{"id":588191,"date":"2026-02-14T00:11:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-14T00:11:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/588191\/"},"modified":"2026-02-14T00:11:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-14T00:11:18","slug":"phillys-valentines-day-trolley-driver-to-retire-after-40-year-career","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/588191\/","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":3,"featured_media":588192,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[5132],"tags":[5229,2332,254527,4818,1448,2830,1311,9907,700,15940,92196,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,223110],"class_list":["post-588191","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-philadelphia","tag-america","tag-car","tag-gary-mason","tag-love","tag-pa","tag-pennsylvania","tag-philadelphia","tag-public-transportation","tag-retirement","tag-septa","tag-trolley","tag-united-states","tag-united-states-of-america","tag-unitedstates","tag-unitedstatesofamerica","tag-us","tag-usa","tag-valentines-day"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116066090145071957","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588191","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=588191"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/588191\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/588192"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=588191"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=588191"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=588191"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}