Antique trolley cars will be making a comeback in University City this weekend.
The University City District is hosting the first-ever "UC Trolley Day" Saturday, which will feature free rides around the area on newly restored 1938 Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company trolley cars.
Organizers hope that using these cars will create a buzz about the possibility of a permanent loop in University City. The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, however, has no plans for such a trolley line in the near future.
The trolley cars will chug along a continuous loop from 40th and Spruce streets all the way up to 49th Street and Chester Avenue, mostly on tracks that are otherwise used infrequently for passenger transit.
On the way, passengers will be invited to stop at 15 locations throughout the area to take part in local attractions, including live classical music at the Rotunda on 40th and Walnut streets, tree plantings and a tour of a historic Victorian bed and breakfast at 45th Street and Chester Avenue.
The route also boasts restaurants with international cuisine from places such as Laos, Greece and Thailand.
The trolley cars were renovated for use on the Girard Street Line, and are being rented from SEPTA just for the day.
"It would be nice if we had the vehicles" to run the line permanently, SEPTA spokesman Richard Maloney said. "We wish there were more. We know they're going to be very popular."
Maloney said that the refurbished '30s trolley cars cost $1.2 million each, while an average new trolley car costs between $3.5 and $4 million.
UCD officials say the reward for this kind of transportation line is worth the cost.
"Our notion is, University City is a great neighborhood, but it's very diffused, very physically diffused," Trolley Day organizer Mike Hardy said.
Hardy thinks a trolley would connect the commercial areas, including the 40th Street corridor, Powelton Avenue and Baltimore and Lancaster avenues, as well as bring more of the student population into the neighborhood beyond campus.
"We're trying to get a buzz going," Hardy said. "And then if the buzz gets going, we'll take it from there."
Implementation of such a trolley route would perhaps replace the Penn-run Loop Through University City, which is especially popular with Penn faculty.
UCD organizers argue that the trolley system is more environmentally sound than LUCY.
"Have you been behind one of the Penn buses lately?" said Eli Massar, the Baltimore Avenue corridor manager of UCD's "Commercial Corridor Initiative."
But Penn Transportation Services spokeswoman Rhea Lewis wrote in an e-mail that the organization was not concerned with Trolley Day, because it does not currently affect the organization.
Penn, along with SEPTA, UCD and the University City Historical Society, are the sponsors of Trolley Day.
Trolleys currently run mainly in the east-west direction to connect residents to Center City, largely for commuting purposes.
Free tickets for the event are available at UCD's office at 3940 Chestnut St., as well as from merchants around the neighborhood.
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