R8 SHUT-DOWN

A four-alarm fire in the Nicetown section of the city forced the suspension of service along the R8 Chestnut Hill West line for nearly three hours yesterday. At around 1:00pm, a fire broke out at the Pennock Wholesale Florists warehouse at on Stokely St near Roberts Av. Because firefighters had to stretch hoses across the R8 Chestnut Hill West line tracks, SEPTA was forced to run a bus-bridge between Wayne Jct and Chestnut Hill West. R8 Fox Chase service was not directly impacted by the fire. Normal service was restored by 4:00pm.

ANOTHER MONTH, ANOTHER STUPID PARADE (WEATHER PERMITTING)

In a tradition as annoying as an Andy Reid press conference, West Chester Borough will be having it's annual Christmas Parade tomorrow night, unless Mother Nature has other plans...

Assuming the parade will go on - which is doubtful, considering the forecast is for between 3 to 5 inches of snow between now and Saturday night - both Gay and Market Sts will be closed from 5:00pm until 10:00pm. If the Halloween parade is any indication, Frontier management will be posting signs along the affected route directing passengers to alternate boarding locations, while Red Arrow probably won't - despite repeated notifications to SEPTA about the closings. In any case, if the parade goes on, expect major delays on the 104 along West Chester Pike, and to the 133 between Exton and King of Prussia.

Oh, did I mention that we're supposed to get our first significant snowfall of the year this weekend? As such, SEPTA issued a press release whose opening paragraphs seem to have been written by Dave Barry rather than SEPTA's Ministry of Mis-Information. Don't believe me? Just check out this opening paragraph:

Mother Nature and Old Man Winter have never been a twosome interested in keeping their affairs discreet, so once again the pair is planning a very public visit to the Greater Philadelphia region.

But this relationship is far from hot and steamy.

With forecasters predicting the season’s first significant snow accumulation from this frosty duo, SEPTA is taking steps to prepare for the approaching storm.

Great. Any day now, I'd expect some supermarket tabloid will probably offer Richard Maloney a job as a copy writer (and if dishonesty is a qualification, he might just be at the top of the list). Perhaps if SEPTA could do what they did a few years ago - which was issue a map showing alternate routes for several key routes within Philadelphia instead of wasting time writing "poetry" that passes off as a press release, it might be just a bit more useful.

CHANGES TO THE 64

Staring on Sunday, the 64 will be re-routed in two locations:

Along Washington Av, the 64 will no longer turn down S 11 St to reach Federal St, but instead turn down Broad St to Federal, then via Federal to 16 St and Washington.

In the Mill Creek section of West Philadelphia, the 64 will be re-routed along 48 St instead of 46 St between Haverford and Westminster. Sounds like either somebody along 46 St raised a stink about buses running down that street, or somebody along 48 St wasn't too thrilled about having to catch the bus two blocks away. In any case, it'll be interesting to see what the spin is about the Mill Creek re-routing.

JUST ASKING...

Isn't it interesting how SEPTA has yet to post notices re: the 115 hearing later this month in Glenolden at the web site or on any Red Arrow buses? That tends to tell me that either SEPTA is not holding the hearing at all (though that doesn't explain how I still got a packet from Service Planning regarding the December 23 hearing), or someone responsible for the web site forgot to post it. Or, perhaps, they didn't want to draw the attention of people in Ardmore who lost their bus service last year.