The past several mornings the Route 15 trolley has been replaced with buses. SEPTA's reasoning is "autos blocking the rails". This has, of course, lead to the question of, "Why not just tow the cars?"

The first thing to remember is that it's not in your interest, it's not in SEPTA's interest, and it's not in the City of Philadelphia's interest for service to not run. Bustituting the 15 means losing buses elsewhere, and burning diesel fuel underneath perfectly good electric wire. When you ask, "Why not do simple solution X?", it's probably because X is not that simple.

The problem is that we've run out of places to put the snow. On streets like Walnut and Chestnut, they've been able to clear the entire street due to rush hour restrictions that eliminate parking. These restrictions don't exist on the path of the 15, so the snow is not removed all the way to the curb.

What then happens is that cars are legally parked, and are not blocking the physical tracks or the right of way for automobiles, but the space remaining is not wide enough for a wide trolley car to fit through.