SEPTA's 'Festibuses' Spread Holiday Transit Cheer

PHILADELPHIA — The holidays can prove a lonely, costly, anxious, and tiresome time of year.

But SEPTA annually takes on an initiative to brighten its riders days amid the holidays.

SEPTA's holiday-themes buses and trolleys are out now for the public to enjoy while being shuttled around the Philadelphia are. Riders can catch the decorated buses and trolleys now through New Year's Eve.

While the official SEPTA Festibus initiative is 11 years old now, the tradition goes back many years to a longtime SEPTA trolley operator. Mason will retire in February 2026,

"It all started with Gary Mason," SEPTA Customer Experience Manager Faith Boose said. "He's been decorating for 20 years out of the Elmwood district."

Mason will retire in February 2026 after about 30 years of providing one of the region's most crucial services

"People really enjoyed it, and it caught on," Boose said. "The decorated trolley gave them good feelings."

SEPTA expanded Mason's vision citywide, and now during the holidays each SEPTA district has a bus and trolley that gets outfitted in that district's chosen theme.

Below are the 2025 themes by district:

Trolley

• Callowhill – Frosty Snow Mobile
• Elmwood – Home Alone
• Woodland – Star Wars

Bus

• Callowhill – Santa Paws
• Comly – Christmas in Wonderland
• Frankford – Care Bear’s Holiday Party Bus
• Midvale – National Lampoon’s Holiday
• Southern – Beetlejuice
• Victory – The Best Gift Ever

Each bus and trolley is up for a vote to be crowned the season's winner.

For trolleys, Elmwood's "Home Alone" theme took first place, with Callowhill's "Frosty Snow Mobile"coming in second and Woodland's "Star Wars" in third. With the buses, Midvale's "National Lampoon’s Holiday" took the top honor, while the "Care Bear’s Holiday Party Bus" in Frankford came in second and Victory's "The Best Gift Ever" took third.

Victors earn a trophy to be displayed in their district office, and the maintenance shops have a winning banner hung up in them.

The winners were announced in early December when the vehicles made their seasonal debut.

Theme planning begins quite early on, and decorating starts around September, Boose said.

"I heard murmurs of next year’s design happening at the [Dec. 7] competition," she said.

Each district's transportation department and maintenance department teams work together to plan, design, and execute their decorated vehicles.

Some designs require the maintenance crews to install additional outlets for lights or, in one example, turn windshield wipers into Big Bird's moving beak, Boose said.

"It builds morale among the crews," she said. "They meet throughout the year to discuss themes, costumes, who will dress up. Each team has a captain who manages the project in the districts, and they divide up roles between the staff."

As for riders, Boose said seeing a gussied up bus amid what can be a hectic time of year gives them a glimmer of cheer, and that in turn reflects on SEPTA's operators.

"It brings [the operators] joy when they see people come on and gasp, point, take videos and selfies on the vehicles," she said.

The Festibuses will be out until Dec. 31 for riders to see.

And, new this year, SEPTA is providing a Festibus tracker for riders to ensure they cat catch a glimpse of the decorated buses and trolleys. Track Festibuses online here.