{"id":113489,"date":"2026-02-13T23:54:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-13T23:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/113489\/"},"modified":"2026-02-13T23:54:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-13T23:54:10","slug":"phillys-valentines-day-trolley-driver-to-retire-after-40-year-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/113489\/","title":{"rendered":"Philly’s Valentine’s Day trolley driver to retire after 40-year career"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (WPVI) — For three decades, Gary Mason has been a driving force for brotherly love, decorating his SEPTA trolley each Valentine’s Day.<\/p>\n

Mason was first hired in 1986 and started decorating when he was inspired by a co-worker in the early 1990s. He began with Christmas, then added Valentine’s Day and Halloween throughout the years.<\/p>\n

He has also decorated trolleys for the Philadelphia Flower Show and 4th of July.<\/p>\n

With the help of his son, Mason decorates in his downtime. Once the trolley is complete, he is ready to hit the road for the overnight shift.<\/p>\n

Mason plans to keep his Valentine’s decorations up for about a week. The trolley that is currently decorated is #9053 on the T1 line (formerly Route 10).<\/p>\n

He says it’s the last trolley he’ll trim before retiring later this year.<\/p>\n

Watch the video above to see his victory lap celebrating a 40-year career.<\/p>\n

To learn more about SEPTA Subway-Surface Trolleys, visit their website.<\/a><\/p>\n

RELATED: Couples who met at McGillin’s Old Ale House reunite for special celebration<\/a><\/p>\n

Local couples gathered at McGillin’s Old Ale House to celebrate a shared special connection.<\/p>\n


<\/p>\n

Copyright \u00a9 2026 WPVI-TV. All Rights Reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHILADELPHIA, Pennsylvania (WPVI) — For three decades, Gary Mason has been a driving force for brotherly love, decorating…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":113490,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[2663,54181,11928,69,71,70,8596,7174,2618,40609,39210],"class_list":{"0":"post-113489","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-philadelphia","8":"tag-car","9":"tag-gary-mason","10":"tag-love","11":"tag-philadelphia","12":"tag-philadelphia-headlines","13":"tag-philadelphia-news","14":"tag-public-transportation","15":"tag-retirement","16":"tag-septa","17":"tag-trolley","18":"tag-valentines-day"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/113490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}