One reason we call our electric buses trackless trolleys is in some cases they were originally trolley lines and then to keep the old electric system but to save money by not having to maintain the street trackage the second wire was added. So it was natural to call them trackless trolleys.  You should visit Dayton because they operate an interesting system. Their newest trolley buses have a battery back up system so they can run off wire at times to detour or extend beyond the end of their old wired system.

The trackless trolley you rode goes over a very interesting piece of history in Holmesburg! The Frankford Avenue Bridge or the Pennypack Creek Bridge. According to the American Society of Civil Engineers, the Frankford Avenue Bridge was the first stone arch bridge built in the US and is the oldest surviving roadway bridge in the US as well! It was built in 1697 at the request of William Penn to connect his mansion with the then new city of Philadelphia and was an important link on the King's Highway that linked Philly with cities like Trenton, NYC, and Boston. So famous politicians like John Adams and George Washington used the bridge, like Washington when he crossed it on his way to his inauguration in NYC in 1789. Philly was a city of different transportation firsts.  The first steam-ferry service in the world was actually in Philly and went to Burlington, NJ. It was created by John Fitch! Basically, he wanted to make his own version of a Watt engine (there were no Watt engines in North America as the British refused to export them) and he got Henry Voigt to help him build a working model and place it on the boat. The first successful trial run of his steamboat Perseverance was made in August 1787, in the presence of delegates from the Constitutional Convention. A bank of oars on either side of the boat propelled it. During the next few years, Fitch and Voigt worked to develop better designs, and in June 1790, launched a 60-foot (18 m) boat powered by a steam engine driving several stern-mounted oars. These oars paddled like the motion of a swimming duck's feet.  With this boat, he carried up to 30 paying passengers on numerous round-trip voyages between Philadelphia and Burlington during the summer of 1790.

The first hot air balloon flown in the Americas was launched from the former Walnut Street Jail in Philly on January 9, 1793, witnessed by George Washington, James Monroe, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and James Madison! It was piloted by the French aeronaut Jean-Pierre Blanchard, who was also the first to cross the English Channel in a hot air balloon with American co-pilot John Jeffries in 1785! It landed in Deptford, NJ. And just outside Philly, the Crum Creek was once home to the Leiper Railroad, the continent's first chartered railway, first operational non-temporary railway, first well-documented railroad, and first constructed railroad also meant to be permanent! It was a 'family business–built' horse drawn railroad of 0.75 miles that was constructed in 1810 after quarry owner, Thomas Leiper, failed to obtain a charter with legal rights-of-way to instead build his desired canal along Crum Creek. It went from Crum Creek to Ridley Creek where quarry stone where it would then be loaded on boats to Chester for market.

I grew up in East Central Indiana. My family would go over to Dayton to do our Christmas shopping. This was during the 1960's. It was the first time that I saw a trolly bus. As a child I called them "Hanging Buses". I hope you get to visit there soon.

Just a note that the deadhead wires between Frankford and Arrott have been de-powered and disconnected from Arrott - the E40LFR buses that SEPTA uses are uniquely equipped with a diesel engine that operators use to get through that unpowered segment! Glad you had a good trip on the 66, I adore that route!

They're actually 5 trackless trolleys, routes 29 and 79, which they had to suffer because they discontinued, plus all the wires in Tasker, Morris streets and Snyder avenue are gone

SEPTA is A World-class System In A World-class City😊😊 Thanks  Thom😊

rode this in Philadephia several yrs ago. its awesome

I live in Kyiv and while our trolleybus system isn't among the oldest being opened in 1935, it is one of if not the largest network in the world. Historically when they were first introduces they were advertised as trackless trams that is cheaper to build, but nobody calls them so anymore. We have 45 different routes and about 505 km or contact wires. The network is so dense and expansive that for some years in the past there even were freight trolleybuses used to deliver goods to some of the largest shopping malls. Trolleybuses are so much more noticeably better at climbing hills.

Milwaukee had trackless trolley service from 1936 to 1965.

In Switzerland we have like 11 Trolleybus Networks.

The AC on the New Flyer Trackless is ice cold.

Brisbane Australia on trains are awesome that's a bucket list item for me

Thom, Translink in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada also have trackless trolley buses!!

Trolleys have a single electrical pick-up, metal wheels and course run on a track.  Being from Philadelphia we always called them trackless trolleys because, no track, but similar to the trolley system.  There are still trolley lines in center city where streets are narrow and it is flat, making it easier for the trolley wheels.  The gap in the Market- Frankford line is from 15th to 30th streets.  If you need to get to the streets in between you take a "Subway-Surface" car.  Take the "EL"  to the other end at 69th street and you get the Red Arrow lines out there.  The city is pretty interconnected with trains, trolleys, trackless trolleys, and buses .

wow, a real blast from the past.  I grew up along Frankford ave and rode the 66 a bazillion times to and from work and school.  The origin of the term "trackless trolleys" resulted from their being substituted for real trolleys before Septa's "busification" of the late 50s.   I don't know how much longer they will remain before being fully converted to buses.  As a kid I used to enjoy riding the 66 when it was the real deal.  But thanks for another great video, Thom

Australia on trains are awesome a bucket list item checked off thanks to both thom and bear you're doing an amazing job

The fact that the trolley on the bus chassis was the disappointment was crazy 😭

I rode on Trackless Trolleys , oops, make that Electric Trolley buses in Vilnius, Lithuania. This was in 2009  and some of the fleet were from the Soviet era going back to the mid 60's.Also rode on Boston' MBTA in Cambridge  and SF's MUNI. Saw a TT in operation in 1963 in downtown Des Moines, Iowa but didn't get to ride.

As someone born and raised in Philadelphia I was told they were called trackless trolleys because they could be used on the trolley lines. They had the advantage of being able to get around double-parked cars parked too close to the tracks. Trolleys were stuck until the driver came out to move the car. Trackless trolleys are also quieter than trolleys on rails, and are quieter than diesel buses.

When people discuss the trackless trolleys, they mention the route #29 that used to run in South Philly.  However, nobody ever seems to mention the route #61 that used to run along Main Street in Manayunk.  Searching the internet I found one picture of a route #61 trackless trolley on Main Street from the 1950's.