GOING OUT OF SERVICE...

You may have noticed that I haven't posted anything new on this blog in the past five months. Well, after years of commenting on the sad state of affairs of the Sorry Excuse of a Public Transit Agency that is SEPTA, I've pretty much become bored with it. To be perfectly candid, I neither have the time nor the energy to deal with SEPTA anymore. It seems that as long as "Fearless Leader" and the rest of the "Rotating Resumes" at 1234 Market are still running the show and ruining the system, what point is there for me to waste my time commenting? It seems to be the same shit that hits the fan at 1234 Market, whether it's a rogue "Transit Police" officer getting charged with domestic assault in Upper Darby or a railroad fiasco that management sweeps under the rug, it's apparent that even with the borderline excessive gift from the taxpayers of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania (ie. the $150 million that SEPTA is getting) after years of whining like an immature teenager, SEPTA will continue to remain the same laughable joke of a system that it has been since Jack Leary left (and for all of the bad feelings from the unions over Leary's management style, at least there was some level of accountability and some semblance of change in the management culture).

Faye Moore can't say the same thing about her tenure at General Mis-Manger of SEPTA...

For starters, attempting to raise an issue with Moore is almost like trying to get an audience with the Pope. Moore refuses to even acknowlege anyone's complaints when confronted in person. Way to be accountable to the people who pay your salary, oh Fearless Leader...

The Market-Frankford El project has become a financial nightmare for SEPTA, yet Moore is unwilling to behave like a leader and speak out on the issues at hand; instead, her management style is to send out Minister of Mis-Information Richard Maloney, an individual with slightly less credibility than Emperor Street, to lie and lie some more about that SEPTA is - or isn't - doing for the people of West Philadelphia...

The last straw was the recent fare changes, in which:

Those who used to rely on transfers to connect with a second (or, as needed, a third) bus or subway line will now have to pay a full fare for the privilege of riding SEPTA. Unlike Delaware or Baltimore, the elimination of transfers is not in conjunction with any fare collection upgrades, which SEPTA has promised for years.

Meanwhile, the DayPass - which is valid for an unlimited number of rides on the transit system and a one-way trip on Regional Rail - is being replaced at the end of the month with a "Convenience Pass" which (1) has a limit of 8 rides for the entire day, (2) is not valid on Regional Rail, and (3) will likely not be available at sales outlets that failed to sell the DayPass in the first place. Convenience, my ass...

Regional Rail riders who are unfortunate enough not to have a ticket office available to them will now be forced to pay substantially higher fares, not only compared to the old system, but to riders who board at rail stations that do have ticket offices. Hence, riders at stations such as Exton and Downingtown are penalized for not having a ticket office or any other alternate location to purchace tickets, while riders at stations such as Doylestown and Levittown - which have ticket offices and are in the same fare zone as Downingtown - have the ability to purchase tickets in advance at lower rates.

Meanwhile, SEPTA management, hasn't even given a committment to increasing the number of sales outlets in the region where tokens and passes are sold. As it stands right now, the only sales outlets (exlcuding the R5 stations) in Chester County, for example are a lowly check-cashing place on Gay Street in West Chester (where they have indicated they will not sell the new "Convenience Pass"), another check cashing place on West Chester Pike in West Goshen, and a third outlet in Phoenixville (which, incidentially, is listed as being in Montgomery County). And that's it.

No token or pass sales outlets at any Acme or ShopRite in the county (despite the fact that SEPTA sells tokens and passes at Acme's and ShopRite's in other counties and in Philadelphia - there's a ShopRite on West Chester Pike which would make a great sales outlet; ditto the Acme on Paoli Pike)...

No token sales locations in the Exton area...

No plans for SEPTA to add token outlets in the area that I'm aware of.

SEPTA needs to do the following:

Add more sales outlets in Chester County; this is a no-brainer.
Mandate that all outlets that sell tokens must also sell, at a bare minimum, the Convenince Pass.
For Regional Rail stations without a ticket office, enter into contracts with nearby convenience stores or other outlets to sell Regional Rail tickets. The Turkey Hill next to the Downingtown station on Lancaster Avenue and the Wawa across from the Thorndale station on Lincoln Highway would be two perfect locations.

With that rant out of the way, this will likely be the last posting I make on the Frankford Terminal blog for the forseeable future. I simply don't have the time to deal with this anymore, and quite frankly, I don't even go into Philly that much anymore (which should at least add 10-15 years to my life, given the current state of affairs in the city).

For a blog that is updated more frequently than mine, check out "SEPTA Watch" - I haven't had a chance to fully digest the site, but from what little I've seen of it thus far, I encourage you to check them out:

http://septawatch.blogspot.com

Good luck, SEPTA riders. You're gonna need it...