Philadelphia Transportation Thread

[Broadcastthatboom]

https://www.inquirer.com/transportation/septa-bus-route-redesign-delayed-concerns-20240208.html

[3rd&Brown]

Originally Posted by Broadcastthatboom

https://www.inquirer.com/transportation/septa-bus-route-redesign-delayed-concerns-20240208.html

From the article:

"Lance Haver, a longtime consumer advocate who has been a critic of the plan, said rearranging routes does nothing to fix problems with the reliability and speed of bus service, such as a persistent shortage of operators and difficult traffic conditions such as parking-clogged roads and four-way stops."

I hate NIMBYs. Like, the bus routes haven't changed in something like 50 years. And Operator shortage has literally nothing to do with this. It's apples and oranges.

Some people have no critical thinking skills whatsoever. Co-mingling issues that aren't related and because not every problem can be fixed than we can't make progress on anything.

[TempleGuy1000]

It was announced yesterday that an additional $317 million of the infrastructure bill is being set aside for the 200 new Market-Frankford El subway cars.

https://twitter.com/RepDwightEvans/status/1758251997147361696

I think that was one of the holes in the capital improvements budget for SEPTA so that's very good news.

[Busy Bee]

^Hoping for something attractive.

[waltlantz]

About the route from Philly to Reading, any possibilty it would be more than like 3 times a week?

[TempleGuy1000]

Originally Posted by waltlantz

About the route from Philly to Reading, any possibilty it would be more than like 3 times a week?

Good question, the next public meeting is next week:
https://www.gosrpra.com/

[Busy Bee]

https://twitter.com/ckrueger99/status/1761114911323664868

[PhilliesPhan]

I have two updates to share:

1.) SEPTA is going to ensure that the track area for the El and BSL are clean by investing in a ROW cleaning machine. This item will be added to the FY25-37 Capital Budget.

2.) As some of you have assumed, ridership on the El and BSL is actually much higher than the numbers show. Fare evasion has shaved as much as 25% off the actual recovery numbers, especially on the El--the El actually has around 70-75% of its pre-pandemic ridership. As SEPTA moves towards retrofitting its vehicles with automatic passenger counters, expect to see a jump in ridership on the El and BSL.

[Nexis4Jersey]

Curving off the Viaduct
A 69th Street bound SEPTA EL Train roaring off the Market Street Viaduct in Millbourne, Pennsylvania



The End of the Line
The Western End of the SEPTA Route 101 Trolley at Orange Street in Media,Pennsylvania

[Skintreesnail]

New heavy maintenance facility for amtrak.



https://www.trains.com/trn/news-reviews/...t-for-philadelphia-maintenance-facility/

This is part of the 30th street district master plan, page 140.
https://www.phillydistrict30.com/s/District-Plan-Final-Report_June2016_85x11_web.pdf

[PHL10]

I drove by the PATCO Franklin Square headhouse the other day:

[aprice1828]

Originally Posted by PHL10

I drove by the PATCO Franklin Square headhouse the other day:

Whoaaa!!! That looks incredible. I've only been able to watch the progress from track level, which also looks amazing btw. Really shows you how nice the rest of the Philly PATCO stations could be if the City of Philadelphia didn't own everything outside the fare gates. There's probably a sizable percentage of people that don't take PATCO because of how disgusting the Center City stairs are.

[PHL10]

Originally Posted by aprice1828

Whoaaa!!! That looks incredible. I've only been able to watch the progress from track level, which also looks amazing btw. Really shows you how nice the rest of the Philly PATCO stations could be if the City of Philadelphia didn't own everything outside the fare gates. There's probably a sizable percentage of people that don't take PATCO because of how disgusting the Center City stairs are.

I hear you. Once you start down the first few steps of any of the CC stations, you can't help but smell the ripeness below and wonder if the brownish puddles are coffee or 🞵🞵🞵🞵🞵 runoff.

[Nouvellecosse]

The Europe-based Simply Railway youtube channel toured the suburban system with the help of Alan Fisher. Seems the host came away quite impressed. Well, except for the rolling stock aesthetics which he found dated.

• Video Link

[Nexis4Jersey]

Taken the other day

PATCO High Speed Line on the Ben Franklin Bridge







Market-Frankford EL in the I-95 Median



Broad Street Subway at Race-Vine





Outbound Trenton Line crossing the Schuylkill River

[PHL10]

Great pics! Thanks!

[Urbanthusiat]

PATCO line has a lot of potential IMO, I love what they're doing at Franklin Square. Does anyone know if PATCO has ever seriously considered expanding across the Schuylkill to the 30th St. Station area? Or what kinds of challenges there might be to doing so? I'm sure there are many logistical difficulties and funding issues but I really think that extra connection to Amtrak and the jobs cluster in University City would do a lot for ridership. Hell if I had my way, I'd keep going and take it to Bala Cynwyd via Lancaster and Belmont Ave, which would generate demand going the other way and back into Center City as well. Maybe you even do a second branch continuing down Lancaster to replace the 10 trolley, as you'd have to tear up a lot of Lancaster to make it happen anyway.

Phase 1 extension to 30th St.



Phase 2 extension to Bala Cynwyd. Ignore the random red line by the art museum that was an accident I didn't notice but don't care enough to fix now.

[blorkishdork]

I tend to like the idea of extending PATCO to the 40th street portal as the city proposed back in 2021. I like this idea better because it would serve the hospital area which has a lot of jobs and is very much underserved by rapid transit. I think this would also alleviate the crowding on the MFL while also bringing more people into the subway system generally. I imagine the problem with having PATCO go to 30th street is it would only be a beneficial for people going from NJ to 30th street area, which they can already do with a transfer. by having PATCO go to 40th street I think you'll get more people going from say Old city or rittenhouse or even transfers from the BSL taking PATCO to west philly who either would otherwise take the MFL, bus or walk. In the long run I think having another subway line go to 30th st station is a good idea but I think we need to diversify where our rapid transit goes.

This is reminds me of why I think the trolley subway tunnel is kind of stupid. and I remember in the late 90's/early 2000's there was a proposal to extend the trolleys down market street which made no sense as its completely redundant to the MFL. It would make more sense to extend those lines down walnut or Arch, or even north/south than to just expand the same transit tunnel. but anyway, end thought dump.

See this document on page 138, https://www.phila.gov/media/20210222110702/OTIS-Philadelphia-Transit-Plan.pdf

[thoughtcriminal]

Originally Posted by blorkishdork

This is reminds me of why I think the trolley subway tunnel is kind of stupid. and I remember in the late 90's/early 2000's there was a proposal to extend the trolleys down market street which made no sense as its completely redundant to the MFL. It would make more sense to extend those lines down walnut or Arch, or even north/south than to just expand the same transit tunnel. but anyway, end thought dump.

Agree trolleys in the Market Street subway are redundant. They should terminate the trolleys at 30th street, and people can transfer there to the MFL. Then you could put an MFL station at 19th and/or 22nd, where there are currently trolley entrances. all you would have to do is extend the platforms to the middle tracks where the MFL trains are.

[aprice1828]

I liked the proposed PATCO extension to the Penn Medicine Regional Rail station and the 40th St Trolley Portal option as well. Hospitals are huge drivers of transit ridership.

As for the trolley tunnel to city hall, I'm glad it's there just for the BSL connection. There's a pretty large crowd that uses that stair between the BSL platform and the trolley stop during rush hour. Although a substantial number of them could be going to HUP and just utilizing the frequency of the trolleys.