MERRY CHRISTMAS? HA! It would've been a great holiday if SEPTA could even have been bothered to clear the parking lots along the R5 Paoli during the recent snowstorm. As of Saturday morning, the inbound parking lot at Paoli was still not clear of snow. How embarrasing must it be for SEPTA to do such a pathetic job of plowing the parking lots at one of the most important suburban stations in the system?

DOWN FOR THE COUNT Even more embarrasing than the Eagles colossal choke job against the Giants on Saturday afternoon (the defense seems to have taken lessons from 69 St Terminal Manager Joseph O'Rourke on how to disappear when the going gets rough), SEPTA's web site is not accessible as of 6:00pm Saturday evening.

IT'S BACK The Rail Power shuttles return next weekend. I'm hoping that SEPTA is able to work the bugs out of the scheduling of buses between the three Center City rail stations, but I have my doubts (this is SEPTA we're talking about). On a side note, SEPTA took away the Airport shuttle runs from Red Arrow. This may very well be in retaliation for the UTU's rejection of a single list covering three modes. And remember, their contract expires in 16 months...

HOLIDAY SERVICE (Updated from December 17) Several Frontier routes will operate on a modified Sunday schedule on Christmas Day. The 93, 94, 96, 97, 98, 99, and 130 will operate every 2 hours instead of hourly. Also, neither the 112 nor 123 will not operate at all on Christmas. Center City to King of Prussia service will operate hourly between 6:00am and 6:00pm on the 125 via the S Gulph Rd routing; there will be no service along Henderson Rd via the 124 routing. On the railroad, the R1 Airport will operate its normal 30 minute headways; the R3 Elwyn and R8 Fox Chase will operate every 3 hours, with Fox Chase trains being through-routed to Elwyn and vice versa; the R7 Trenton will see hourly headways (mainly due to the NJT connections at Trenton); all other rail lines will operate every 2 hours. One extra train will be added to all Regional Rail lines, excluding the R1 Airport and R6 Cynwyd, during the 1:00am hour to accomodate New Year's Eve traffic. I would expect that the Market-Frankford El and Broad Street Lines will also have extended train service before Owl bus service kicks in.

DAYS NUMBERED It appears that the 76 (aka Spree) is about to go the way of the Mid-City Loop - that is to the dead list. SEPTA is planning a public hearing on Wednesday, January 23 at 10:00am to begin the elimination of the Center City money drain that is the Spree. Despite a recent claim by SEPTA that the Spree was carrying nearly 400 riders per day, most observers saw maybe a handful of riders at any given time. Unless the City of Philadelphia or the Center City District is planning to cut funding, I would expect a lot of political heavy hitters to cry foul...

BUSTED Four juveniles were arrested by Lansdowne Police after an investigation into the vandalism at the Gladstone Rail Station (R3 Elwyn). The graffiti, some of which included ethnic slurs, was discovered on December 8 and reported to SEPTA and Lansdowne Police. According to the Delaware County Daily Times, the four juveniles, who were not identified but reportedly do not live in Lansdowne, face several charges including institutional vandalism, criminal mischief, and ethnic intimidation. Well, here's hoping that upon conviction, these punks should be forced to perfom community service by cleaning up litter at SEPTA's rail stations and possibly at the main bus terminals as well. I'm sure the unions aren't going to be too happy with that idea (in that it's their work), but it's not fair to the employees of SEPTA to be taken off other maintenance projects to clean up after vandals.

SILLY ITEM OF THE WEEK This week's City Paper brings us the following item which deserved a laugh or two:
SEPTA blames fallen leaves for last month's abysmal on-time record. Environmentalists decry insensitive remarks; general manager appears on Discovery Channel to apologize.
For once SEPTA has it right as several rail lines were impacted because of slippery rail conditions (especially the R5 Paoli Thorndale line, where the #591 train was routinely 10-15 minutes late getting into Thorndale). Here's my problem: City Paper should know that "Fearless Leader" wouldn't be the one making the apology. That job would go to SEPTA's chief spokesman/apologist/liar Richard Maloney, as "Fearless Leader" does a better job ducking the media than Andy Reid. And we all know that "The Big Guy" ( (C) Bob Grotz of the Daily Times) has a far better track record coaching the Iggles than "Fearless Leader" has done at SEPTA.

27 TROUBLES In recent weeks, service on the 27 during the evening hours has been even less reliable than some Red Arrow routes, if that's even possible. Between the heavy congestion on I-76 and in the area of Plymouth Meeting Mall, plus the poor acceleration of some of the 3 year old Neoplan artics, the on-time performance of the 27 has become spotty to say the very least. Perhaps SEPTA might want to explore running some peak hour and "shift change" 27 trips express via 476 and the Schuylkill Expressway to Center City via Wissahickon in order to give some passengers a faster trip to the city.

CAN'T PLEASE ALL OF THE PEOPLE ALL OF THE TIME No matter what SEPTA does with the 35, it seems that some groups in Manayunk is always complaining. This time, the complaints center over the congestion caused by the 30 footers operating along the narrow streets of Manayunk such as Sliverwood and Leverington. The constant congestion along Main St also doesn't help matters much, particularly that difficult turn off of Green Ln onto Main. Now, SEPTA is reportedly considering changing the routing again, though no firm details have come out yet. Talk about your no win situation...

63 UPDATE Apparently, there is increased ridership on the 63, at least on the eastern end of the line near the Pier 70/Walmart complex off Delaware Av. Hence the departure of the ElDorados from Callowhill. As part of the as yet released FY 2004 Annual Service Plan, SEPTA is reportedly proposing to consolidate the 63 and 64 into a single line with service operating on Washington Av to Pier 70 via the Ellsworth-Federal Subway Station as opposed operating along Christian and Catherine (63) or Ellsworth and Federal (64). One of the reasons the often poor performing 63 seemed to hang on as long as it did was political pressures by some players in South Philly.

BODY FOUND (Updated December 20) Philadelphia Police are investigating the death of a tresspasser along the R6 Norristown Line tracks near Allegheny Station. KYW 3 reports that the victim was struck by outbound #6612 around 6:00am this morning along the inbound tracks at the overpass at 22 St and Westmoreland in the Nicetown-Tioga section of the city. As one can suspect, R6 service was delayed due to the police investigation. Undoubtedly, many passengers were diverted to other local bus routes as service was delayed, including the nearby 33 and 60 buses along 23 St and Allegheny Av respectively.

SARDINE LINES Never mind bus shortages, there seems to be a brain shortage at 1234 Market. In addition to the constant and dangerous overcrowding on some 104 PM peak trips from West Chester to 69 St Terminal (especially the 2:45pm pull-in off of the 119), there now appears to be another run where SEPTA has turned a blind eye and deaf ear to dangerous overcrowding. The 3:45pm, 4:45pm, and 5:45pm 113 short turns to Darby has been using an ElDorado almost daily since the August schedule change. The 3:45pm and 4:45pm trips in particular are overcrowded to the point where there's no reason not to use a 40 foot bus. The excuse from SEPTA is that the particular run which includes those 3 Darby short turns either begins or ends as a 305. You mean to tell me that there's no way SEPTA could do a bus swap at Darby or at 69 St Terminal upon completion of the last Darby short turn? Remember that when SEPTA tries to beg for $2 billion for it's Schuylkill Valley boondoggle...

END OF THE EXPERIMENT? The apparent use of ElDorados on two Callowhill routes - the 30 and 63 - appears to have ended, as the 6 ElDos assigned to Callowhill - 4575-4580 - were recently re-assigned to Frontier. The ElDorados rarely saw service on the 30, as most runs were covered by a New Flyer low floor. As for the 63, I haven't had a chance to head down to that part of South Philadelphia, but I would imagine that ridership on the 63 may have outgrown the 30 foot buses.

NEW BRIDGE BUILT Contractors are in the process of replacing the Pennsylvania Av bridge in North Wales, which carries Pennsylvania Av over the R5 Lansdale line. The Lansdale Reporter notes that work on the span will resume in March.

ROUTE 35 CHANGES After many complaints from residents in Manayunk, SEPTA has finally agreed to re-route the 35 over portions of the former loop routing which was in place prior to the September schedule change. This change will only affect eastbound buses traveling to Wissahickon Transfer Center. From Leverington Av and Silverwood St, the 35 will operate via Leverington to lower Silverwood, then via lower Silverwood and Green Ln to Main St en route to Wissahickon. This was proposed during the Annual Service Plan hearings over the summer. Doesn't it seem odd that when people in Manayunk complain about the 35, SEPTA reacts fairly quickly, but when people in other suburbs complain about poor service, SEPTA blows them off? (Not that I don't think the new 35 routing shouldn't take effect, because is should. But, it took two years for SEPTA to cross-route all 92 and 133 buses, even when the 95 and 97 were being cross-routed at Penn Square.)

OOPS... There are certain parts of a motor vehicle that are absolutely essential for the safe operation along Pennsylvania's highways (or any highways, for that matter). One such part is the horn. Someone at Red Arrow seems to have forgotten that simple piece of advice as 5134 departed 69 St Terminal on the 12:05pm 104 to West Chester with a non-functioning horn. Despite my phone call to SEPTA Customer Service at 12:51pm (aren't cell phones great?) and an assurance by the Customer Service rep that the complaint would be passed along, 5134 was STILL on the road for the 2:05pm departure to West Chester as I observed 5134 passing by on Gay St in West Chester at 3:10pm. Isn't it nice to know that SEPTA really cares about abiding by the motor vehicle laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania?

ROUTE ADJUSTMENTS IN PORT RICHMOND SEPTA is planning a public hearing to make the Tioga Marine Terminal routing on the 60 permanent while eliminating the 73 routing through that same area. The hearing will be held on Friday, January 17 at 2:00pm at the Lithuanian Music Hall, 2715 E Allegheny, Port Richmond.

ONE RAIL PROJECT ENDS, ANOTHER BEGINS The R8 Fox Chase mid-day shuttle buses are slated to end today. Starting Monday, the mid-day round trip on the R6 Cynwyd Line will be bused due to a rail project. More details will be posted this weekend. (I can also promise that more news in general will be posted over the weekend.)

DIVERSION DISASTER Subway-surface trolleys were on diversion starting at around 4:00pm yesterday, due to wire problems in the tunnel. A problem with an insulator at 30 St caused several trains to stall at various locations in the tunnel, the lead car of which was 9008, which was operating on the 11 to Darby. 9086, operating on the 36, was directly behind 9008 when the power went out. During a nearly 75 minute stretch along Woodland Av, several 36 cars were spotted heading in both directions; passengers waiting for the 11 weren't as fortunate, as there was nearly an hour long wait between trolleys heading towards Darby. During that time, only one bus passed by 49 St and Woodland heading towards Darby (3056 - which was carrying a full load and didn't stop to pick anyone up at 49 St), while only 2 cars on the 11 went towards the 40 St El station. Anyone travelling along Woodland west of 49 St were essentially stranded for a good chunk of time as nightfall approached. From past experience, including last night, Woodland Av is not exactly the safest place to be waiting for SEPTA in Southwest Philadelphia as darkness approaches.

At the same time the subway-surface tunnel went out of service, an eastbound El train was taken out of service due to a door problem on car 1048. Siffuce to say that the next El train was very overcrowded.

Additionally, over the past 2-3 days, there have been numerous problems reported along Baltimore Av, with shuttle buses filling in for trolleys on the 34 off and on.

SCHUYLKILL VALLEY FOLLOW-UP The Associated Press picked up on the Inquirer's story that Philadelphia Mayor/Emperor John Street had endoresed the Schuylkill Valley Metrorail project. Check out this interesting line from the AP article:
SEPTA wants to begin construction by 2003 and have the service running by 2007. The service would have stops in Phoenixville, Royersford, Pottstown, King of Prussia and other suburbs northwest of the city with major commuter traffic problems.

2007? What planet is SEPTA on if they think they can get this "Metrorail" mode built by 2007? Remember that neither Delaware County nor Bucks County has given a full committment to Schuylkill Valley, and there's a strong shot that Delaware County could derail this plan, unless they get something tangible in return (read: a full restoration of the R3 Elwyn line to Wawa and West Chester).

WEST CHESTER FIASCO Apparently, the idiots who are in charge of West Chester's Christmas celebration seem to think it's a neat idea to hold said parade on a Friday night during the middle of the evening rush hour. As a result, bus service on the 92, 104, and 119 were completely thrown off schedule. Between 5:00pm and 8:00pm, buses were seemingly lost as to how go get from the north end of the borough to the south end, as the annual Christmas Parade blocked off Gay, Market, Matlack, and New Sts. To make things worse, there were no signs posted instructing passengers as to where to board buses (as per SEPTA tradition), nor was there a supervisor dispatched to West Chester until around 7:00pm. The 6:25pm and 7:20pm 92 buses to Exton failed to show up; the next 92 bus didn't leave for Exton and King of Prussia (via the 133) until 8:20pm. About 15 minutes later, 5325 showed up either as a protect bus, or a bus running very late. At least one 104 operator was so lost, he somehow ended up turning off of Marshall St onto High St, even though the 104 doesn't even come near Marshall. At least these two things are certain: (1) West Chester Borough Council can expect an earful at the next meeting, and (2) so can the SEPTA Board.

CUSTOMER DIS-SERVICE So much for the helpful people at SEPTA Passenger Services at Suburban Station. Early Friday morning, I was unfortunate enough to have misplaced my cell phone on the 12:15am R5 to Thorndale (#591). After leaving work, I went from Downingtown to Suburban Station to file a report with Passenger Services. For starters, the jerk behind the counter basically said that no cell phones were turned in, yet didn't even bother to look before telling me so. After I filled out a lost item report, I had requested a copy for my records. In true SEPTA fashion, my request for a copy was denied. Now, if one is filing a lost item report, wouldn't one suspect that he or she would recieve a copy of said report? Not at SEPTA. I then attempted to ask as to when items were turned in from Frazer Yard (where this particular crew and trainset were destined after finishing their run), I was basically blown off by SEPTA's infamous Spokesman/Apologist/Liar Richard Maloney's "mini-me" at the Passenger Services office. Let me point out that the woman who apparently was in charge of Passenger Services at Suburban Station (I'm sure most of the Regional Rail riders who read this site who know who I'm referring to) was probably one of the most customer-oriented employees that SEPTA had to offer. If they in fact replaced her with the aforementioned "mini-Maloney", then for all intents and purposes, customer relations on the Regional Rail side must be at an all-time low.

THORNDALE TROUBLES The past 12 hours (since posting of this message) haven't been a great time for R5 Thorndale line riders. On Friday night, train #581 (the 8:15pm from Suburban) was running at least 25 minutes behind schedule into Exton. Also causing problems was the delayed Amtrak Keystone #655 train, which was also well over a half hour late mainly due to problems on the mainline Northeast Corridor from New York. This morning, riders west of Malvern were in for a rude shock in the bitter cold, as the 8:14am from Thorndale to Doylestown via Center City (#1530) didn't operate due to equipment failure at Thorndale. Thanks to protect trains on standby at Powelton Yard (which is the yard adjacent to 30 St Station), the Doylestown side of the run was able to be filled. Unfortunately, one SEPTA conductor who was supposed to catch the #1530 to make her assignment was stranded at Paoli. The #8532 (9:04am from Paoli) was undoubtedly filled with a lot of irate passengers between Paoli and Overbrook who were squeezed into the 2 car trains like sardines.

NEXT STOP ON THE BOONDOGGLE EXPRESS ... BROAD & MARKET Philadelphia (via Norristown) Mayor/Emperor John Street has apparently changed his tune on the City of Philadelphia's position on the Schuylkill Valley corridor. Jere Downs reports in today's Inquirer that Emperor Street recently spoke with Greater Philadelphia First's lame duck leader (and Emperor Street's possible opponent next year) Sam Katz and SEPTA's very own "Fearless Leader". Apparently, Lame Duck and Fearless Leader have convinced Emperor Street of the benefits of the $2 billion boondoggle. This can be interpreted as a sign that:

Emperor Street seems to think that SEPTA's glorified trolley plan will actually benefit the city

Emperor Street still has a soft spot for his native Norristown and really wants to see the borough succeed (even if Norristown Mayor Ted LeBlanc is a dead ringer for WIP's public idiot #1 Howard Eskin)

Emperor Street is starting to see the writing on the wall from the Republicans in Harrisburg to start playing along or endure more political embarassments (see: Parking Authority, School District of Philadelphia, Convention Center), or

Emperor Street has been getting bad advice from his policy makers at Broad and Market, which wouldn't be much of a shock.

The Inquirer article also notes that while Emperor Street's change of heart on Schuylkill Valley could increase the boondoggle's chances in Washington and Harrisburg, the wild cards in this matter are the continued luke warm reactions from Bucks County and Delaware County. Bucks County seems to have two advantages to turn the tide in favor of Schuylkill Valley: (1) SEPTA Board Chairman/Radio Impresarior/Turnpike Commissioner/Land Developer Extraordinaire and All-Around Arrogant Tyrant Pasquale T. Deon Sr. seems to be SEPTA's second biggest cheerleader for the MetroRail boondoggle (behind Fearless Leader, natch); (2) Gov. Really Lame Duck (Mark Schwieker) - a Lower Bucks native - is the new president of the Greater Philadelphia Chamber of Commerce, which is planning to merge with GPF, which is one of the biggest SVM boosters; and (3) Bucks County stands to see more boondoggle bucks if and when the Cross County MetroRail boondoggle ($1.2 billion and counting) is ever built.

Meanwhile, I wouldn't expect Delaware County to suddenly become enthusiastic over Schuylkill Valley anytime soon. Even though a P&W extension to King of Prussia would obstensively benefit Delaware County, the entire project would be built in Montgomery County. Plus, the extension of the R3 Elwyn line to Wawa (the now inactive station located on US 1 in Chester Heights) has seemingly been pushed to the back-burner, as has potential further restoration to West Chester. No offense to Delaware County's two board members - Tom Babcock and Tom Killion, both of whom seem to have the best interest of their consituencies - but where's Wally Nunn when you need him? I highly doubt MetroRail would even be on the radar screen for either Cross County or Schuylkill Valley if Nunn were still active within the SEPTA Board.

Long story short, at a time when property taxes are skyrocketing within Philadelphia, Emperor Street couldn't have picked a worse message to send to most city residents (save for those in the Manayunk area, where the SVM would operate) that the city is behind a $2 billion boondoggle that would mainly benefit Berks and Montgomery Counties (and have a token impact on Chester County).

CONSTRUCTION CONTROVERSY A pair of West Philadelphia based community advocacy groups protested outside Emperor Street's offices yesterday in response to a lack of minority hiring at publicly funded construction projects within the city. "Enough Is Enough" and "Hands On Coalition" were the two groups responsible for disrupting construction at the 60 St El Station on Wednesday. An injunction was issued by a Philadelphia Common Pleas judge prohibiting the two groups from disrupting construction. Although SEPTA has made good-faith efforts in hiring minorities - specifically residents in the West Philadelphia area - for the Market Street El Reconstruction Project, organizers have threatened to disrupt other publicly funded construction projects, including SEPTA projects.

MORE WINTER WEATHER PROBLEMS In addition to some of the incidents noted yesterday:

• The R2 Warminster Line suffered delays due to downed wires near 9 St and Girard, right near the portal entering Market East Station. The incident occured at around 4:00pm. Service on the R7 Chestnut Hill East line was also affected by the downed wires
  
• Despite reports that buses were running about 15 to 20 minutes late, during the tail end of the AM peak, the 92/133 was running at least 30 to 40 minutes late
  
• The 101 Media trolley is still running buses as of 2:00pm Friday due to impassible conditions on State St in downtown Media
  
• A passenger suffered a head laceration after getting off an R3 train at Primos. The victim was transported to Delaware County Memorial Hospital in Drexel Hill, though neither his condition nor his name was released.

Still, SEPTA's decision to offer only generic transit updates instead of detailed detour information hasn't sat well with too many people.

ON YOUR OWN... That's the attitude SEPTA is taking with most of it's bus and streetcar riders today as 6 to 8 inches of snow fall on the Philadelphia area. All that is said at the SEPTA web site as of 5:30pm is that "...a number of City and Suburban bus routes are operating with detours." Fine. It would be nice to know where some of the major detours and delays are taking place. Of course, that would require actually doing work, which is not exactly a SEPTA hallmark. At least DART First State provided details about some of the major adjustments in Delaware.

AMONG OTHER THINGS... Red Arrow 4539 slid off the road while operating on the 114 towards Boothwyn this morning. The accident occured at 12 St and Yarnall in Chester Twp at around 10:30am. At least 12 of the 16 passengers on board were taken to Crozer-Chester and other area hospitals for evaluation. I'm sure that there were other minor incidents involving SEPTA vehicles, but right now, this was the only one that was reported by the area press.

BAD LUCK DEPARTMENT Amtrak Police arrested a 21 year old Yeadon man at the Trenton Rail Station on weapons possession charges after suffering a seizure on board an R7 train to Center City and Chestnut Hill East. According to The Trentonian (probably the last news source I'd ever consider using for this site, since I can't stand that paper - ed.), Ernest Jerome Selby Tymes III, of the 1100 block of Bell Avenue, Yeadon Borough, suffered a seizure on board the 10:38am departure to Chestnut Hill East (#734). As EMTs were attending to him, a 9mm weapon allegedly fell out of Tymes' waistband. Tymes was arrested by Amtrak Police and transported to Trenton Police headquarters, and was expected to be arraigned in Trenton Municipal Court this morning on charges of illegally possessing a weapon.

COMING SOON... The third batch of New Flyer low floor buses are due to arrive at SEPTA within the next 6-8 weeks. The first of the 5613-5712 batch is tentatively scheduled to be on SEPTA property around the third week of January. It now appears that Midvale will not get most of the order as originally scheduled; the original plan was to assign 85 of the low floors to Midvale with the remainder going to Frontier. Now, it appears that Midvale and Southern will get 45 new buses each, with the remaining 10 to be sent to Frontier, where they will most likely see service on the 124/125.

NEW BUS UPDATE SEPTA is apparently planning to proceed with a purchase of about 50 buses to replace the Ford cutaway bus fleet, most of which are literally starting to fall apart. On the Fords operated by Keystone on the 314, the destination sign has been removed. On many of the older Frontier-based Fords, the interiors of these buses have, to say the least, seen better days.

NJT HOLIDAY SERVICE NJ Transit will be added extra service from Camden to Cherry Hill and Moorestown Malls via the 404, 405, and 407 lines; a few 404 extras will be extended into Center City Philadelphia.

DART'S NEW TROLLEY BUSES DART First State put three brand new Chance AT-28 replica trolley buses into service on the #32/City Circuit Line which connects Downtown Wilmington with the Frawley Stadium complex area. The existing 30-ft and 40-ft Gilligs which were given a special livery will now be placed back into service on the regular New Castle County lines.

LANCASTER AVE PROBLEMS Trolley service on the 10 is encountering major problems due to an accident in West Philadelphia. At around 10:50am, a pickup truck passed a westbound 10 (believed to be 8054 block, with LRV 9069 - I am unsure of the number, but it was in the old middle ribbon livery) on the 5000 block of Lancaster Av. The truck reportedly struck a car traveling eastbound on Lancaster before striking a utility pole, causing a power outage along Lancaster between 40 St and 52 St. Witnesses at the scene tell me that there were no injuries.

As a result, SEPTA is running buses along the 10 route between Malvern Loop and 36-Lancaster with a diversion around the accident scene via 51 St, Merion Av, and 50 St. At least 4 buses from Callowhill were confirmed to be covering the shuttle - 3083, 3433, 5428, and 5431. Three LRVs are effectively cut off from Elmwood Depot until PECO Energy repairs the pole. 9069 (or whatever number it is) was seen laying over at 53 St between Lancaster and Lansdowne; 9029 (8053 block) was stuck at 51-Lancaster - directly behind the accident scene, and 9032 (8055 block) which was still at Malvern Loop. At last report, service was expected to be restored by mid-afternoon.

HE'S BACK! Our former "Fearless Leader" - John K. Leary, Jr. - is apparently trying to get back into the transit management business, despite being "retired" and living somewhere on Cape Cod. Leary is part of a private consortium that is trying to take over the MBTA's Commuter Rail contract. You may begin laughing at any time during this message...

MONTHLY WEST CHESTER CLOSING On Friday, the Borough of West Chester will be having their annual December closing of Gay Street, otherwise known as the Old-Fashioned Christmas Parade. As an added bonus, Market Street will also be closed on Friday night. Let's just say this is going to cause massive headaches not only for commuters, but for SEPTA management who are undoubtedly going to have to do something very unusual - they're going to have to post detour signs for the 92, 104, 119, and 314.

STRANGE BUT TRUE Dave Barry couldn't possibly make this up. On Tuesday night, train #591, operating as the 12:15am from Suburban Station to Thorndale on the R5 line, was running about 15 minutes late getting into Overbrook. The reason? A passenger became ill, either because of medical or alcoholic reason, while the train was on the Lansdale side of the R5. #591 was held at Wayne Junction for about 10-15 minutes while a crew from Roberts Yard cleaned up the vomit. #591 ultimately arrived in Downingtown and Thorndale about 25 minutes behind schedule, due to an Amtrak work crew which hadn't cleared the interlocking at Paoli.

SAD BUT TRUE A day after the accident at the Snyder Subway station, a female jumper was killed by a westbound El train at 30 St. The incident occured at around 11:30am. No further details were available.

TURKEYS FOR DINNER, AND NOT RUNNING SEPTA Despite the apparent well intent of SEPTA to fulfill it's promise to operate only wheelchair accessible buses on weekends and holidays, apparently, the folks at Red Arrow are not getting the message. On Thursday - when SEPTA was operating on a Sunday schedule - 3120 managed to slip in on the 10:05am 104 to West Chester (4217 block). As an added bonus, the operator was boarding passengers from the island platform instead of the north platform (where the trolleys board). Living proof that ineptitude at SEPTA never takes a holiday...

HOLIDAY UPDATE A new page has been posted listing SEPTA's additional holiday services. Added bus service will be offered to Exton Square, Franklin Mills, Granite Run, King of Prussia, Montgomery, and Plymouth Meeting malls.

RED ARROW UPDATE Pending the outcome of a vote by UTU 1594 members, changes may be implemented as to how spare operators will report for duty. A proposal had been introduced by SEPTA to stagger report times among operators in order to avoid drafting other operators for weekend duty. SEPTA appears to be putting pressure on the Red Arrow operators to approve this plan. One union insider reports that SEPTA may not only take away the 108 and 124/125 from Red Arrow, but also the 305 if all runs are not filled. The 124/125 would end up at Frontier while Southern would be the likely candidates for the 108 and 305 if SEPTA follows through on their threats.

SNYDER TRAGEDY A passenger was struck by a Broad Street Line train at Snyder Station early yesterday morning. Hardy Sutanto, 54, of South Philadelphia, died after accidentally falling into the track area while looking for an oncoming train.

CONSTRUCTION BLUES While the bus-bridge service on the Regional Rail lines between the Center City stations and the R1 Shuttle are on hiatus until January, there is a construction inconvenience to deal with. The southernmost corridor in the West Terminal at 69 St (directly parallel to Market St) is closed due to instalation of an ADA compliant walkway. There is a similar configuration which was recently opened in the center platform corridor (next to the operators lounge and SEPTA Police office). The good news is that the fencing which effectively shut down a "short-cut" walkway between the island platform and West Chester Pike/LRV boarding area was reopened.

WINTER WONDERLAND With snow in the forecast tonight and tomorrow, there may be scattered delays in most of the suburban areas, particularly north and west of Center City. The common forecast that I hear is between 3 to 6 inches in the outer ring suburbs, and 1 to 3 inches in Center City and Delaware County. As many diehard SEPTA riders know, one of the first lines to go out of service will most likely be the 35. In the past, SEPTA issued a brochure that listed where detours would be in place in the event of heavy snows.

CHANGE OF PLANS Plans to run single track operation on the R8 Fox Chase line were tabled at today's SEPTA Board Meeting, thanks in part to the efforts of Philadelphia City Councilman Brian O'Neill, whose district includes Fox Chase and parts of Northeast Philadelphia. The issue may be revisited at next month's Board Meeting. Following leafletting by DVARP volunteers, over 160 faxes and emails opposing SEPTA's plans to operate all R8 trains on the inbound track were delivered to the board.

MORE WEEKEND PROBLEMS The Philadelphia Marathon is not the only event that will wreak havoc on SEPTA this weekend. Due to trackwork in the subway portion of the Market-Frankford Line, SEPTA will be forced to single track between 5 St and 30 St stations. On Saturday, the westbound (to 69 St) track will be taken out, while Sunday will see the eastbound (to Frankford) track out of service. To make matters worse, a 20 minute headway will be in effect. The good news is that this is expected to be the last major disruption on the El this year, as next week, the holiday shopping season kicks in.

FOX CHASE FIASCO In what would seem to be yet another brilliant move by the "transit" experts running the Regional Rail system, the SEPTA Board is expected to approve an agreement with CSX that would in effect force single track operations on the R8 Fox Chase line between Newtown Jct (north of Wayne Jct) and Olney Station. CSX had complained about the inability of its freight trains to use the Fox Chase line segment which also follows the former New York Short Line branch. And people wonder why SEPTA's Regional Rail Division is the laughing stock of the industry...

DEVELOPMENT ISSUES A 10-lot housing subdivision in Upper Gwynedd is raising concerns among neighbors who live near the R5 Lansdale-Doylestown line. The Lansdale Reporter says that residents have cited the proximitiy of the rail line as a safety issue, since there is a steep drop-off nearby. Just another example of sprawl at work...

MARATHON IMPACTS Sunday will not be a good day for passengers who would normally take the R1 Airport Line. With the Rail Power Project shuttle buses still in effect and the Philadlephia Marathon taking place on Sunday, SEPTA has decided to run buses from Eastwick, University City, 30 St, and Market East instead of the more convoluted University City to Eastwick via Center City and the Airport, as Arch St will be closed. This is in addition to detours on virtually every single SEPTA route which serves Center City, Wissahickon Transfer Center, Manayunk, and Ridge Av (or any combination thereof). Most Wissahickon Transfer buses will board and alight at Ridge and Midvale. The affected routes include the 2, 5, 9, 17, 21, 27, 32, 33, 35, 38, 40, 42, 43, 48, 61, 65, 124/125, C, and R.

SOUTH JERSEY BOONDOGGLE UPDATE New Jersey Transit is planning to start testing of its new diesel LRT cars for the Southern New Jersey Light Rail Transit system, which will run between Camden and Trenton. The SNJLRT has come under justified criticism from the McGreevey Administration for a lack of planning and for the massive cost overruns, which will bring the tab for the project to nearly $1 billion. Perhaps "Fearless Leader" and her cronies at 1234 Market may want to pay attention to the fiasco in South Jersey to avoid the same mistakes with Schuylkill Valley and Cross County. The project - boondoggle as it may be, no matter how well intentioned the concept of expanded rail transit in South Jersey may be - was concieved originally as a system connecting Mount Holly, Camden, and Glassboro before vocal NIMBY opposition forced NJT to choose the Trenton-Camden corridor. (PLUG ALERT: If you want more details on the entire SNJLRT fiasco, you may want to become a DVARP member; in this month's newsletter, there is a well written piece on the entire SNJLRT history.)

NEW NJT PARK & RIDE LOTS SNJLRT notwithstanding, NJ Transit also announced plans at its November Board Meeting to expand the Washington Twp Park & Ride lot at Cross Keys and Fries Mill Rds (I believe this is also known as Avandale) by adding 300 new spaces and to build two new P&R lots in South Jersey: One would be located in Willingboro, the second at a yet to be determined location in Cumberland County, probably in the Vineland or Millville areas.

NEW BOSS AT NJDOT New Jersey Transportation Commissioner James Fox was recently named Gov. Jim McGreevey's Chief of Staff, meaning that NJ Transit will have a new chairman of the board (the NJDOT Commissioner also doubles as NJT Board Chairman, among other responsibilities). NJDOT Deputy Commissioner Jack Lettiere, who was in charge of the agency's Capital Program, is the front runner to become new NJDOT Commissioner. This should not have a major impact on NJT operations, but given the often bizarre world of New Jersey politics, who knows?

RIDERSHIP NUMBERS SEPTA's quarterly ridership and revenue report shows some very interesting tidbits, as they always seem to do (all increases/decreases are based on comparisons of the first three months of FY2002 and FY2003). To wit:

• Ridership on the Broad Street Line, for example, was boosted by nearly 8,400 riders using the Pattison/Sports Complex station for the Iggles home opener against the Dallas (hey, didn't you used to be the) Cowboys
  
• Ridership on the 124/125 fell 13 percent, primarily due to the sagging economy; while the King of Prussia malls account for a large number of riders, the office vacancy rates at nearby office complexes north of the malls and along Gulph Rd have increased, with a lot of the "dot.com" and related businesses closing up shop
  
• Ridership on the 123, however, increased about 8 percent, mainly due to more local ridership along West Chester Pike as riders who would've normally used the 104 during peak hours are discovering that the 123 (and, to an extent, the 112) also covers the West Chester Pike corridor between 69 St and Eagle Rd
  
• The 123 ridership increases may be a factor as to why ridership on the 104 decreased 7 percent; of course, SEPTA's foolish plans to reduce weekend service to West Chester may have had something to do with it as well
  
• Ridership along the 113 between 69 St and Marcus Hook increased 10 percent compared to the first quarter of FY'02; I can't seem to figure a reason as to why, but it's possible that people are starting to discover the night owl service on that line
  
• Ridership on the 35 in September doubled, from 160 riders last September to 335 riders this past September; many of the new 35 passengers are undoubtedly displaced 9 riders in Upper Roxborough and Andorra
  
• The 61 has also seen an increase in ridership by about 500 riders compared to September 2001; again, this is most likely related to the Andorra route changes
  
• Compared to last summer, ridership fell sharply on the 98 between Norristown, Plymouth Meeting, Blue Bell, and Willow Grove; it's likely that the Blue Bell area is encountering the same office space problems that King of Prussia and Conshohocken are experiencing (ie. low vacancy rates)
  
• Despite pitiful reliability during the PM peak periods, ridership on the 92 increased 21 percent from last summer; however, ridership on the 133 fell 16 percent, partially because of missed connections, but there is probably a office vacancy rate issue in the PA 252 and Swedesford Rd corridors in Tredyffrin
  
• Ridership on the 203 is, well, pathetic. Only 44 riders/day were being counted in September, which tends to tell me, CMAQ grant or not, that this line is in very deep trouble; except SEPTA Board Chairman/Radio Impresiaro/Turnpike Commissioner/Land Developer Extraordinaire (did I leave something out?) Pasquale T. Deon, Sr. will probably have a lot to say about that, since the 203 serves Lower Bucks
  
• On the other hand, ridership on the other Lower Bucks route seemingly on the endangered list - the 304 - has been steadily increasing (32 percent)
  
• Ridership on the R5 Lansdale-Doylestown line appears to have returned to pre-Ft Washout levels. Recorded ridership on that line in July 2001 was only 9,166; July 2002 ridership was recorded at 13,462, which is about average for that line

Overall ridership on SEPTA was up 2 percent in the first quarter of the present fiscal year, however numbers may be slightly skewed as the fallout from September 11 impacted ridership.

RED ARROW HAPPENINGS A few interesting tidbits from 69 St...

• Recently, Suburban Operations issued a bulletin order requiring buses deadheading eastbound on West Chester Pike to "work in service", picking up passengers along the corridor. This order came in response to numerous complaints from riders about off-duty buses passing up passengers
  
• Red Arrow reportedly has recieved "Lateness Cards" which are supposed to be issued to passengers if a delayed bus causes them to be late for work or school
  
• Neoplans assigned to Red Arrow are not supposed to be used on any route on Sundays; on Saturdays, all lines are supposed to be wheelchair accessible
  
• The 37, 108 and 305 are apparently being detoured around the International Plaza complex due to construction work. It is expected to be a minor re-routing which will continue to serve existing stops

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER ACCIDENT The Daily News reports that an accident involving an Allegheny artic running the R1 Airport shuttle collided with a car on Market near 12 St yesterday. The accident occured at around 5:45pm, as the bus was headed towards University City. The two occupants in the car were treated and released at Hahnemann Hospital for minor injuries; no passengers on the bus were injured.

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER Just in time for the morning commute, PennDOT officially opened the ramps from southbound Ridge Av to southbound City Av/US 1, meaning the lengthy detour via the northbound Ridge Av ramps to City Av is now officially over.

LRV ACCIDENT FOLLOW-UP The trolley involved in the derailment at 51 St and Chester Av on the 13 line was 9014. The accident occured towards the tail end of the AM peak on October 28 (this item was posted in the guestbook). Some pictures and the gory details can be found at Bill Monaghan's web site.

NEW BUS UPDATE The deadline for RFPs for SEPTA's next batch of 300 low floor buses was extended to December 11. Take that for what it's worth...

MORE RAIL PROBLEMS Between the annual slippery rail problems and the rotten weather, Friday night would not be a time for the entire Regional Rail system to shut down. Well, guess what? It did. According to the Inquirer, the distribution center at Wayne Junction lost power at around 5:45pm, right at the tail end of the PM peak. In yet another classic quote of stupidity, SEPTA spokesman/apologist/liar Richard Maloney called the power failure "a case of 'Murphy's Law'". Either that or SEPTA forgot to pay the electric bill. The Inky also noted that all Regional Rail trains were stalled, with some trains stuck in between stations. The Great Valley Flyer managed to arrive at Downingtown only 2-3 minutes behind schedule, arriving at 6:22pm. Despite the Inky's article, it appears that delays were mainly on the RDG side of the system. Service was partially restored by 8:20pm. Suffice to say that little information was made available as to whether or not shuttle buses were available (I highly doubt it).

INJURED LIST Callowhill 5414 - the bus which suffered major curb-side damage following Tuesday's accident in Germantown - is now at Midvale undergoing a damage evalutation before determining whether to send it to Wyoming for repairs or to the scrap yard. Comly 5547 is the latest bus to be involved in an accident on the 14. No further information is available about the accident, which occured on Wednesday. This is at least the 4th New Flyer from Comly in the past few months to be involved in an accident on either the 1 or 14.

LUCY LOOP CHANGES The Loop through University City (LUCY/Route 316) is being restructured to offer more service in the University City area. Green Loop service will operate via Market St, 40 St, Spruce St, the Civic Center area, and 33 St, starting at 30 St Station at 6:10am until 7:30pm; Gold Loop service will operate via Market, 34 St, the Civic Center area, 38 St, Walnut, 42 St, Chestnut, 39 St, and Market St between 7:00am and 7:18pm; the Mid-Day Express will operate via Market, 38 St, Spruce, 33 St, Walnut, and 36 St between 9:20am and 3:55pm. These changes will take effect on Monday.

RED ARROW UPDATE The union representing Red Arrow operators are expected to approve a plan that would change the reporting procedure for operators, as noted last week at this site. The other rumor that's starting to fly around is that Red Arrow may lose some runs on the 108 and/or the 124/125 with the next picking in February.

WOODBOURNE-GATE Officials in Middletown Township (Bucks) are threatening legal action over malfunctioning crossing gates on Woodbourne Rd at the R3 West Trenton/CSX rail crossing located north of Oxford Valley. A Middletown (Bucks) supervisor told the Courier-Times that the gates keep activating even when no train is passing through the station area. As a result, the township is has retained an attorney for a possible complaint against both SEPTA and CSX with the Pennsylvania Public Utilities Commission. SEPTA claims that while CSX ownes the tracks between Neshaminy Falls and West Trenton, SEPTA repairs the crossing gates when it affects R3 service. Middletown (Bucks) Township Manager John Burke told the Courier-Times that he believes CSX owns the equipment, while CSX officials tell township officials that the gates are working properly. Somehow, I don't think that SEPTA Board Chairman/Radio Impresiaro/Turnpike Commissioner/Land Developer Extraordinaire (did I leave something out?) Pasquale T. Deon, Sr. isn't exactly going to be bragging about this matter to his buddies at Doylestown Courthouse.

MYSTERY DETOURS AND DELAYS Due to road paving along PA 252 between West Chester Pike and Gradyville Rd near the Marple/Newtown township line, the 118 may experience delays of between 5-10 minutes (as I found out the hard way today). Traffic on this stretch of 252 is reduced to one lane, with flaggers allowing only one direction of traffic through at a time. In Folcroft, a water main reconstruction project on Primos Av will force the 115 and 305 to detour via Sharon Av until late December. Gee, isn't it nice of SEPTA to let the public know about these things?

OUR LONG CITY AVE NIGHTMARE IS OVER PennDOT reports that the southbound ramp from Ridge Av to City Av/US 1 will reopen today (if it hasn't already). This marks the end of a long detour for the 9, 27, 38, 61X, 65, 124 and 125 via a northern access ramp off of Ridge Av. This should dramatically improve travel times on the above listed routes.

ACCIDENT IN GERMANTOWN Callowhill 5414 bus was involved in a serious accident in Germantown earlier this afternoon. At around 1:15pm, 5414 was on the 65 when it was struck by a City of Philadelphia Sanitation Department truck at the intersection of Walnut Ln and Morris St, near the Tulpehocken Rail Station on the R8 Chestnut Hill West line. WB17 reports that the trash truck reportedly skidded and spun out while eastbound on Walnut Ln, struck a curb, and blew a tire before striking the curb side of 5414. KYW 3 reports at least 25 passengers and the operator were injured and taken either to Temple University Hospital or MCP. The trash truck reportedly t-boned 5414 as it was westbound on Walnut Ln en route to 69 St Terminal. 5414 appeared to suffer some major damage to the side as it was reported that the front of the trash truck was embedded into the side of the bus. As expected, service on the 65 was disrupted for most of the day, though some residual delays on nearby Wayne Av caused some delays on the 53.

FATAL ACCIDENT An Eldorado was involved in a fatal crash on US 202/DeKalb Pike at Township Line Rd in Lower Gwynned Twp earlier this afternoon. At around 3:30pm, the bus was deadheading to Montgomery Mall to enter service as a 94 when a car travelling south reportedly crossed into the northbound lanes and hit the bus head on. NBC 10 reports that the passenger in the car was killed. The Times Herald reports that the impact of the collision sent the bus into a property on the east side of US 202, damaging two fences and a hedgeline. US 202 was closed during most of the evening rush hour, which made travel on the 96 north of Montgomery County Community College/Whitpain next to impossible.

NOT SO FAST... (BUS DEPT.) Apparently, the plans to buy new cruiser buses is on hold. Contrary to earlier reports, SEPTA has not issued a request for bids on such buses, and there are no immediate plans to do so. Also, the plans to purchase new cutaways to replace the junk that masquerades as buses (the Fords) have not advanced, even though most of the Fords assigned to Frontier are literally starting to fall apart.

NOT SO FAST... (RAILROAD DEPT.) New equipment delays are not limited to the bus side of operations. SEPTA has yet again extended the deadline for Silverliner V proposals another month. Instead of December 4, the proposals are now due at SEPTA on January 8, 2003. The way things are going, the City of Philadelphia could (and hopefully will) elect a new mayor before SEPTA finally moves forward on the Silverliner V cars.

WITLESS PROTECTION PROGRAM Someone at Callowhill must have forgotten the first rule of buses. Make sure the vehicle number is visible from the outside. NABI 5004 now sports a full wrap for the Franklin Institute's Fels Planetarium. The problem is that nowhere on the wrap is the fleet number visible. Perhaps 5004 is a very unlucky number at SEPTA...

VETERAN'S DAY DETOURS On Sunday, the 104 will be taken off of Gay St in West Chester between Montgomery Av and High St due to the borough's annual Veteran's Day parade. On Monday, the 101 will be busing between Bowling Green and Orange St in Media due to Media's Veteran's Day parade.

FOR YOUR DINING PLEASURE... Trolley fans may be interested in visiting a new diner located at 43 St and Baltimore Av in University City. Accoring to the Daily Pennsylvanian, the newspaper of the University of Pennsylvania, the Green Line Cafe will open its doors early next month. No, SEPTA's not running it, but rather the diner is named after to unofficial name for the subway-surface lines (which were, as far as SEPTA is concerned, called the Green Lines, but that name is no longer in official use). There's no truth to the rumors that your order will be free if it's more than 15 minutes late...

PROBLEM SOLVED ... WE HOPE The union representing Red Arrow operators is expected to approve what is referred to as an "AM/PM" list, in which operators (presumably spare operators) would report to the depot every 15 minutes until a certain hour. This would eliminate the "draft" process, in which management forces operators to work on off days or risk disciplinary action. Predictably, members of UTU 1594 are expected to overwhelmingly approve the plan.

FLYING HIGH? In a recent press release, SEPTA reported an increase of nearly 11,000 fans have been using the Broad Street Line over the first four Eagles regular season games (35,000 this year compared to 24,000 at the same point last year). This would explain why more Broad Street Express trains have become crowded like sardines. It would appear that SEPTA has been slow to react to this massive increase in ridership. Well, hopefully, the ridership increases sends a message to "Fearless Leader" and the folks who plan the Broad Street Line service for Eagles games.

IF A TRAIN RUNS IN THE WOODS, WILL ANYONE RIDE IT? On a side note, SEPTA is planning to operate two extra Sports Express trains on Friday night to accomodate fans attending the Sixers and Phantoms games, as well as added service on Saturday night between 6:30pm and 7:00pm to accomodate fans attending the World Wrestling Entertainment event at the First Union Center. Somehow, considering how far WWE business has dropped off, it would appear that they'd be lucky if they drew 5,000-6,000 to the Center on Saturday night. The bright side is that we're no longer subjected to weekly cover stories in various magazines about Vince McMahon and his third-rate, one-ring circus that is professional wrestling.

SEPTA'S DUMBEST CRIMINAL No, that's not a reference to the consultants who seem to think that super-sized light rail is the best option for the Schuylkill Valley and Cross County corridors (the price tag for Cross County, by the way, has apparently jumped to about $1.02 billion). That honor goes to one Anna Toni Haas, 37, of Upper Darby. The Delaware County Daily Times reports that Haas was arrested on drug charges and for resisting arrest after an incident in the women's restroom at 69 St Terminal. SEPTA Police were alerted to a suspicious odor in the women's restroom. When an officer arrived, Haas allegedly was searching for something she had dropped. Police allege that she said "I dropped my f***ing crack," right in the presence of an officer. After the officer ordered her out of the stall, Haas attempted to flush "four packages containing a white powdery substance" down the toilet, then attempted to throw a 40-ounce beer bottle at the officer, who promptly maced her. Police confiscated several packages of what would later test positive for cocaine and marijuana. Haas - who will be charged with drug possession, possession of marijuana and paraphernalia, resisting arrest, and tampering with physical evidence - is now being held at the Delaware County Prison in lieu of 10 percent of $10,000 bail, pending a preliminary hearing. This raises two questions: (1) How stupid do you have to be to announce to the whole world that you've misplaced your illegal drugs, and (2) Who knew that the toilets at 69 St Terminal actually work properly?

DRIP, DRIP, DRIP On a somewhat related note, the customer service office at 69 St Terminal reopened today, after a broken water pipe caused some water damage to the office. This is the third plumming problem to plague 69 St Terminal in the past year. A couple of months ago, SEPTA work crews began work on the operator's lounge after plumming problems. So, SEPTA is trying to get nearly $3 billion for two "super-sized" trolley lines of over 60 miles each, but can't be bothered to check the plumming at one of it's major transit centers? Ye gods...

REVENGE OF THE TREES An engineer running an R5 Paoli train fell victim to a tree branch towards the tail end of the evening rush hour last night. At around 6:45pm, a westbound train - believed to be #573, the 6:12pm from Center City to Malvern and running about 10-15 minutes late - was approaching Wynnewood station when a tree branch fell and struck the windshield of the train car. The engineer was hit in the head by the branch, and later treated for minor injuries. The branch took down some of the catenary, causing delays for most of the later evening on the Paoli line.

BUS 1, CAR 0 Comly 5560 was involved in an accident as it departed Neshaminy Mall on a 14 to Frankford Terminal (1128 block). At around 11:30am, 5560 turned onto Neshaminy Blvd when it struck a car which was about to turn into the mall. The car suffered major front end damage and had to be towed. 5560 only suffered minor damage to the front bumper and to the bike rack. The area around Neshaminy Mall was congested until around 12:15pm. Complicating matters was the main bus entrance to Neshaminy Mall was closed at least through today due to construction in one of the mall's parking lots.

WHERE'S HARRY KALAS WHEN YOU NEED HIM? Happy 80th birthday to the Frankford El, which was opened on this day in 1922. The Frankford El, originally built by the City of Philadelphia's Transportation Department (which no longer exists), connected with the Market Street Elevated at Front and Arch Sts - which is right around the general area of the Ben Franklin Bridge. It would've been nice if SEPTA had made some passing mention of it, but that would be asking too much.

FOUND: COLUMNIST IN NEED OF SENSITIVITY TRAINING In this week's editions of the Main Line Times, Managing Editor Kevin Williamson reported on a recent debate between State Sen. James Gerlach (R-44) and Democrat Dan Wofford which took place recently at a synagogue in Gladwynne, Lower Merion Twp. Gerlach and Wofford are running for the newly created 6th Congressional District seat (as if you hadn't noticed the slew of ads not seen in a congressional race in the western suburbs in recent memory). As expected, Schuylkill Valley came up, with this amusing exchange by Wofford as part of the debate:

The most amusing bit came when the two were discussing the proposed Schuylkill Valley Metro Rail, which would link Center City to Reading (with a stop in Bala Cynwyd, Main Line Times readers will note). Gerlach, like any local leader who wants to be elected, is much in favor of the proposal, but Wofford darkly proclaimed that - you guessed it - "right-wing extremists" in the GOP would stymie Gerlach's efforts to support mass transit. As if Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson were holding Nuremberg-style rallies to burn bus passes and marching against SEPTA. "Javol! Get off zee bus! Vee have vays of making you drive zee SUVs!"

Mr. Wofford apparently hasn't seen the make-up of the SEPTA Board, which is dominated by Republicans who live in the suburbs (disclosure note: I am a registered Repblican myself). Apparently, Mr. Williamson seems to forget that there's a large Jewish population on the eastern end of the Main Line - particularly in Lower Merion - who might be offended by the last two sentences of the above noted paragraph. (The link above deals with what Williamson percieves as a lot of "extremist" talk by Wofford; the above paragraph is in the middle of the article.)

WAIT 'TIL NEXT YEAR No, that's not the new rallying cry of the Phillies (who better sign either Jim Thome, Tom Glavine, or any big name free agent this off-season, or I - and scores of other Phillies fans presently on the fence - might not be inclined to buy season ticket plans for next year or when (This Name For $ale) Stadium opens in 2004), but rather a warning for R2 Marcus Hook and R3 Elwyn riders as it pertains to the Rail Power Project. At some point next year, during Phase 2 of the project, all weekend R3 Elwyn trains will be cut back to University City. I haven't heard any official confirmation about R2 trains being cut back to University City, but judging from yesterday's fiasco, I wouldn't be shocked if that's the case. Shuttle buses from University City to Center City would probably be operated by Callowhill. On a side note, fare collection on the R1 Airport shuttles are being handled by RRD conductors as opposed to collecting fares via the farebox on board the buses. Considering the bus operators are not as familiar with the RRD fare structure, that's not really a bad idea.

HOLIDAY HAPPENINGS SEPTA is already in full planning mode as it relates to extra holiday service to and from area malls. Extra service would be added from Exton Square, Granite Run, Montgomery, Plymouth Meeting, and Franklin Mills malls. More details are expected shortly.

B.S. ALERT An open house is scheduled for Wednesday regarding the Cross County boondoggle - uh, I mean "Metro" - at 1 Montgomery Plaza (Swede and Airy Sts) in Norristown. The open house will take place from 4:30pm until 8:00pm. Anyone capable of translating "SEPTA Double-speak" is strongly encouraged to attend - and possibly flush out the lies about this glorified trolley line.

RAIL POWER PROJECT MESS So much for a relatively easy time on the RRD during the Rail Power Project. This afternoon, there were reports that R2 Marcus Hook trains were terminating at University City instead of 30 St as the timetables noted, particularly #64622 (the 4:48 from Marcus Hook). It also appears that some RDG-side trains were originating and terminating at Market East instead of Suburban Station. As we speak, I'm sure someone from SEPTA is preparing a long winded statement (undoubtedly full of b.s.) denying that any information on the Rail Power Project timetables are incorrect.

SHUTTLE PLANS Shuttle buses on between Market East and 30 St are being operated by Allegheny and Midvale drivers. However, Red Arrow and Southern buses are covering the R1 Airport shuttle on Saturdays, while Allegheny drivers are covering the Sunday R1 Airport shuttles on Sunday. Already, even those shuttles haven't been off to a great start. There were some reports yesterday that operators were operating to Center City via the Arrivals lane at Philadelphia International Airport instead of the Departures lane. The assignments for the R1 shuttle is due to lower ridership to the Airport on Saturdays. Red Arrow was given some trips - over TWU objections - since some planners consider the routing similar to the 108.

SIGNS OF THE TIMES: On a related note, the destination signs on the Airport shuttle buses only read "RAIL SHUTTLE" despite the fact that there should be programmed signs to either read "R1 EASTWICK", "R1 AIRPORT", or "R1 UNIVERSITY CITY". The "RAIL SHUTTLE" reading is very confusing for those passengers waiting for these buses at Market East Station.

YOUR FARE DOLLAR$ (ALLEGEDLY) AT WORK: SEPTA Police officers seem to have no concept of "Quality of Life" issues. A very disorderly person walking along Filbert in front of Market East station and across from the Greyhound Terminal was swearing up a storm right in front of a SEPTA Police officer (either the disorderly moron was drunk or oblivious to the fact that there was a cop right in front of him). In true SEPTA fashion, the officer (#142) didn't even budge from his post nor tell this guy to shut up. On any other transit system with its own police department - at least from my observations over the years - you could guarantee that any police officer would have stopped such a disorderly person and either tell him to shut up or place him under arrest (WMATA's Metro Transit Police are among the best at enforcing their agencies rules and regulations; same with NJ Transit and the Maryland Transit Administration). Nope, not the SEPTA Police. It would appear that "enforcing the laws" and "maintaining order" is a foreign concept down here and it would be asking too much for SEPTA's police officers to do their jobs.

ZERO STARS ... AND ONE FINGER UP: SEPTA's automated travel information line seems to have a few bugs in the system (which wouldn't be unusual when you remember who we're dealing with here). Some routes have yet to be updated with the newer routings and/or departure times, while some routes are not even listed at all. For example:

• The 104 lists the departure time from New and Market in West Chester as 7:05pm, which is the scheduled time from Church St and University Av on the West Chester University campus
  
• Information on the 111 - at least the menu - still reflects the Springfield Mall via Glenolden routing which is now part of the 122
  
• Other routes - particularly the 122 and 305, along with some of the contracted routes - have no information at all; trying to get info on these lines directs you to a customer (dis-)service rep, when the Travel Information Center is actually open. When the TIC is closed, however...
  
• ...you're booted back to the main menu, which shouldn't be a problem in most cases, except that choosing certain options (ie. pressing # to access the route menus) requires hitting the specific key several times before the system gets it.

It certainly didn't help that the TIC closes at 6:00pm on weekends. The reason for the call in the first place was to attempt to complain about the 6:30pm 108 bus to 69 St Terminal that ran at 6-7 minutes early departing the Airport and passed by several irate passengers waiting at Terminal E.

COLONIAL PARK CHANGES: Starting tomorrow, southbound PM Peak trips on the 122 will only serve Colonial Park upon request to the operator when boarding. Please don't ask me what the logic of this plan is, unless Colonial Park ridership is next to nothing.

BAD OMEN DEPARTMENT: Well, the Rail Power project is off to a roaring success. The 9:47am from Downingtown to Center City was running about 15 minutes late (kinda makes you wish the "Alleged Service Guarantee" was in effect on Saturdays). While the conductor didn't come right out and say it, the delays can be attributed to the Rail Power Project and what would appear to be a collosal mess on Market St. Let's hope this is not a sign of things to come for the next several months.

GUARANTEE? WHAT GUARANTEE? It seems that the Philadelphia Daily News is finally catching on to what many have suspected about SEPTA's alleged "Service Guarantee". It's not quite that effective. In today's Daily News, there's a detailed article about complaints from many Reading side commuters about delays in processing service claims, in which SEPTA is supposed to offer refunds to passengers if Regional Rail, subway, P&W, or Route 101/102 trolleys are over 15 minutes late. The snail's pace in honoring (or rejecting) refund requests has intensified due to the infamous September 9 meltdown on the Reading side of the Regional Rail system.

BROAD STREET SAFETY: After a Daily News article nearly a year ago focusing on the lack of safety measures along the Broad Street Subway, SEPTA is planning to add security devices to the Cecil B Moore/Temple University station. Among other items, SEPTA will install fire alarms, chemical sensors, and closed circuit cameras which would directly link that station to the Control Center at 1234 Market. If the program is successful, SEPTA will add these features to all Broad Street Line stations. There is already a closed circuit system in place on the Market Frankford El.

MORE BUSES TO ROWAN: NJ Transit is about to offer more service to Rowan University. Starting with the January schedule change, the 313 bus will be extended to the Rowan campus in Glassboro, offering the first direct Sunday service from Rowan to Philadelphia. In addition, four new on-campus stops will be added to improve access, following the request of Rowan administrators and Gloucester County officials. In addition to the routing changes, the Rowan University Bookstore is now an authorized NJT ticket agent.

SEPTA's problems maintaining scheduled service apparently are not confined to the suburbs. There have been days where service levels on the 27 have not been met, with reports of 2 buses being spotted on the 27 within a 35 minute period during Monday's PM peak. Part of the reason may be due to heavy congestion on the Vine St Expressway and the Schuylkill Expressway.

In addition to the problems on the 27, the 35 has been suffering from chronic lateness, mainly because the ElDorado buses used on the 35 are having difficulty making turns through the Manayunk routing. Cars are apparently blocking the turns, which has caused cascading delays along the line. In addition, despite the increased ridership, there are rumors that the "new" 35 routing may be endangered, due to complaints from some people along Silverwood St, which has some of the steepest grades in Manayunk.

On a brighter note, the "new" Bridge Street between Penn St and Frankford Av is now reopened to traffic. It will have little to no impact on SEPTA routes in the area, since the construction of the new Frankford Terminal is well underway. As for rumors about the demise of the trackless lines in Northeast Philadelphia, that doesn't appear to be the case right now, as new trolley poles and catenary are being installed in the north side of Frankford Depot. That tends to tell me that the trackless service in the Northeast appears to be safe once service is restored next year. The new Bridge St was reopened at a ceremony attended by - among other people - "Fearless Leader" and outgoing U.S. Rep Bob Borski (D-3). The Northeast News Gleaner reports that part of the former Bridge St will be used to allow storage for additional buses for assignment at Frankford Depot. The new terminal building will be opened next summer.

The board of supervisors in East Vincent Twp rejected a proposal to build a bus shelter at the intersection of PA 724 and Hill Church Rd, which is served by the 99 bus. The Pottstown Mercury reported that supervisors were less than thrilled with the proposed design of the shelter, which one supervisor called "ugly."

And now, for the Press Brown-Noser of the Week, we present Keith Phucas of the Norristown Times-Herald. In Monday's Times-Herald, Phucas' story on the Schuylkill Valley rail project came off as so slanted in favor of "MetroRail", you'd have thought he was on the SEPTA payroll. My question is how could the editors of the Times-Herald allow such a slanted, one-sided "news" story to have run in their paper? Phucas seems to think that Pennsylvania's congressional delegation will be making a trip to Norristown in the near future to hand over a blank check for $900 million - half of the cost of the proposed "Schuylkill Valley MetroRail."

SEPTA will be adding extra Regional Rail, Market-Frankford, and Broad Street line service following tonight's Eagles game. Extra trips will be added to serve Marcus Hook, Warminster, Elwyn, West Trenton, Thorndale, Doylestown, and Trenton. In addition, both the Broad Street Subway and Market-Frankford El will see later train service this evening until at least 1:00am to accomodate the expected large crowd of Eagles fans (and hopefully not too many Giants fans) to and from the Sports Complex tonight.

The missing bus syndrome strikes the 104 yet again. Yesterday, the 1:05pm and 5:05pm (4217 block) departures from West Chester to 69 St Terminal failed to appear. As a result of 4217's no-show, the 6:05pm from West Chester (4215 block) was nearly half full before the bus entered West Goshen.

The 92, 104, 119, and 314 will be impacted later this evening due to West Chester Borough's annual Halloween parade. I have yet to determine what the detour routings are, since SEPTA has been kind enough not to include mention of these detours at its web site. You mean to tell me that the borough couldn't hold it's Halloween parade on a Saturday like Media does? It would make a lot more sense, plus fewer people would be inconvenienced. As a follow up, the West Chester Halloween Parade has been postponed due to rain; there has been no rain date announced as of this update.

The schedule changes for Frontier routes have now been posted. Regional rail changes will be posted no later than Saturday.

There are very few things that gets by this web site. One note in particular comes from - of all places - a web site in Hungary. The Budapest Sun reported that on October 10, SEPTA had initiated legal action against NABI over warantee issues that SEPTA claimed NABI had not fulfilled. Both parties later settled out of court. Of interest is a note where SEPTA has actually invited NABI to submit a bid for the forthcoming 360 low-floor bus order, at least according to a NABI spokesman.

R2 service on the Marcus Hook/Wilmington branch was delayed after a trespasser was struck and killed by an New York-bound Amtrak train. The incident occured at around 10:30am near the Crum Lynne station when an unidentified man was walking southbound (towards Wilmington) on the northbound tracks, and was struck by Amtrak's Metroliner #106. Ridley Park police told NBC 10 that victim made no attempt to get out of the way of the Metroliner as it was en route to Penn Station/New York. Several trains, including Acela Regional #174 and #184 and Metroliner #108, along with SEPTA #9234 to Market East, were delayed while Ridley Park and Amtrak Police investigated. Service was restored by 2:00pm.

SEPTA is planning to make life miserable in 2005 and 2006 for residents along Market St in West Philadelphia (then again, SEPTA tends to make life miserable for virtually everyone to begin with). According to KYW 3, there will be five scheduled outages along the west end of the El lasting nine days each. The first two outages will take place in the summer of 2005, two more will take place in the summer of 2006, and the final one will take place in the summer of 2007. Additionally, the cost of reconstructing the El structure is increasing from $420 million to $567 million, due in part to an increase in steel prices.

So much for that shuttle on the 11. Towards the tail end of the PM peak today (from around 6:00pm to 6:25pm), I observed all of 2 buses running shuttle service in Darby Borough - an unknown NABI and Southern 3186. Considering that trolley service is supposed to run approximately every 10 to 12 minutes during the timeframe I made these observations, that tends to tell me that something isn't quite right. I would shudder to think about what would happen if this was earlier in the peak period. Additionally, because of CSX's "construction complications" at the Main Street rail crossing, buses are now running at all times - including peak periods - instead of during the mid-day. Watch SEPTA try and blame "a lack of resources" for failing to provide adequate shuttle service for passengers in Darby Borough (who seem to be treated just as badly as most riders in West Chester). Well, there is a solution... bill CSX for the added shuttle service. Hey, it's their fault that 11 trolley service is being disrupted.

As strange as this sounds, I just noticed this today when I picked up a new 99 timetable. When SEPTA restructured most of the Norristown hub routes (93, 97, 98, and 99), passengers in Phoenixville were promised 30 minute headways during peak hours. Stop me if you've heard this one, but SEPTA lied to the people of Chester County yet again. Two short-turn trips do operate beyond King of Prussia, but terminate at Egypt Rd and Brower Av, not in Phoenixville as SEPTA promised. This, along with the routing through the Oaks Mills area of Upper Providence - which will add 3 minutes to travel time from Phoenixville, Spring City, Royersford, and Pottstown - is an indication that SEPTA couldn't care less about Chester County.

This just in... SEPTA's getting sued again. This time, it's by a long-time jazz musician by the name of William Byard Lancaster, who told the Daily News that he occasionally practices his various instruments in the Suburban Station councourse. On July 26, 2001, SEPTA Police Officer F. Whitaker (that's how he was identified in the article) cited Lancaster for "excessive noise" in a complaint that was later tossed by a Philadelphia Municipal Court judge (unfortunately, it wasn't Seamus McCaffery) on First Amendment issues (plus the fact that P/O Whitaker didn't bother to show up for the hearing). Lancaster and his attorney, Paul Messing, are suing SEPTA on grounds of false arrest and violation of his First Amendment rights. Not that I'm defending musicians performing in stations, but one would've thought that SEPTA had better things to do with their police department. Next thing you know, they'll be enforcing "Fearless Leader's" recent employee dress code at 1234 Market.

An 11 trolley collided with a car at 4-Main Sts in Darby Borough at around 6:30am today, causing massive delays on the 11 and 13 (the 13 dead-heads to Yeadon via Main St and 9 St in Darby. This was less than 2 hours before bus bridges were supposed to start on the 11 between Island Av and Darby Loop due to CSX track work on Main St.

On Thursday, the operator shortage at Red Arrow hit a new low, as runs on the 103, 104 (the evening short turns to Newtown Square after 7:30pm were not filled) and 120 were not covered. Red Arrow commuters can vent their frustrations on Thursday, November 14, when SEPTA holds an on-site session at 69 St Terminal between 6:30am and 8:30am. That should make for an interesting day to say the least.

For the first time that I can recall, SEPTA is posting schedules for it's "SEPTA On-Site" for the remainder of 2002. Media and Sharon Hill riders should be aware that a SOS event will take place at Drexel Hill Jct/Shadeland Av station tomorrow morning between 7:00am and 9:00am. Another event is scheduled for Chester Transportation Center at the same times, but on Wednesday, October 30.

If there was ever a bad time for the Broad Street Line to suffer signal problems, less than 45 minutes before the kickoff of an Eagles game would certainly qualify. Well, that's exactly what happened today. At around 3:30pm, a southbound Eagles Express train was stalled at Walnut-Locust, just as it was leaving the station, apparently due to signal problems (and not sabotoge by Jon Gruden as one passenger on my train joked). The train was stalled for at least 5 minutes before continuing - albeit slowly - to Pattison. This particular train was overcrowded to the point where people could hardly move; in other words, par for the course when it comes to SEPTA and Eagles games. Fans were still filtering into the Vet shortly after kickoff, due to a combination of (a) the traffic congestion around the Sports Complex, (b) the lengthy lines at the security checkpoints entering into the Vet, and (c) the pitiful service on the Broad Street Line.
Several passengers had noted that there appeared to be fewer trains operating today, despite promises of 10 minute service from Fern Rock. When asked about the apparent lack of trains on the Broad Street Line, the supervisor - whose arrogant attitude probably means he's a closet Cowboys fan - denied that there were missing trains. When I mentioned that the train I was was stalled at Walnut-Locust, his attitude worsened. In other words, there's an assistant's job to Richard Maloney waiting for him if he ever decides to take a desk job at 1234 Market. If you think it's bad this season, wait until next season when the new Eagles Stadium opens and the Eagles and Phillies are playing at once (unfortunately, the Vet will still be open next season) when parking will be worse than it is now. If there ever was an arguement in favor of adding express buses from outlying areas (Frankford, 69 St Terminal, Cornwells Heights, Springfield Mall, Granite Run Mall, West Chester, King of Prussia, Lawrence Park, etc.), today's fiasco would certainly qualify.

Significant delays occured on the 44 and 65 mid-day due to a 2 car accident on City Av in front of the KFC (between Bryn Mawr Av and Bala Av). This may have been the reason that 3428 was thrown into service on a "wildcat" trip.

Trolley service on the 11 will be cut back to Woodland and Island due to CSX track work at 6-Main in Darby Borough. Shuttle buses will operate between Island and Darby Loop. This bus-bridge will take place this Monday through Friday between 8:00am and 2:00pm.

In a follow-up to yesterday's notes on the Regional Rail shuttles, the R1 Airport shuttle bus will be jointly operated by Red Arrow and Southern. About 30 buses will be used over the course of the day, though I doubt that they will all be used at the same time (it most likely is that the Airport shuttle will require 30 runs split between the two depots).

I don't know who's fault this is, but yesterday's Metro paper - October 16 - published the SEPTA News page which originally appeared on September 16. I don't know if SEPTA sent the wrong page or if the publishers posted the wrong page, but that's yet another black eye in the realm of public mis-communication by SEPTA.

SEPTA is in the process of making access improvements to the Malvern station, which many commuters told the Main Line Times were long overdue. SEPTA is planning to move the stairway closer to the sidewalk along Warren Av and make improvements along the north (Thorndale-bound) side of the station. By next year, SEPTA plans to install a walkway in order to avoid having passengers use the Warren Av underpass. For years, passengers at Malvern have risked their lives by crossing the tracks, which has a blind curve just west of the station. Recently, Amtrak installed fencing at Malvern, but a few commuters still take their lives into their own hands by either scaling the fence or crossing the tracks just west of the end of the fence. On a side note, similar fencing has also been installed at Exton - another site of frequent track crossing by passengers - which has reduced the number of such passengers to virtually none.

The Sensible Voice of the Week goes to Tony Roberts - staff writer of the Phoenix newspaper in Phoenixville - commenting on SEPTA's plan to push "MetroRail" service on the Cross County Corridor (the comments are in the last two paragraphs of the article):

This new line is half the price of [Schuylkill Valley], but will still cost almost $1 billion, and is not as sorely needed. Can't we tackle one massive rail line at a time? Can we maybe prioritize? The area has had enough trouble securing money for one rail line, it won't be easy to come up with money for two.

If it weren't for the sometimes dirty politics at SEPTA, someone should hire this guy...

The infamous "block from hell" strikes again on the 92/133. Yesterday, 6019 block (bus 2053 operating the 4:25pm cross-routed 92/133 from West Chester to King of Prussia via Exton) ran nearly an hour late. 6022 block - the 5:25pm cross-routed 92/133 - had passed by the West Chester Courthouse just minutes after 6019 block went north towards Exton. While I can't say for certain if it was the case today, a 92 bus went north on High St at around 5:20pm. Either 6022 block was running very early (doubtful, since it routinely runs about 10-15 minutes late getting in from King of Prussia and Exton) or 6019 was once again running close to an hour late. Thankfully, the new timetables for the 92 and 133 reflect that all weekday and Saturday trips will be cross-routed, thus avoiding (we hope) the problems of 6019 block.

New Regional Rail timetables will be issued to take effect on October 27. The new timetables will not reflect the shuttle bus operation planned as part of SEPTA's catenary replacement between 30 St and Suburban Stations. Some interesting notes coming out of the schedules:

• Buses will depart from 30-Market Sts, then operate via Market, stopping at 16-Market for Suburban Station, then via Market, 15 St, S Penn Sq, Juniper, and Filbert to 11-Filbert (across from Greyhound Bus Terminal).
  
• The return trip will depart from 11-Filbert, then via Filbert, 10 St, Market St, Juniper, and JFK Blvd to 16 St (for Suburban Station), then via JFK Blvd, 20 St, Market (stopping at 30 St), then loop back to 30-Market via Market, 32 St, JFK Blvd, and 30 St.
  
• Ex-RDG side lines will stop at Market East and Suburban; ex-PRR lines will stop at 30 St.
  
• The R1 Airport Line will operate with shuttle buses between University City and Eastwick with a very strange routing. Buses will depart from University City, then operate via Convention Av, South St, 33 St, Chestnut St, Schuylkill Av/29 St, Arch St, 30 St, and into the station driveway itself. From 30 St, the R1 bus will operate via 30 St, Market, 16 St (stop at 16-JFK), Race St, 10 St (stop at 10 St between Filbert and Market), Market St, and I-95 to the Airport. From the Airport to Eastwick, the shuttle will operate via the Departures lane, then via the 37/108/305 routing to Eastwick Station.
  
• The return trip from Eastwick to University City will operate via Bartram Av, PA 291, the Airport Arrivals lane, I-95, I-676, 8 St exit to Vine St, 10 St (stop at 10 St between Filbert and Market), Market St, Juniper, JFK Blvd (stop at 16-JFK), 29 St, Arch St, 30 St (into Amtrak 30 St Station), JFK Blvd, 32 St, Market St, 34 St, and Convention Av to University City.

Now, for whatever reason, SEPTA decided not to operate from Market East to the Airport via University City and Eastwick, but instead decided to operate from University City to Eastwick via Center City and the Airport. Of course, it would make sense to go east to west through Center City, but remember, this is SEPTA we're talking about.

SEPTA will be holding dedication ceremonies for the renovated Stafford Rail Station on Saturday, starting at 2:00pm. The ceremony is part of a full day of events in the Stafford section of Tredyffrin Township, as the annual Old Eagle School open house will take place starting an hour later.

Memo to the folks at the Tampa Bay Business Journal: I realize that the Tampa/St. Petersburg area lacks the extensive rail transit network that Philadelphia has, but when describing SEPTA's Broad Street Line Eagles Express service, you may want to rethink your headline. The headline reads "Philly sets bus schedule for Eagles/Bucs game". There is a big difference between a bus and a subway train (just look north to Atlanta or south to Miami if you're confused). Also, SEPTA is not a agency of the City of Philadelphia - even if the powers that be on City Council try every trick in the book to influence operations. (On a somewhat related note, why would any sensible Tampa Bay Buccaneer fan want to come within a mile of Veteran's Stadium for an Eagles home game? Haven't they heard how notorious Iggles fans are towards those brave (or foolish) enough to wear opposing team jerseys?) BTW, I'll be watching the game from the relative safety of Section 727 on Sunday afternoon...

West Chester Borough Council is contemplating applying for a CMAQ grant to fund a proposed shuttle bus service within West Chester Borough and neighboring townships (specifically, West Goshen and East Bradford). A previous attempt at a shuttle bus - the Run-Around - failed due to low ridership, plus the fact that it was directly operated by Krapf's instead of managed by SEPTA and contracted out. The latter is the setup of the present West Whiteland WHIRL shuttle bus, which seems to have worked out well, so far. Yet, it appears that Borough Council is leaning towards having TMACC manage the service, without any support from SEPTA. With an increasing number of SEPTA riders traveling into West Chester - particularly via the 104 bus - there's no reason why the proposed West Chester loop can't be part of the SEPTA system. If TMACC ends up managing the service independent of SEPTA, it then forces SEPTA pass holders to pay a second fare, which would defeat the purpose of the loop. The full Borough Council is expected to vote on the proposal at their next meeting on the 23rd.

SEPTA is now soliciting bids for 399 bike racks for the NABIs (it may end up being 398, now that 5155 has gone off to that bus depot in the sky). Once the bid is awarded, the bike racks would be retrofit on the NABIs over a 20 month period, a project that should be complete by mid- to late-2004. I would expect Sportworks - which has already provided the bike racks on the ElDorados and New Flyer 5500-series buses - to be awarded the contract.

The Silverliner V project has been pushed back slightly. The deadline for proposals to build the new cars - which was initially scheduled for last month - has been extended until December 4. Apparently, there were some internal issues with the design of the doors which delayed the RFP from being issued.

As service continues to suffer on the 104 during peak hours, SEPTA GM Faye Moore has seen fit to implement a new dress code for employees working at 1234 Market. Now, let me see if I understand this correctly:

• SEPTA won't improve service on key Red Arrow lines (in addition to the 104's problems, both the 108 and 113 are chronically overcrowded on Sundays, when service operates only once an hour);
  
• SEPTA can't be bothered to come up with some sort of marketing slogan (a la DART First State's "Getting there starts here" or NJ Transit's "The way to go" or even WMATA's "Metro Opens Doors") without help from the Center City District's Central Philadelphia TMA;
  
• SEPTA practically caved in to a handful of NIMBYs in Norwood after they whined to their Borough Council and State Rep. Ron Raymond (R-162) about extending the 115 to MacDade Mall via Winona Av, thus forcing SEPTA to create a longer routing via Primos Av in Folcroft and South Av in Glenolden, not to mention the initial inconvenience of 30-45 minute layovers at Darby en route to Delmar Village;
  
• SEPTA is practically railroading (pun somewhat intended) two boondoggle projects with a combined $2.7 BILLION pricetag when they can be built less expensively, thus mortaging the future on two lines which are seemingly only being built to please TPTB at Norristown Courthouse at the expense of other projects in the region (restoring Regional Rail service to West Chester, Quakertown, and Newtown (Bucks), as well as the proposed Roosevelt Blvd rapid transit corridor); and
  
• SEPTA has failed to address the sporadic and scaringly frequent operator and vehicle shortages in the suburbs.

But, "Fearless Leader" has managed to take time out of running the 5th largest transit system in the nation to express concern about how the behind the scenes employees at 1234 Market (not just management, but also dispatchers and other control center personnel) are dressed. It must have been a real slow day for "Fearless Leader" to make such a big deal out of it.

SEPTA's legal department did something seemingly impossible in recent years - they actually scored a legal victory in a major court case. In a 2-1 ruling, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit in Philadelphia ruled that one of SEPTA's strict physical standards for new police recruits were fair, despite 90 percent of female applicants failing the test. The running test, which was at the heart of the controversy, required recruits to complete a 1.5 mile run in under 12 minutes. The court ruled that "[a] SEPTA transit police officer must be ready and able to apprehend not just the numerous sedentary, petty criminals, but also the fleet-footed few who, from time to time, wreak serious harm on the people of Philadelphia." The running test rule does not apply to police officers who were hired before the standard took effect in 1991, thanks to an arbitrator's ruling. The U.S. Justice Department was also a party to the suit when it was first filed during the Clinton Administration in 1997, however the DoJ withdrew from the suit after the Bush Administration was sworn in.

SEPTA issued a "revised" 61 timetable, as well as a new 61 Express timetable to reflect a couple of minor printing changes. I doubt this new 61 Express is doing any better than the old 61 Express trips, as yesterday's 4:16pm from 8-Market Sts ran empty upon arrival at Wissahickon Loop.

The reason for last Monday's shutdown of the El was a report of a suspicious cooler left at the 8 St station. Sources say that a passenger had allegedly left a cooler behind at the 8 St station during the peak hour, forcing SEPTA to run shuttle buses between 5 and 15 Sts. Service was restored approximately 45 minutes later.

A reminder that Frontier timetables will change on October 27 and 28. In addition, the 111 and 115 will also see new timetables issued. There will be two new 111 departures from 69 St to State and Township Line Rds (Drexeline Shopping Center), departing at 5:40pm and 6:20pm. The 115, as previously reported, will be extended from Delmar Village to MacDade Mall via Primos Av, Chester Pike, and South Av. In the original timetable issued before the Norwood fiasco, there were at least two added evening departures from MacDade Mall to Darby, which were essentially dead-head moves off of the recently created 122 both on weekdays and weekends. It is believed that Saturday service will indeed be extended to MacDade Mall when the new timetables are issued.

The changes to the 111 and 115 were added as part of a re-picking at Red Arrow. Because of an operators shortage, SEPTA had to reschedule most of the runs, with most runs scheduled for about 10 hours, up from the previous 8-9 hour runs that were part of the current picking.

Not to beat a dead horse, but the 5:05pm 104 West Chester Express continues to be a source of frustration for West Chester Pike corridor commuters. Today, the 5:05pm didn't even bother showing up. This resulted in a heavier than usual load on the 5:35pm West Chester Express. SEPTA needs to add PM peak express service from West Chester to 69 Street. I can't think of any other line in the system where express service operates in one direction during only one peak period while service in the other direction operates both ways. SEPTA promised improvements to the 104 - especially for West Chester commuters, but, as is SEPTA tradition, Chester County commuters are lied to yet again.

The Norristown Times Herald reports that SEPTA staff is "thisclose" (tm Stu Bykofsky) to determining a locally preferred alternative (LPA) for the boondoggle that is known as "Cross County Metro." SEPTA is recommending the same "MetroRail" farce being proposed for the Schuylkill Valley corridor. The $900 million project is proposed to link Trenton with Thorndale, making the following stops: Trenton, Morrisville, Falls Twp, Oxford Valley, Woodbourne, Langhorne, Feasterville, Willow Grove, Dresher, Fort Washington, Cold Point, Norristown Transportation Center, Hughes Park, Port Kennedy, King of Prussia, S Gulph Rd, Great Valley, Glenloch, Exton, Downingtown, and Thorndale. The complete Cross County line would be operational in about 10 years. Knowing SEPTA's history, my newborn daughter will probably be in her freshman year at West Chester Henderson High School before either Schuylkill Valley or Cross County are fully operational.

For those scoring at home (and if you're scoring the cost of SEPTA projects like I do, you need to get out more {paraphrased and stolen from ESPN's Dave Revsine}), that's $2.7 BILLION for two brand new rail projects. Meanwhile, proposed restoration of SEPTA rail service to Wawa, West Chester, Quakertown, and Newtown (Bucks) are in an indefinite holding pattern. And that's not factoring in replacement of the trackless trolley fleet or the hopeful restoration of streetcar service on the 23 or 56, not to mention a planned branch of the P&W to Port Kennedy via King of Prussia. But, when certain politicians decide to be brain-washed by a SEPTA staff that seems hell-bent on getting a lot of money from Washington and Harrisburg on on projects that only seem to benefit certain areas rather than the region at large, this is the end result.

For those who may have missed the notation in the guestbook, yours truly was profiled as part of a transportation related story in today's Philadelphia Inquirer magazine.

Back to the lines... On the east end El shuttle today, mostly NABIs from Comly and Neos from Frankford were used today, with the usual artics from Allegheny on the Express routing, and a few artics from both Allegheny and Midvale on the local routing. This will probably be the last El Shuttles run this year.

Part of the reason that the El Shuttles won't be needed is because of a major reconstruction project on the railroad side. The viaduct between 30 St and Suburban Stations will see replacement of the catenary, forcing SEPTA to bus passengers between 30 St and Market East (the best guess at this point is that the shuttles will come from Allegheny and Midvale, as a lot of people are going to need to go between the two stations), with a likely stop at 15 St/City Hall/Suburban Station. In addition, the R1 Airport Line will see shuttle service from Center City to the Airport via University City (Southern will probably pull this assignment, as they had the last time the Airport Line saw shuttle buses). The rail shuttles are set to start on the weekend of November 2-3, and will continue for 4 weekends thereafter. Rail service will be restored during the holiday season, then shuttle service will be reactivated on or around the first weekend of January 2003. Normal weekend rail service will also operate during the Philadelphia Flower Show in March. The project is expected to be complete by the middle of 2003.

Bensalem Township police reported that a Nintendo Game-Boy was stolen from a car parked at the Trevose Rail Station (R3 West Trenton) on Thursday. Police told the Courier Times that the thief attempted to steal the stereo, noting damage to the car's dashboard.

There haven't been too many bus moves in recent weeks, hence the seemingly unchanged roster. However, I'd expect that to change early next year as the next batch of low floors arrive. Also, once the end of the month approaches, it's probable that some 3000s could be pulled out of service once their inspection expires.

Chester County Commissioner Chairman Karen Martynick was unanimously reappointed to another 5 year term on the SEPTA Board of Directors. This is noteworthy because (1) earlier this year, Martynick accused certain SEPTA Board members of "micro-managing" the authority and (2) the 3 Chester County Commissioners rarely agree on anything - most of that can be blamed on Democrat Andrew Dinniman (which makes a little bit of sense, because he is the only Democrat among the three commissioners, hence plenty of 2-1 votes).