The Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC) was the main public transit operator in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from 1940 to 1968. A private company, PTC was the successor to the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company (PRT), in operation since 1902, and was the immediate predecessor of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA).[1]
History
PTC was established on January 1, 1940, by the merger of the PRT and several smaller, then-independent transit companies operating in and near the city. It operated a citywide system of bus, trolley, and trackless trolley routes, the L (subway-elevated rail), the B (subway), and Delaware River Bridge Line (subway-elevated rail to City Hall in Camden, New Jersey, now part of the PATCO Speedline), which became SEPTA's City Transit Division.
PTC operated the rapid transit lines in Philadelphia, principally the Market–Frankford Line and Broad Street Line, leasing their fixed infrastructure from the City of Philadelphia. Most suburban transit lines were operated by other private companies, including the Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company, known as Red Arrow (trolley lines), the Southern Penn Bus Company (bus lines), and the Philadelphia and Western Railroad (Norristown and Strafford interurban lines).