EL TROUBLES As of 11:30am, the Market-Frankford El ran buses between 30 St and 40 St due to a jumper at 34 St. Anthony E. Murray, 55, of Collingswood, NJ, apparently committed suicide at the 34 St station by jumping in front of an eastbound El train. By around 12:00pm, service was partially restored as both eastbound and westbound trains were alternating using the westbound track, with normal service resuming shortly after 1:30pm. Apparently, it was such a big news story that, according to my research on the Google news search database, at least 28 news outlets across the country and the British newspaper The Guardian have posted the AP story.

BUSY DAY AT PATTISON The Broad Street Line's Pattison Station will be a very place on Saturday, as the Flyers take on the Detroit Red Wings in a 1:00pm regionally televised game (seen locally on "The People's Republic of 6-ABC"). Then, at 8:00pm, the Eagles will (hopefully) make short work of the visiting Atlanta Falcons in the NFC Divisional Series playoff game at the Vet (and, yes, I will be there, in Section 707). But wait, there's more... At the same time that the Iggles are making the Falcons the next "Vick-tim" on the road to San Diego, a motocross event will be taking place at the Spectrum on that same night, also starting at around 8:00pm. Expect the Pattison station area to be very busy starting at around 4:00pm with Flyers fans leaving and Eagles fans arriving. By 7:00pm, expect very crowded trains heading southbound to Pattison, with Eagles and motocross fans arriving at Pattison station en masse (not to mention those foolish enough to drive to the Sports Complex in search of very limited parking). Approximately 75,000 people are expected to be in the area of the Sports Complex on Saturday night.
SEPTA will most likely add several express trains between Fern Rock and Pattison, starting at around 4:30pm; the gates to the Vet will open at 5:30pm. Making commuting even more challenging though Center City is the Rail Power Project shuttle buses, which will effectively cut off Suburban Station from the PRR side lines (Wilmington/Marcus Hook, Elwyn, Thorndale, Trenton, and Chestnut Hill West). Also, ridership on the Regional Rail lines is expected to be higher than expected (3-4 car trains are likely on the larger lines, especially the Thorndale, Lansdale, Trenton, Chestnut Hill East, and West Trenton lines, just as it was last weekend for the Mummer's Parade), particularly on the RDG side lines (Glenside, Warminster, West Trenton, Lansdale, Norristown, Chestnut Hill East, and Fox Chase), where service will terminate at Suburban.
As noted on Friday, the easy solution would be for SEPTA to suspend the Rail Power Project shuttles until next weekend, since the Center City services are most likely going to be well above capacity on Saturday. I mean, it took SEPTA many years to finally replace the catenary and support structures along the 22 St Viaduct, so one more weekend isn't going to kill anyone - at least I would hope not. In any case...
Passengers using the Regional Rail system on Saturday may want to consider buying a "TurboPass" for $8.00. It is essentially a regular DayPass, however it allows unlimited rides on the Regional Rail system as opposed to a single ride for a standard DayPass. The TurboPass is available at the 15 St Concourse, 69 St Terminal, and Olney Terminal sales offices, the Transit Museum Store at 1234 Market, and at all Railroad Stations (Center City and outlying stations).

NJ TRANSIT CHANGES There are several major adjustments to NJT schedules in South Jersey. Here are some of the highlights of the new timetables, which took effect on Saturday:

• SOUTH JERSEY to PHILADELPHIA
  
  
  • ROUTE 313 will now be rerouted through Glassboro to offer direct service to the Rowan University campus; service will begin operating to the new Vineland Transportation Center at 2 St and Landis Av, replacing the current Vineland Bus Terminal at 4 St and Landis Av starting next month.
    
  • ROUTE 400 will see new service to the Pennco Tech campus in Blackwood, timed mainly to the class start and end times; the end of the line in Turnersville will be extended to the intersection of Sicklerville Rd and Thousand Oaks Dr; a new "holiday" schedule has been introduced, which will be issued as a separate timetable from the regular schedule, and be in effect on Martin Luther King Day (January 20), President's Day (February 17), and the Friday after Thanksgiving (November 28) (this practice is common on a lot of the heavier NJT bus lines operating between North Jersey and the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Manhattan; this is the first time that I know of that NJT has done this for a South Jersey line).
    
  • ROUTE 403 service to Winslow Plaza has been eliminated.
    
  • On ROUTE 406, the 5:10pm express to Medford Lakes has been eliminated and replaced with a 5:10pm (formerly 5:12pm) to Virtua Hospital/Marlton.
    
  • ROUTE 408 will begin service to the new Vineland Transportation Center next month.
    
  • ROUTE 409 trips to Trenton will be re-routed in downtown Trenton to operate via Montgomery St instead of Stockton St between Front St and E State St.

• SOUTH JERSEY LOCALS
  
  
  • ROUTE 459 will see minor time adjustments.
    
  • ROUTE 463 will see adjusted departure times from Avandale Park and Ride to Woodbury.
    
  • ROUTE 468 will see three new weekday trips which will now serve Downtown Quinton and the Maryville Clinic, via NJ 49, Sickler St, New St, and Cottage Av.

• JERSEY SHORE
  
  
  • ROUTES 501, 504, and 508 will see minor time adjustments.
    
  • ROUTE 502 will see a new 6:50am departure from Atlantic City to Atlantic/Cape Community College, a new 8:09am departure from Pleasantville to A/CCC, and added Sunday short turn trips from the Shore Mall in Egg Harbor Twp will depart at 3:30pm and 4:30pm; the 7:09am departure from Shore Mall will now originate at A/CCC at 6:32am.
    
  • ROUTE 553 service to Upper Deerfield will be re-routed in Bridgeton to operate via NJ 49, Bank St, McCormick Pl, and NJ 77; the 12:20am from Bridgeton will be extended to Upper Deerfield and depart 7 minutes later.
    
  • ROUTE 559 service to New Gretna has been temporarily discontinued due to a detour routing over the Bass River Bridge; buses will be detoured off of US 9 between Mathistown Rd and the Garden State Parkway intersection south of New Gretna; the 559 will resume it's routing over the Nacote Creek Bridge between Smithville and Port Republic, ending the detour via Moss Mill Rd.

• MERCER COUNTY
  
  
  • ROUTE 600 weekday service between 10:00am and 2:00pm will be reduced from every 30 minutes to every 75 minutes due to low ridership.
    
  • ROUTE 601 service will be extended to the new Hamilton Marketplace complex; Saturday service is reduced from hourly to every 75 minutes; Sunday service is increased from every 2 hours to every 75 minutes.
    
  • ROUTE 603 weekday service which terminated at Groveville will now be extended to serve the Hamilton Marketplace; all weekend service will also serve Hamilton Marketplace.
    
  • ROUTE 606 service will be extended to serve the Hamilton Marketplace; a new holiday timetable will be implemented on this line.