Philadelphia Transportation Thread - Page 24

EastSideHBG · #**461** Posted **Jan 22, 2011, 3:10 PM**

Philly-area traffic not so bad, study finds

By Paul Nussbaum
Inquirer Staff Writer

Drivers in the Philadelphia region lose almost a full workweek stuck in traffic each year, but they have it better than motorists in most large American urban areas.

An annual report on highway congestion by the Texas Traffic Institute showed that Philadelphia-area commuters sat for 39 hours in traffic jams in 2009, compared with an average of 50 hours in the nation's 15 largest metro areas.

Only commuters in San Diego, Phoenix, and Detroit spent less time stuck in traffic than Philadelphia-area drivers, according to the 2010 Urban Mobility Report.

The most congested areas were Chicago and Washington (70 hours lost per year), Los Angeles (63), Houston (58), and San Francisco (49), the study said.

"One of the very positive benefits of this region is we are not a Los Angeles and we are not an Atlanta," said Scott Brady, manager of the office of travel monitoring for the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission. "You are really not talking about serious congestion here, compared to some of those other areas."

Brady said local counts showed traffic volume had dropped in the Philadelphia region since 2007 because of the weak economy. An exception to that, he noted, was in the King of Prussia area where Route 422, the Schuylkill Expressway, and the Pennsylvania Turnpike converge.

If you think traffic jams are more prevalent than they used to be, you're right, according to the study.

Read more: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_pag...t_so_bad__study_finds.html#ixzz1BmFPXVpW
Watch sports videos you won't find anywhere else

volguus zildrohar · #**462** Posted **Feb 2, 2011, 10:59 PM**

SEPTA what you think about possible new amenities at transit stops. Why? I don't know because none of these suggestions will be used but let's hope for the best for a moment.

volguus zildrohar · #**463** Posted **Feb 7, 2011, 7:05 AM**

I'm curious - does anyone think SEPTA needs to modernize/update the system map? I've always thought it a bit unnecessary to depict the Regional Rail, suburban trolleys and subway/trolley systems on one map. There's a lot of visual clutter for a system that is actually only in interconnected at a handful of locations. Joel Katz has made an updated version of the map and PlanPhilly talks about it.

Joel Katz

pwp · #**464** Posted **Feb 7, 2011, 2:50 PM**

Very interesting. Not sure how much a modernized map is needed but this is a nice illustration. One detail in particular that I like is how the different transit authorities are added to the legend.

thenbagis · #**465** Posted **Feb 7, 2011, 4:21 PM**

(a disclaimer... i love maps and don't mind complex maps)

I'll say that I think having a complete system map with all the connections is important. Maybe it's just my preference for having all the information at hand. I think it's important in at least strategic locations (Market east, suburban station, fern rock, 30th St, 69th St).

Though... I could see the usefulness of having additional maps. Think NY Subway stations, where they will have system map and a local street map at most stations. So... for example in Market East, you'd want both a System Wide Map and a BSL/MFL map... and I guess a PATCO map too... ? However at the Fairmount BSL station, I'd only really see a need for a BSL/MFL map...?

The one area SEPTA could have done better was with the Regional Rail maps before they got rid of the R designations... I'll point to Yonah Freemark's version:

Philadelphia Reevaluates Regional Rail Route Structure, Dismissing Through-Running
http://www.thetransportpolitic.com/2010/...te-structure-dismissing-through-running/

thenbagis · #**466** Posted **Feb 17, 2011, 5:57 PM**

SEPTA goes with new color scheme for Regional Rail
By Paul Nussbaum

Quote:

SEPTA has rediscovered its color palette.

Last summer, SEPTA abandoned its R designations for Regional Rail lines and got rid of the color associated with each line. The red for the R7, the blue for the R5, and the other colors were replaced with a uniform blue-gray tint for all lines.

Riders complained that without letters or colors, schedules for the different lines were hard to tell apart and hard to find in the station racks. So, with the release of spring rail schedules next month, SEPTA will have colored bars across the top of the timetables.

But they won't be the same colors that riders were used to.

"We're doing 13 different colors," SEPTA spokesman Richard Maloney said Wednesday. "It was done deliberately to avoid confusion with the old ones."

So Chestnut Hill East, which used to be red, will be brown. Paoli, once blue, will be dark green. Media/Elwyn, formerly orange, will be blue. The Airport Line will be purple instead of yellow.

manrush · #**467** Posted **Feb 17, 2011, 8:00 PM**

I wonder if the Broad Street line cars would undergo refurbishment sometime during this decade.

volguus zildrohar · #**468** Posted **Feb 19, 2011, 7:19 AM**

I don't recall seeing that in any recent capital budget plans for SEPTA but that may fall under general maintenance. The cars will be reaching their 30th year shortly. I don't know if the M3 cars that formerly ran on The El ever underwent overhaul but I wouldn't be surprised if it never happened during their 40 year run.

Heavy rail cars have usually been refurbished before this point in their service lives because 40 years is about the max for them. A contract for new cars may be in the works before the decade is out.

EastSideHBG · #**469** Posted **Feb 26, 2011, 2:32 PM**

SEPTA sees a 4 percent increase in ridership

By Paul Nussbaum
Inquirer Staff Writer

With gas prices rising and unemployment slowly declining, more Philadelphia-area commuters are riding mass transit.

For the seven months ending in January, SEPTA buses, subways, trolleys, and trains carried 182.5 million riders, compared with 175.4 million during the same period a year earlier.

Travel on Regional Rail trains showed a slight decline as the battered commuter rail fleet was hampered by weather-related delays and a shortage of operable railcars.

The 4 percent increase in SEPTA ridership was led by an increase of nearly seven million riders on the buses, subways, and trolleys of the City Division. A smaller increase of about 400,000 riders was recorded for the buses and trolleys of the Suburban Division. Regional Rail ridership was off by 78,000 riders, or 0.4 percent, for the seven-month period.

"The increase in ridership is probably due to a combination of economic factors," said SEPTA chief financial officer Richard Burnfield, "including the price of gasoline and the slightly improving job market. We also believe that the stimulus-funded improvements we've made at many of our stations and along the Media/Sharon Hill Line have made a difference."

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20110226_SEPTA_sees_a_4_percent_increase_in_ridership.html

PhillyRising · #**470** Posted **Feb 26, 2011, 4:31 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by EastSideHBG

Philly-area traffic not so bad, study finds

By Paul Nussbaum
Inquirer Staff Writer

Drivers in the Philadelphia region lose almost a full workweek stuck in traffic each year, but they have it better than motorists in most large American urban areas.

An annual report on highway congestion by the Texas Traffic Institute showed that Philadelphia-area commuters sat for 39 hours in traffic jams in 2009, compared with an average of 50 hours in the nation's 15 largest metro areas.

Only commuters in San Diego, Phoenix, and Detroit spent less time stuck in traffic than Philadelphia-area drivers, according to the 2010 Urban Mobility Report.

The most congested areas were Chicago and Washington (70 hours lost per year), Los Angeles (63), Houston (58), and San Francisco (49), the study said.

"One of the very positive benefits of this region is we are not a Los Angeles and we are not an Atlanta," said Scott Brady, manager of the office of travel monitoring for the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission. "You are really not talking about serious congestion here, compared to some of those other areas."

Brady said local counts showed traffic volume had dropped in the Philadelphia region since 2007 because of the weak economy. An exception to that, he noted, was in the King of Prussia area where Route 422, the Schuylkill Expressway, and the Pennsylvania Turnpike converge.

If you think traffic jams are more prevalent than they used to be, you're right, according to the study.

Read more: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/front_pag...t_so_bad__study_finds.html#ixzz1BmFPXVpW
Watch sports videos you won't find anywhere else

Now that I have to work in "lovely" Essington...I now have a commute. It's not bad heading down there at 6am. However....the Blue Route bottlenecks every night as soon as you get on it going home.

Thank you Delaware County for being obstinant and demanding two lanes below West Chester Pike. All you got out of it was gridlock and ramp meters.

PhillyRising · #**471** Posted **Feb 26, 2011, 4:36 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by volguus zildrohar

I don't recall seeing that in any recent capital budget plans for SEPTA but that may fall under general maintenance. The cars will be reaching their 30th year shortly. I don't know if the M3 cars that formerly ran on The El ever underwent overhaul but I wouldn't be surprised if it never happened during their 40 year run.

Heavy rail cars have usually been refurbished before this point in their service lives because 40 years is about the max for them. A contract for new cars may be in the works before the decade is out.

The Broad Street Cars seem to be in decent shape for being that old. I never ride on the Market Street line so I can't really compare.

PhillyRising · #**472** Posted **Feb 26, 2011, 4:37 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by EastSideHBG

SEPTA sees a 4 percent increase in ridership

By Paul Nussbaum
Inquirer Staff Writer

With gas prices rising and unemployment slowly declining, more Philadelphia-area commuters are riding mass transit.

For the seven months ending in January, SEPTA buses, subways, trolleys, and trains carried 182.5 million riders, compared with 175.4 million during the same period a year earlier.

Travel on Regional Rail trains showed a slight decline as the battered commuter rail fleet was hampered by weather-related delays and a shortage of operable railcars.

The 4 percent increase in SEPTA ridership was led by an increase of nearly seven million riders on the buses, subways, and trolleys of the City Division. A smaller increase of about 400,000 riders was recorded for the buses and trolleys of the Suburban Division. Regional Rail ridership was off by 78,000 riders, or 0.4 percent, for the seven-month period.

"The increase in ridership is probably due to a combination of economic factors," said SEPTA chief financial officer Richard Burnfield, "including the price of gasoline and the slightly improving job market. We also believe that the stimulus-funded improvements we've made at many of our stations and along the Media/Sharon Hill Line have made a difference."

http://www.philly.com/philly/news/20110226_SEPTA_sees_a_4_percent_increase_in_ridership.html

Tell that to the yahoos up along I-80 that seem to think public transportation isn't as important as them keeping their roads for free (and somebody else paying for them).

Nexis4Jersey · #**473** Posted **Feb 27, 2011, 12:23 AM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by PhillyRising

Tell that to the yahoos up along I-80 that seem to think public transportation isn't as important as them keeping their roads for free (and somebody else paying for them).

Hmmmm , i'm sure one day that will change....its the only highway in the state thats not tolled...

jrdizzy · #**474** Posted **Mar 1, 2011, 8:20 PM**

This technically isn’t Philadelphia, but an important transportation project takes another small step forward.

http://www.nj.com/gloucester/index.ssf?/base/news-6/1298796905275490.xml&coll=8

volguus zildrohar · #**475** Posted **Mar 3, 2011, 1:09 AM**

I'm somewhat amazed that there doesn't seemt o be much NIMBYism with this project. And it's heartening that at least mention was made of the disconnect between rail improvements for North Jersey and South Jersey.

volguus zildrohar · #**476** Posted **Mar 4, 2011, 4:08 AM**

Well, you can take a train from Trenton to Center City at 12:30am, you can take a train from Camden to Center City at 2:30am, you can now finally take SEPTA from Wilmington to Center City on Sundays but you still can't get a train from 8th & Market to 30th & Market at 3am.

That's just unreasonable.

volguus zildrohar · #**477** Posted **Mar 9, 2011, 2:11 AM**

I came across a thread on railroad.net about the demolition of the former Fairmount station on the Frankford El that included photos of the project and former station that was replaced by today's Spring Garden stop. Very interesting for the interested.

Fairmount Station Demolition

thenbagis · #**478** Posted **Mar 9, 2011, 2:07 PM**

Quote:

Originally Posted by volguus zildrohar

I came across a thread on railroad.net about the demolition of the former Fairmount station on the Frankford El that included photos of the project and former station that was replaced by today's Spring Garden stop. Very interesting for the interested.

Fairmount Station Demolition

Thanks VZ, I enjoy seeing a few old pics of what the city used to be. I can definitely lose myself in phillyhistory.org once and a while.

Phil_North · #**479** Posted **Mar 14, 2011, 4:41 AM**

Article Link

Quote:

SEPTA invites the public to attend an information session to learn about its New Payment Technology from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Friday, April 1st, on the mezzanine level of SEPTA's headquarters at 1234 Market Street.
Attendees can browse displays, watch presentations and ask questions about the "open" fare system they will be using in the near future.
The New Payment Technology initiative will fully modernize SEPTA's fare payment and collection system. Riders will be able to pay for travel on trains, buses and trolleys using common retail methods such as bank cards, mobile devices, and other emerging "smart" technologies. It also means a move away from outdated fare instruments such as tokens and paper transfers.
A contract for the "Smart Card" initiative -- the major New Payment Technology project -- is expected to be awarded by early summer. The fare modernization-related work is expected to be completed in about three years.
SEPTA has submitted a federal grant application seeking $29.3 million in funding for a program that would begin to modernize the Authority's fare collection system.

thenbagis · #**480** Posted **Mar 25, 2011, 3:01 PM**

A website for the new payment system... Is this getting real?

SEPTA launches site to promote smart card
By Anthony Campisi
http://planphilly.com/news/notebook/septa-launches-site-promote-smart-card

Quote:

Increased ridership continued to help SEPTA's budget picture in February, according to the SEPTA Board's monthly financial report.

Ridership was up for the seventh consecutive month and 7 percent better than projected, bringing passenger revenue for the fiscal year to $10.5 million, or 3.9 percent better than budgeted.

General manager Joe Casey also announced the creation of a mini-website to give riders more information about the upcoming smart card fare collection system. The authority will be having an open house from 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on April 1 to discuss the system.

The SEPTA Board also approved a number of contracts reviewed at board committee meetings last week, including a contract amendment to sell ads on the SEPTA website.

And the SEPTA site:
http://www.septa.org/fares/npt/index.html