester Pike and Paoli Pike merge to form Gay Street (from the westbound direction) and Market Street (from the eastbound direction). Service operated via Gay Street, New Street, and Market Street, laying over on Market just east of New.

In the late 1990s, selected weekday peak hour short-turn trips were extended from the center of Newtown Square in Delaware County to serve the Newtown Square Corporate Campus just west of the center of town.

In 2002, service was extended to serve West Chester University, eliminating a 10- to 15-minute walk not just for college students, but also for residents of the borough's south end neighborhoods. This eliminated the simple loop routing that had been in effect for many years previously.

In addition, a new evening routing operated directly into the Edgmont Square Shopping Center, a rapidly developing retail complex in Edgmont Township, just west of the Edgmont/Newtown township boundary.

On March 23, 2023, SEPTA released a new draft plan for Bus Revolution, SEPTA's bus network redesign. As part of the plan, Route 104 trips deviating off West Chester Pike would be eliminated. The final plan, approved on May 23, 2024, retained this change.

Route description

Today, Route 104 operates service to West Chester every 10–20 minutes during weekday peak hours, every 30 minutes during weekday hours and late Saturday afternoons, and every hour on evenings, Saturdays, and Sundays. Short-turn trips to Newtown Square provide 10-minute headways to that town during weekday peak hours, and 30-minute service levels on Saturdays and Sundays.

References

1. "SEPTA Route Statistics 2018" (PDF). SEPTA. Retrieved September 2, 2019.
2. "Fiscal Year 2021 Service Plan Update". SEPTA. June 2020. p. 24. Retrieved March 11, 2022.
3. Kerr, Richard (2022). "Railways in Haverford Township" (PDF). Haverford Township Historical Society.
4. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on December 11, 2020. Retrieved November 29, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
5. "Recommended Route Changes" (PDF). SEPTA Bus Revolution. SEPTA. Retrieved June 17, 2024.
6. Sharber, Cory. "SEPTA's board of directors approves Bus Revolution, set to go into effect next summer". WHYY. Retrieved June 17, 2024.

External links

• SEPTA Route 104 Schedules and Map

v t e  SEPTA (Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority)
Metro	Lines Current  Market–Frankford Line  Broad Street Line  Subway–Surface Trolleys  Route 10  Route 34  Route 13  Route 11  Route 36  Route 15 Trolley  Media–Sharon Hill Line  Norristown High Speed Line Former Trolley routes 6 23 50 53 56 60 Proposed Roosevelt Boulevard Subway Stations Proposed List of stations Major stations 69th Street T.C. Darby T.C. Drexel Station at 30th Street Fern Rock T.C. Frankford T.C. Norristown T.C. Olney T.C. Equipment Proposed Kawasaki Type K LRV SEPTA PCC III B-4 M-4 N-5
Regional Rail	Lines Current      Airport Line      Chestnut Hill East Line      Chestnut Hill West Line      Cynwyd Line      Fox Chase Line      Glenside Combined      Lansdale/​Doylestown Line      Manayunk/​Norristown Line      Media/Wawa Line      Paoli/​Thorndale Line      Trenton Line      Warminster Line      West Trenton Line      Wilmington/​Newark Line Former Bethlehem Line Cynwyd-Ivy Ridge service Elwyn-West Chester service Fox Chase-Newtown service Pottsville Line Thorndale-Parkesburg service Proposed Schuylkill River Passenger Rail Stations Proposed List of current stations List of former stations Major stations 30th Street Suburban Jefferson Temple University Equipment Current Siemens ACS-64 Comet Silverliner Silverliner IV Silverliner V  Former ABB ALP-44 EMD AEM-7 Silverliner Silverliner I Silverliner II Silverliner III
Buses and trolleybuses	Current Trackless trolley routes 59 66 75 City bus routes 6 23 29 35 37 38 53 56 60 79 Suburban bus routes 103 104 Former Trackless trolley routes 29 79
Miscellaneous	1983 Regional Rail strike 25 Hz traction power system Callowhill Depot Center City Commuter Connection SEPTA Key

• Bus transportation in Pennsylvania
• SEPTA
• SEPTA Light Rail
• Tram routes in Philadelphia
• Transportation in Philadelphia
• Railway lines opened in 1895
• Railway lines closed in 1958
• 1895 establishments in Pennsylvania
• Interurban railways in Pennsylvania
• SEPTA bus routes