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.