RAIL PROBLEMS STRIKE AGAIN... Stop me if you've heard this one before. On two consecutive days, SEPTA's Regional Rail system was stymied due to power problems. At around 6:00pm Monday, Amtrak lost power along most of the Northeast and Keystone corridors through the Philadelphia area. Most service was delayed nearly 45 minutes, however riders on the R5 Paoli/Thorndale, R6 Cynwyd, and R7 Trenton line saw service suspended for nearly 90 minutes. The Inquirer reported that passengers stranded aboard one R5 train got off the train at Overbrook and walked over the 63 St/City Av, most likely to catch the 65. Passegners on a Paoli bound R5 saw their train halted as it approached Wayne, then forced to back up to St David's, where passengers were forced to get off. Without being shocked, SEPTA didn't provide any alternate transit options (read: shuttle buses) despite the incident occuring during the end of the rush hour. SEPTA announced in a seat flyer that the "Service Guarantee" would not be honored because it was Amtrak's fault, not SEPTA's.

Meanwhile, late night service was disrupted on Tuesday, after reports of wire problems near Jenkintown. Trains heading on the PRR side were departing nearly 30 minutes late. The last R5 to Thorndale (#591) left nearly 30 minutes late, but not until a replacement train was sent from Frazer into Center City. Did it ever occur to SEPTA to pull a two-car trainset from Powelton Yard as opposed to having to call out to Frazer - which is between Malvern and Exton towards the outer end of the Thorndale branch - so riders on the #591 wouldn't have to wait as long? If you had to replace missing train sets, then have a yard crew recover the used set after the train returns to Frazer and send it back to Powelton.

But wait, this is SEPTA we're dealing with. You know, the owners of the laughing stock of commuter railroads...

SEPTA REALLY DOES STINK! So says Daily News "Stink-meister" Dan Geringer. Over the past three weeks, Geringer has been pointing out several SEPTA locations which have become virtual open air toilets.

On July 7, Geringer paid a visit to the virtual homeless city that exists in the plaza area near Burger King at Suburban Station (16 St at JFK Plaza):

What used to be an oasis of planters and picnic tables for SEPTA commuters is now a thoroughly-trashed hobo camp where the homeless eat, sleep, urinate and defecate amid their bedrolls and their junk.

Inside the Suburban Station concourse, commuters can watch this pigsty patio through dirt-streaked picture windows.

But wait, there's more...

While much of the surface-streets malodor emanates from Philadelphia's growing homeless population, one of Stinkmeister's faithful colleagues has twice spotted well-dressed men peeing in the Suburban Station concourse, blissfully ignoring its 24-hour restroom.

Leslie Hickman, chief officer of SEPTA's High Speed Operations, said the homeless are ousted nightly when stations are shut down for cleaning, so the subterranean system's most prolific pee-and-poop perps are regular rail riders, not drip-dry drifters.

Oh, so it's the fault of commuters and not the slime who desire to call the plazas and concourses home, right? Talk about passing the buck...

Meanwhile, it wasn't just the Suburban Station concourses that are under attack by such stenches:

On a good day, the SEPTA stairwell on the 15th Street side of the Municipal Services Building reeks of urine. But this was a bad day. Descending the stairs toward Suburban Station, the Stinkmeister almost stepped in a cowpie-sized deposit of human excrement. Luckily, the sight of flies landing on it alerted the Stinkmeister in the nick time.

...

Directly across 15th Street from the Stairwell of Stench lies the Exit of Excrement, an ancient SEPTA stairway that opens on the west side of LOVE Park. Recently, a stinking pile of feces, covered with a hyperactive posse of flies, lay on the urine-stained landing. It did not look fresh.

...

The stink-weary Stinkmeister was almost pooped in more ways than one while ascending the City Hall SEPTA stairwell at Broad and Juniper streets, and encountering: Manpie!

A takeout menu from a well-known pizzeria had obviously been used as toilet paper. Flies buzzed. The stench was overwhelming. Emerging at the top of the pee-pool-pocked stairwell and taking huge gulps of fresh air almost gave the Stinkmeister the bends.

A couple of days later, SEPTA had poured so much disinfectant on the stairwell that the Stinkmeister had tears in his eyes. A few days after that, the forces of feces had returned.

July 8: Geringer filed a report from City Hall station on the Broad St line, finding similar results.

Posted on Tue, Jul. 08, 2003

After the Daily News Stinkmeister, voice of the pee-and-poop plagued public, reported the city's urine-and-feces infested hotspots yesterday, readers roared: SEPTA! SEPTA! SEPTA!

And the subterranean transportation giant replied: We know! We know! We know!

"Years and years of 'stuff' has accumulated at our City Hall stations," said Leslie Hickman, SEPTA chief officer for high-speed operations. "Urine is the larger problem, 24-7. Then there are 'intermittent deposits' of the other stuff. The hotter it gets, the more it smells - until the odor just about knocks you off your feet."

So what does SEPTA do about it?

"We mop. We deodorize," said Hickman. "But when people stand on the edges of the platform and urinate into the track area, the urine embeds itself into the track, a hole, a crack. You can't deodorize that."

Larry Smith, director of SEPTA stations, said his guys dumped 1,200 gallons of enzyme deodorizer on City Hall platforms and stairwells this spring.

"Plus, I put 400 stickup deodorizers under the platforms," he said. "We powerwash the floors with hot water at 3,600 PSI (pounds-per-square-inch pressure). But they still smell of urine and our customers still complain."

This is despite the fact that 163 employees over three shifts clean most - if not all - of the 61 subway-elevated and subway-surface stations throughout the system. At City Hall, in particular, law enforcement is non-existent, which is typical for high profile stations such as City Hall.

July 15:

Good news and bad news to report on the SEPTA stink front. First the good news, regarding the Suburban Station homeless camp:

Thanks to SEPTA's swift sanitizing safari, the former courtyard of crap is now a vagrants-and-their-fragrance-free zone.

Construction workers who are renovating Suburban Station walled off the patio, ensuring that it will remain clean until it's rehabbed as a new atrium for SEPTA commuters.

Now the bad news. Geringer stumbled upon a new stink zone, which fortunately for riders will no longer be in service after tomorrow:

"I say goodbye to my family and make my way up the stairs on the corner of Frankford and Pratt," writes Manny Santos. "I smell the foulness of the built-up urine layers that cover the floor and walls in the dark recesses of this trainstop. Imagine walking up two long flights of stairs and, as you reach the top to catch your breath, you inhale the foul microbes from the heavily urine-stained walls."

The Stinkmeister doesn't have to imagine, Manny. He walked those stinking stairs yesterday of the Frankford Transportation Center from the Entrance of Elimination to the Exit of Excretion. He feels your nose's pain.

July 16: The owner of a newsstand at the Margaret-Orthodox/Arrott Terminal complex complained to Geringer about people urinating into the soda machines.

... Raoji Prajapati ... said, "I have a newsstand at Frankford and Oxford, under the Margaret-Orthodox El station. They're urinating in my Coke machine and in my Pepsi machine. You reach in there for a soda, you don't know what you're touching."

Grabbing his gas mask, the voice of the pee-and-poop-plagued public sped to Prajapati's pee-stained newsstand.

The urine stench emanating from the two soda machines brought tears to S-Meister's eyes.

So did the thought of reaching into those machines - after Prajapati pointed out the urine stains near their delivery holes.

The space between the machines was soaked in fresh urine.

It gets better, folks. The area in front of Prajapati's newsstand is a much smaller scale of the Suburban Station homeless city.

"They sleep behind my newsstand every night," Prajapati said. "They pee. They poop. I work here from 6 in the morning to 7 at night. I clean with Pine Sol and with bleach. They keep coming back. This is their bedroom and their bathroom. Mostly, their bathroom."

Neither SEPTA Transit Poice nor the Philadelphia Police seem willing nor able to assist Mr. Prajapati in maintaining a clean and presumably successful business.

Prajapati is not sure whether the property his newsstand sits on is SEPTA's or the city's. He only knows that neither SEPTA nor city cops have rid him of the oozing boozehounds.

"When I call, sometimes the police come, sometimes they don't," he said. "When they do come, they say, 'If we don't see them drinking, we can't do anything.' The drunks hide their bottles when they see cops."

The Philadelphia Police seem to have a valid excuse. Apparently, since that stretch of Frankford Av isn't part of Emperor Street's "Operation Save Street - um, I mean Safe Streets" initiative, you'd have an easier time scoring seats behind home plate at "Not Your Typical Ballpark" next season than you have of finding a Philadelphia cop anywhere near Frankford and Oxford. The SEPTA Transit Police zone office is a few blocks away, near the Church St El station (until the new terminal at Bridge-Pratt opens next month), but except for traffic control near the construction site where Bridge St, Frankford Av, and Bustleton Av converge, SEPTA Police coverage in the Northeast is sporadic at best.

July 21: Back to Center City. Geringer reports on the plight of El passengers at the Spring Garden El station.

Pee stench overpowers the public entering SEPTA's Market-Frankford El stop on Spring Garden Street near 2nd, or waiting for SEPTA buses underneath it. A long-shuttered newsstand, piled with festering garbage, has become a reeking open-air urinal in the middle of a heavily-traveled public sidewalk. Yoo hoo, SEPTA? You got some explainin' to do!

"The summer stench at that SEPTA bus stop can make your nose run and your eyes water," wrote reader David Cornish. "I blame the lack of public restrooms for the urine stain on Philly's name. SEPTA transports hundreds of thousands each day, but you can count the restrooms open to its riding passengers on just one hand!"

Despite calls for more public toilets from the riding public, SEPTA seems to think the complainers are full of (ahem) s---. With that, we present the latest idiotic grumblings from SEPTA's Minister of Mis-Information, Richard Maloney:

"You and I and the 400,000 people who work in Center City each day know where to go when Nature calls. ... In any area of Center City, you kind of learn intuitively where there are available places to do that - Suburban Station, Market Street East (sic), Reading Terminal, a store, a restaurant."

Has Maloney ever used the bathrooms at Market East? Everyday Center City workers may know where to go, but tourists and most other infrequent Center City visitors aren't going to know off the top of their heads where to go if they have to go.

"So you're looking at a social/psychological question rather than a functional problem. ... I ride the train every day. When I leave work to go home, I go to the bathroom before I go to the station. I believe that 99.9 percent of people who live in this urban area and ride public transportation know how to make those kind of plans."

Gee, thanks for talking down to us, oh great Minister of Mis-Information. Perhaps if stations were open at more convenient hours during from the AM peak through the PM peak, people wouldn't have such problems, now would they?

"Would more public facilities eliminate that problem? My guess is: not much, if at all. And it's a nonstop problem for us to keep the facilities that we do have clean and safe. They become gathering places for people that other people don't want to associate with."

Apparently, our Minister of Mis-Information has never had the honor of using the restrooms at 69 St Terminal; at least the ones near the West Terminal. It also doesn't help that the restrooms close at 8:00pm, which really does nobody any good if they get to 69 St at, say, 8:15pm, and have to wait over an hour for the next 104 or 109 bus to head home.

"I am hearing no clarion call for more public restrooms."

Guess what, Minister. Now you are.

This, by the way, is apparently the after-effects of SEPTA sponsoring those stupid animated "Race to the Vet" features at Phillies games this season. Well, I hope it's worth it for SEPTA to blow tons of money on animated bus and/or subway races at Phillies games while commuters start considering whether or not to bring gas masks along for their commutes.

MISSING: PARENTING SKILLS? A 9 year old Philadelphia boy managed to find his way to Upper Darby over the weekend, causing a massive search throughout the city. At around 8:20pm Saturday, Asher Twine slipped away from relatives in Germantown and boarded an R-8 Chestnut Hill West train (believed to be the #1860 CHW to Fox Chase) en route to 30 St Station. A SEPTA employee reported seeing the child in the station later that evening, however police were not able to find him there. The child was later spotted at the UA movie theater complex on S 69 St in Upper Darby, having apparently taken the El to 69 St Terminal. A movie patron reported the child to authorities, who later placed him in a foster home in Chester.

This is not the first time that young Asher Twine slipped away on an adventure. His mother told 6 ABC:

"The Fourth of July he slipped away in a crowd that was headed downtown for the fireworks and he got caught at 30th Street Station."

6 ABC also reports that Asher Twine suffers from autism, but it didn't specifiy the severity.

Okay, three questions: (1) Wouldn't some red flags have been raised among the train crew on the #1860 after seeing a 9 year old riding alone on a Saturday night? (2) Wouldn't somebody at either 30 St or even 69 St Terminal have had the same thoughts, assuming the fare was not paid? (3) Why the hell were the parents paying better attention as to where their son was (see the P&W tragedy last month, when the mother was reportedly surfing the internet while her 4 year old son was struck by an inbound P&W train)?

(On a side note, when I was much younger - about 13-14 - and living in New England, I'd occasionally ride the T into Boston and spend a little time riding the subway system when I spent time with my aunt in Lincoln - whose condo was near the Lincoln Rail Station on the Fitchburg line. Of course, I was a little bit older than Asher Twine, and didn't spend too much time that my mother or aunt would've called the state police. At the same time, I was once able to bike about 12-15 miles between Nashua and Manchester; now I can barely ride 1-2 miles without feeling pain in my legs. All of this was about 15 years ago, in case anyone was asking...)

It's fortunate that Asher Twine is still alive. Could you imagine the PR nightmare SEPTA would've faced if this child ended up falling into the El tracks or was struck by an R8 train (to say nothing of the harsh criticism of the parenting skills by Mr. and Mrs. Twine)? Considering that we're talking about an autistic 9 year old, I'd suspect that would require far more supervision than was apparently provided this past weekend.

MORE GREAT ADVENTURES It appears that NJ Transit is slowly expanding the number of bus routes serving the Six Flags/Great Adventure theme park in Jackson Twp, Ocean County. As early as three years ago, there were only two lines available - the 308 from New York and Newark and the 318 from Philadelphia and Camden. Two years ago, the 307 from Freehold and the 309 from Toms River were added. Earlier this year, NJT introduced the 310 from Trenton Rail Station. Now, a fourth new line to Great Aventure has been added - the 311 from Point Pleasant Beach, Sea Girt, and Belmar. Connections from Philadelphia, Camden, and Mt Holly are available at Point Pleasant Beach via the 317 line.

52 CHANGES NOT SITTING WELL WITH SOME The St. Joseph's University dorm construction project at 54 St/City Av brings along some good news/bad news for riders on the 52 and residents in the Wynnefield area.

The good news (at least for riders) is that the during daytime hours, the 52 will be re-routed to serve Overbrook Rail Station, allowing a connection for West Philadelphia residents to the R5 Paoli-Thorndale line; the daytime routing will be via 54 St, City Av, Cardinal Av, Overbrook Av, 59 St, Drexel Rd, and City Av to 54 St south of City Av, using most of the same streets as the G bus. The evening routing will not serve Overbrook Rail Station, but will simply loop through a parking lot across from the construction site on 54 St.

Now, the bad news... the Inquirer reported on Friday at some residents in Wynnefield are less than thrilled about the prospect of more buses through the neighborhood.

But one problem with (St. Joseph's) new plan is SEPTA buses. (Wynnefield Residents Association Director Robin) Trent said that in the past, buses on the 52 route used the property where the dorms will be built to turn around. Now the buses are using Overbrook Avenue, and that bothers residents, Trent said.

The new routing took effect on Sunday. In fliers passed out by SEPTA, it's noted that the routing is being instituted on an experimental basis. I'm sure the WRA will be very thrilled with that.

Whether or not SEPTA or St. Joe's dropped the ball on this one is up for debate. The re-routing was forced since the former turn-around point for the 52 is now part of the new dorm's construction site.

RAIL POWER PROJECT REDUX? It appears that SEPTA will be operating subway-surface trolleys over the top (that's via the diversion routing in local parlance) for three weeks starting the weekend of August 8th. The diversion is required to repair the eastbound rail between 22 St and 15 St. Let's see how SEPTA handles the public relations on this project...

SEEMED LIKE A GOOD IDEA AT THE TIME... Sunday's Inquirer had an interesting story about why SEPTA isn't getting what it claims to be a sufficient amount of funding from Harrisburg. The legislature created a Public Utility Realty Tax fund (PURTA) that earmarked a portion of its funding to transit agencies across Pennsylvania. In 1997, SEPTA recieved $37.4 million out of this fund. 1997 was the year that Harrisburg de-regulated the industry, which led to power-plant taxes no longer being paid into the PURTA. Since 1997, SEPTA's share of state funding from PURTA collections decreased to nearly $18.6 million - a nearly 50 percent drop-off from 1997. As a result, SEPTA is joining the City and School District of Philadelphia in legal action regarding the Susquehanna Nuclear Power Plant in Salem Twp, Luzerne County. The Inquirer article notes that the PPL-owned plant was once a source of nearly $30 million in PURTA revenues. For once, this mess can't be blamed on SEPTA, but rather TPTB in Harrisburg, who didn't really think about the repercussions of de-regulating the electric industry.

95/IKEA UPDATE The latest on the proposed (but stalled) re-routing of the 95 into the Market Place at Plymouth Center complex is being delayed due to problems at IKEA's end. Apparently, IKEA's management had signed off on the idea, but the owners of MPPC have yet to give formal permission for the 95 to enter the property. One would think that SEPTA would've held off on an announcement in the Metro paper and other outlets until after all the I's were dotted and T's were crossed, but it's hard to pin all the blame on SEPTA.

ROADEO RECAP SEPTA held it's annual Bus Roadeo at the Philadelphia Park racetrack in Bensalem Twp, Bucks County yesterday. After using the NABIs as Roadeo buses for the past three years, SEPTA began using the New Flyers for the first time at course buses. Red Arrow 5404 (which now has the two arrows on the rear engine cover, replacing the yellow "CAUTION: FREQUENT STOPS AND WIDE TURNS" sticker), Callowhill 5421, Frankford 5524, 5531, Comly 5583, Southern 5630, and Midvale 5710 and 5711 were this year's course buses; Frankford 5513 was used as the "photo op" bus, while 2025 - which will probably be off the roster by the end of the year, and not a minute too soon - was used as the "judge's" bus.

In addition to the standard historic fleet buses, SEPTA's display buses included Frontier 2053 (Ford), Red Arrow 4536 (ElDorado), Southern 3332 (Neoplan 40-ft), Callowhill 5271 (NABI), Allegheny 7131 (Neo artic - your editor managed to get a "104 WEST CHESTER" sign on the display for a photo, like you'd ever see an artic along West Chester Pike), and Midvale 5712 (New Flyer - same thing, only the sign read "92 EXTON SQUARE MALL"; at last year's event, I was able to get a picture of a New Flyer with a "133 EXTON SQUARE MALL" sign, but have since lost the disposable camara during a recent move - d'oh!).

Visiting companies included David Thomas tours with a brand new D4000 (complete with NJT type turn signals), Krapf's with one of its two brand new MCI J4500s (great, they can afford brand new J-series coaches, but don't even bother asking them about getting better transit buses on the Coatesville-West Chester run), Martz Trailways (bringing an older MCI 102A3 coach with an 8V92 engine), DART First State (NABI Low Floor #560), the Maryland Transit Administration (Neoplan low floor #0284B - B designates which garage the bus is from; in this case, Bush Division), Greyhound (G4500 #7202), and NJ Transit (MCI D4500 #8250 from Howell). The School District of Philadelphia also brought five of their school buses to the event.

Usually, the highlight of the Roadeo is the celebrity competition, in which personalities from the print and electonic media outlets drive a bus through a modified version of the Roadeo course. However, this year's celebrity event featured one of the weakest fields in recent memory. Mainstays such as Daily News columnist Stu Bykofsky and 6 ABC's Sally Ann Mosey were scheduled to attend, as was 6 ABC's Cecily Tynan, but were no shows. Last year's celebrity roadeo champion Tug McGraw did not compete this year as he's recovering from a brain tumor.

Competing in the celebrity roadeo this year were Fearless Leader (5630), NBC 10's Via Sikahema (5531), CBS 3's traffic reporter Bob Kelly (5421), TWU 234 President Jean Alexander (5404 - yes, I've already noted the irony in the president of the union that represents city and Frontier operators was driving a Red Arrow bus), Tony McPete from the Philadelphia Kixx indoor soccer team (5524), KYW NewsRadio's Amy Caplan (5583), Kixx mascot "Socceroo" (5711), and SEPTA's training officer Tracy Innaurato (5710).

Innaurato won this year's celebrity event despite doing fairly poorly in the "diminished clearance" portion of the course (replace "clearance" with "judgement" and that tends to sum up SEPTA management at times); Alexander placed second, and McPete finished third.

In the real Roadeo:

The Berridge/Wyoming team of Tim Mason, Lee Zdunkiewicz, and Al Swander won the maintenance competition, defeating teams from Allegheny, Callowhill, Comly, Frontier, and Midvale.

John Rinylo from Southern repeated as Roadeo champion for the "who knows how many-th" time (I think it's 4th, but don't hold me to it); Mike Shepard from Elmwood finished second overall - amazing since (1) no buses are stored at Elmwood and (2) the only buses used on scheduled bus bridges are the 40-ft Neos; Allegheny's Carl Porter finished third overall - a remarkable feat since the only buses at Allegheny are the Neo artics.

This year's Depot winners:

• ALLEGHENY: Porter
  
• CALLOWHILL: Victor Tarver
  
• COMLY: Hal McCleary
  
• ELMWOOD: Leon Spencer
  
• FRANKFORD: Brian Murphy
  
• FRONTIER: Joe Schrier
  
• MIDVALE: Marcus James
  
• SOUTHERN (non-Rinylo division): Michael Thompkins

MORE RED ARROW PROBLEMS More problems seem to be popping up within Red Arrow's management. On Saturday, a New Flyer working the 5:05pm 104 to West Chester broke down on West Chester Pike just past PA 926 in Willistown. Passengers on that bus were stranded for nearly an hour before the 6:05pm 104 arrived to finish the trip. Two major issues seemed to arise from the incident: (1) A passenger reported that the operator had called into the control center to report that the bus was overheating, yet was instructed to "keep running the bus until it broke down." (2) Despite the fact that service to West Chester on Saturdays runs hourly after 5:00pm, no replacement bus was brought out in order to allow the 6:10pm from West Chester to 69 St Terminal to be covered. Remember that this is not during the height of Friday rush hour, but on a Saturday, when vehicle requirements are significantly smaller.

JUMPER HALTS EL SERVICE Reports of a jumper near 40 St Station caused major delays on the El last night. At around 5:20pm last night, an unidentified person reportedly jumped in front of a westbound El trains. Reports of 20-25 minute delays throughout the subway portion of the El was reported. Most passengers were forced to detrain at 15 St/City Hall or at 30 St. Service was restored about an hour later, however there were no reports of shuttle buses being deployed to lessen the loads once train service was restored.

DELAYS IN WEST CHESTER The 92, 104, and 119 are being detoured off of Gay St between High and New Sts in West Chester due to West Chester Borough's monthly "Swinging Summer Thursday" event. As usual, there was no notice given to operators or the public. Why the powers that be in West Chester think this is a great idea to draw people into town is beyond me. It's one thing to hold a street festival on a Sunday, but you can't block off a major street during the height of rush hour once a month and not expect to get criticized for it.

TROLLEY MESSES NEXT WEEKEND In addition to the scheduled grade renewal at Lansdowne and Garrett on the Red Arrow trolley main line, the subway surface lines will also be diverted to the 40/Market El Station next weekend, with a "scheduled construction project" as the reason.

FRANKFORD SWING STARTS SUNDAY The first phase of the "Frankford Swing" - which will eventually move all bus routes presently terminating around the Frankford Terminal area - begins on Sunday, when the 3, 5, 8, 24, R, and Market-Frankford OWL buses are moved from various locations at or near Pratt St to "new" Bridge St: The 3, 5, and Market-Frankford OWL buses board on the south side of Bridge adjacent to Frankford Depot; the 8, 24, and R board on the north side of Bridge adjacent to the El yard. The new locations will be in effect until at least August 4, when the new terminal building will begin seeing El trains. Phase 2, which starts July 25, will see El service cut-back to Margaret-Orthodox and most Frankford Terminal bus routes operating to Erie-Torresdale. Expect a lot of confusion during this time period.

NOW, HERE'S A CONCEPT... More living proof why Philadelphia is a national joke compared to other large cities. According to the Chicago Tribune (viewing link requires free registration to the Tribune web site), the Chicago Transit Authority - which is similar to SEPTA in that it features an aging subway/elevated rail system and a substantial bus network - is cracking down on quality of life crimes within the system. A 51-year-old Chicago man with nearly 50 violations of CTA policy has been banned from the system for 18 months, and faces a 12 month jail term if he violates the ban.

Robert Ross pleaded guilty last month to two counts of criminal trespassing for asking riders for cab fare and selling individual cigarettes on CTA property...

Under the new program, which began in October, people convicted more than once of soliciting, begging or other unlawful conduct on CTA property will be barred, agency spokeswoman Robyn Ziegler said.

The offenses are "annoying and worrisome for our customers, and we want it to be a pleasant ride for them," Ziegler said.

Although many of us who ride SEPTA wish that something similar was placed into effect in order to improve the quality of life on SEPTA - especially when passing through major terminals and rail stations - don't count on it. Between SEPTA's seeming inability to remove many of these vagrants from the property and the spineless judges - save for Seamus McCaffery - elected by the people of Philadelphia (or, more accurately, hand picked by the various ward leaders and other political scum), it would be too much to ask for SEPTA or even the City of Philadelphia to even attempt to be aggressive.

It certainly doesn't help that Emperor Street appointed one of the weakest Police Commissioners in recent memory - and father of a SEPTA Police Lieutenant presently invovled in a racial discrimination lawsuit - who seems to take a very favorable view on idiot protestors who illegally obstruct Center City streets.

Heck, the Upper Darby Township police seem to have an "I don't give a damn" attitude towards this issue when it comes to 69 St Terminal, especially after midnight, when several of Philadelphia's finest collection of vagrants plop themselves along benches outside South Terminal, seemingly with nowhere to go.

Okay, I'm done venting ... for now...

MIXED BAG ON SCHEDULES The 95 is not operating to the IKEA in the Market Place at Plymouth Center complex in Plymouth Twp, as was supposed to have happened today. The 95 was to have operated via Ridge Pk and Alan Wood Rd to Market Place, then via Alan Wood, Seven Stars Rd, and Gallager Rd to Metroplex, and on route to Plymouth Meeting Mall and Penn Square. Whether this decision came from SEPTA, Plymouth Township officials, or the shopping center's management is unclear at this time. My gut feeling is that someone at SEPTA once again dropped the ball; in fact, there was nothing noted about this last minute change in today's SEPTA Page in the Philadelphia Metro paper, nor is there anything posted about it on the SEPTA web site. Meanwhile, new Sunday service was supposed to start operating between Conshohocken and Plymouth Meeting Mall is still tentatively slated to start, but that hasn't been finalized. Peak hour 95 service between Gulph Mills and the Conshohocken Rail Station has finally been reduced to 15 minutes in order to match P&W schedules (even though P&W service was reduced from 12 to 15 minutes nearly a year ago).

On a related note, southbound 92 trips to Parkway Shopping Center is only operating via Gay, New, and Market Sts by request only. Northbound trips will still loop to New & Market Sts. It appears that SEPTA has streamlined the number of buses used on the 92/133 as the 6016 block covered the 1:25pm departure from West Chester, which was formally covered by 6019 block; 6019 block now appears to start its run as the 3:00pm 133 to King of Prussia as opposed to the first trip on 6019 block departing King of Prussia at 12:00pm. This is apparently resulting in only 6 vehicles being used over the course of the day as opposed to 8 during the last sign-ups.

At Red Arrow, the only major changes are the seasonal suspension of school trippers on the 108 and 115 and the limited weekday only schedule on the 120 to Cheyney.

MONEY NOT WELL $PENT If you were wondering how SEPTA managed to get into a nearly $41 million hole to start the fiscal year off, a perfect example can be found at the corner of Broad and Pattison, and on telecasts of Phillies home games. Between the really stupid "Race to the Vet" animations during pitching changes (one features a red Neoplan "racing" a blue Neoplan down Broad St; the second one features a red Broad St subway car "racing" a blue BSS car underneath Broad St) and the so-called "Commuter Choice" graphics that appear sporadically during Phillies home telecasts on Comcast SportsNet and UPN 57, that certainly cost SEPTA a lot of money. As in money that could've been used on Saturday to accomodate nearly 50,000 angry Phillies fans and thousands more spectators returning from the Penn's Landing fireworks. There was no additional El service heading westbound to 69 St Terminal, but about 20 minutes after the fireworks ended at the Vet, there was an extra eastbound train to Bridge-Pratt that had apparently been deadheaded to 15 St/City Hall.

Then, after Sunday's game, there was a 3-4 minute gap at Pattison where there were no trains on the platform at all. Nice planning, SEPTA. Those stupid "Race to the Vet" fillers are worthless if you don't run a sufficient amount of service to avoid alienating your remaining riders.

Then again, a lack of adequate subway-elevated service following special events either at the Sports Complex or in Center City has been a major problem for SEPTA over the past several years. Same thing with the subway-surface lines, especially after the "Hurry Up and Go Home, America!" fireworks on the Parkway, where long lines have stretched as far as half a block out of the 19 St and 22 St subway-surface stations onto Market St. But, SEPTA still manages to waste money on frivolous and pointless advertising. Amazing...

NORRISTOWN DELAYS The 9:05pm departures at Norristown Transportation Center were delayed 7 minutes tonight. While no reason was given (this was heard over the radio system on board one of the buses), it appears that there was a delay on the R6 Norristown line earlier this evening. More info if and/or when it becomes available...

PHLASH RESTRUCTURED AGAIN After the City of Philadelphia recieved some private outside funding to continue the Phlash, the route and fare schedules have been restructured yet again. Nearly than a year and a half after the Phlash was extended to the Philadelphia Zoo, the service has been rebranded the "Summer Phlash", and will now remain in Center City. The route will be restructured as follows:

Start at 6 St/Market St - Independence Visitor Center operating via 6 St, Arch St, the Parkway, Philadelphia Art Museum, the Parkway, 20 St, Arch St, 15 St, City Hall, Market St and 6 St before returning to the IVC. Buses will make the following stops: 6 St/Market St; 6 St/Arch St; 12 St/Arch St; Broad St/Arch St; 16 St/Arch St; Parkway between 18 & 19 Sts; 21 St/Parkway; 26 St/Parkway; 20 St/Winter St; 16 St/Arch St; Broad St between City Hall and Chestnut St; 12 St/Market St; 8 St/Market St; and 6 St/Market St

The new fare for the service will be $1.00, and buses will operate daily between today and Labor Day from 10:00am to 8:00pm. Even though SEPTA is still operating the Summer Phlash for the city, SEPTA fare instruments will not be accepted.

PARATRANSIT BUS IN FREAK ACCIDENT NBC 10 reports that a paratransit bus fell off I-76 last night near 26 St in University City. Fortunately, the driver was the only person on board the vehicle at the time and is recovering from relatively minor injuries at HUP. The driver of the van driving on 76 when she was cut off by another car. The van then lost control and fell nearly 40 feet onto a nearby street. A chain link fence along the expressway slowed the fall of the bus.

SUBURBAN/RAILROAD SCHEDULE CHANGES Timetables in the Red Arrow, Frontier, and Railroad divisions will change this weekend. The new Frontier and Railroad timetables go into effect on Sunday, while Red Arrow schedules will change on Monday.

On the Railroad side of things, R5 Paoli-Thorndale and R6 Norristown riders will be displeased to learn that the "temporary" schedule changes that were part of the Rail Power Project schedule fiasco are being made permanent. Meanwhile, the cry babies in the People's Republic of Lower Merion got their way after one too many temper tantrums as it pertains to the R6 Cynwyd line. The full schedule will be restored on Monday, however service will reportedly be cut back to Suburban Station instead of Market East, with single car trains to be utilized (pending Amtrak approval). Maybe I missed something, but wasn't the Paoli line supposed to be the most powerful and influential group of Regional Rail riders?

And now, the official line from SEPTA is that the R5 and R6 trains that were cut for the RPP, courtesy of Friday's Inquirer:

These trains, yanked so the Rail Power project could install new electric overhead wire last winter, do not fit well back in the schedule, Charles Webb, SEPTA's chief service planning officer, told the board.

It sounds like the folks along the Main Line were out politiced by the cry babies in Bala Cynwyd and Gladwynne. Either that, or BLE spokesman Tom Dorricott has identified a more accurate reason:

"This budget is a subterfuge for them not being able to run the system ... I think it stinks."

And yet, some SEPTA Board members - most notably State Sen. Stuart Greenleaf (R-Montgomery) are often the first to criticize those who criticize the why the Regional Rail system is being mis-managed.

Adding insult to injury for Paoli and Norristown line riders, the remaining proposed cuts will not take effect until September, except for the closing of Lamokin St/Chester station on the R2 Marcus Hook line.

Then again, the way some people in SEPTA are treating the Cynwyd Line, it makes you wonder if the riders on the other lines are getting screwed over, particularly the Paoli line riders (especially those who board between Thorndale and Malvern). Take this recent line from SEPTA's Minister of Mis-information Richard Maloney in the recent edition of the Main Line Times weekly:

[M]aloney said the two lines will not only spared from elimination, but they also didn't expect to trim down the level of service in the area. He added that people are expressing relief over the decision.

"The R-6, that's the one they're all cheering," Maloney said.

Of course they're cheering the restoration of the Cynwyd line. I'm sure there are people at SEPTA cheering as well, since the full schedule restoration of the Cynwyd line seems to be coming at the expense of the Paoli and Norristown lines.

Meanwhile, in the suburbs, there are few changes that will be in effect with the new pickings. The most notable changes are in Frontier territory, as the 92 will no longer serve New/Market Sts in West Chester in the southbound direction except upon request to the operator, and the 95 will now serve the new IKEA at the Plymouth Shopping Center across from Frontier Depot in Plymouth Twp.

For some odd reason, Red Arrow timetables were issued with an effective date of June 16, even though the schedules take effect on July 7. The official notice indicates that this was due to a "scheduling conflict" (read: "We screwed up, again").

ON THE MONEY ANALYSIS Daily News op-ed columnist Mark Allen Hughes offered an interesting, if not accurate, analysis of SEPTA's latest fiscal crisis in today's editions, splitting the blame between Harrisburg and SEPTA itself.

ANOTHER POL SLAMS SEPTA According to the Delaware County Daily Times, State Rep. Mario Civera (R-Delaware) is not too thrilled with SEPTA and PennDOT. Yesterday, during a meeting which included Upper Darby Twp mayor Raymond Shay and officials from the township, PennDOT and SEPTA, Civera blasted the SEPTA for delaying a crossing renewal project on the Red Arrow trolley trunk line at Lansdowne Avenue, which was to have taken place on the weekend of June 20-22, but was pushed back to the weekend of July 18-21. The heavy rain on June 20 essentially delayed the project for about a month. The construction materials are now being stored at the parking lot of the Lansdowne Av trolley station.

BASS RIVER UPDATE Burlington County freeholders are preparing a plan that would provide shuttle van service to residents of Bass River Township to replace NJ Transit's 559 bus, which has been detoured since the start of this year. According to the Burlington County Times, two county-owned 10 passenger vans would be deployed in order to get Bass River residents to the nearest NJT bus stop in Little Egg Harbor Twp, Ocean County. The county is seeking assistance from NJDOT for help in defraying the $112,400 price tag.

WHAT SYSTEM IS HE RIDING? Apparently, there are people around the country who haven't really spent a lot of time running SEPTA. Take Baltimore Sun columnist Jacques Kelly for example. When comparing the Maryland Transit Administration (MTA Maryland) to SEPTA, Kelly makes a very interesting observation:

The punctuality of the Philadelphia SEPTA is nothing short of amazing. You can actually trust and plan your journey around the posted schedules.

Really? I guess Mr. Kelly hasn't waited anywhere from 10 to 20 minutes during the evening peak waiting for a 104 bus that's either stuck on West Chester Pike, overheated, or not coming at all because Red Arrow ran out of buses.

On the other hand, it's not as though MTA Maryland has a lot to brag about either. While they've finally gotten around to replacing some of their older buses, the 9900 and 0000 series NABIs have destination signs that are barely readable. If you think it's fun trying to squint at a destination sign on a SEPTA Neoplan 40 foot bus, then try reading the signs on a "newer" NABI in Baltimore, though be careful that you don't strain your neck. Of course, those newer buses may not last too long in Baltimore since the streets there are in almost as bad of shape as they are in Philadelphia (Reisterstown Road between the Mondawmin Mall and Old Court Rd is a great example, as observed while riding MTA Neoplan 0254 on the M-2 yesterday).

And don't get me started on the poor traffic flow on Howard St, where the MTA's light rail line attempts to operate. Apparently, the powers that be in Baltimore City are unfamiliar with the concept of priority signals for trolleys. This was evidenced yesterday as it took about 5 minutes to get from Lexington Market to the Convention Center (near Camden Yards) - walking the same distance to Camden Yards would probably have gotten me there at around the same time.

MORE FUNDING SCHEMES Now that I've had a few days to catch up on my sleep (it's not easy working 3rd shift) and enjoy a Phillies win at Camden Yards, it's time to catch up on some other developments in the land of INEPTA... Friday's Daily News reported several proposals floated around by our geniuses in Harrisburg. In addition to the proposal by Sen. Christine Tartaglione (D-Philadelphia) to double the car tire and rental car taxes, and plans by Rep. Don Walko (D-Allegheny) to introduce a constitutional amendment removing the prohibition on gas tax funds being used for mass transit, Rep. Dwight Evans (D-Philadelphia) is proposing an increase in the state fees collected for automobile inspections from $2.00 to $5.00 for most vehicles and from $1.00 to $4.00 for commercial vehicles which are inspected semi-annually. There is also a plan that would remove the $75 million cap imposed from sales tax collections. As for whether or not any of these proposals are implemented, that remains to be seen.

As a follow-up to Thursday's adoption of the Operating Budget, Board member Jettie Newkirk cast the lone vote opposing the budget because of the dieselization of the trackless trolley lines. As much as Ms. Newkirk's support of the trackless trolley network is appreciated, it was really a moot point as there's no guarantee that the three Frankford trackless lines would've been up and running after the new terminal opens at Bridge-Pratt; the 29 will be dieselized due to the Tasker Homes reconstruction project; and the AM General fleet is way beyond their useful life. As long as this is not a permanent conversion to diesel service, with the door remaining open that they could return next fiscal year, this may be the only option at this time. I don't like it, and I'm sure a lot of other people who visit this site don't like it, but let's just hope it is only temporary...

MORE UNION MELTDOWNS? Supporters of suspended TWU Local 234 president Jean Alexander picketed the TWU union hall on Spring Garden St on Friday. According to Saturday's Inquirer, at least 50 employees were joined by activists from the National Organization for Women, the NAACP, and other key city unions (including AFSCME District Council 47). The message of the protesters was very simple: Stop the infighting and focus on the next contract negotiations. That doesn't mean Local 234 is out of the woods yet...

The TWU International office imposed a truseeship on Local 234 after the late Steve Brookens was removed from office by a federal judge after allegations of "political factionalism, subversion of democracy, and financial malpractice," charges subsequently supported after a former TWU bookkeeper plead guilty to stealing $98,132 from Local 234. Former Local 234 president Harry Lombardo, now an officer with the International office, took over negotiations for the 2001 labor agreement.

Alexander's election last July was supposed to have been the first step away from the problems that plagued the union in the past. However, the TWU International office in New York warned that if the in-fighting continued, the International would take over the union for the second time in less than 2 years.

Interestingly enough, Alexander hadn't been making most of the appearances at public hearings and SEPTA Board meetings in recent months. Union Vice President David Szczepanski offered the union's official position on the Operating Budget at most of the hearings, except for the Philadelphia hearing. Whether that means anything is up in the air, although Brookens was front and center during the tumultous 1998 labor negotiations and subsequent 40 day strike in the City and Frontier divisions.

All in all, the union's latest squabble is probably bringing a smile to Fearless Leader's face. If SEPTA's mis-management were to stoop to ridiculous lows (that wouldn't take much doing), they'd take advantage of Local 234's in-fighting and use it to their advantage. Please, tell me that I'm wrong...

FOURTH OF JULY DETOURS ... WELL SOME OF THEM SEPTA posted detours on City Transit Division lines that will be affected by 4th of July activities, including detours in Cheltenham, Abington, and Rockledge. Not surprisingly, no detours were posted for any suburban lines, even though several Red Arrow routes will be impacted due to events in East Lansdowne, Aldan, and Chester among other places. Is there any reason why SEPTA can't be bothered to post detour information for suburban routes? Would that be too much to ask?

OVERHEATED... Several Red Arrow routes suffered major delays due to overheating of several buses over the course of today. Reports of delays of nearly 20 minutes were reported on several lines, with the 104 and 111 suffering the brunt of the delays. At least two 104 buses - the 5:05pm West Chester Express and the 5:20pm Newtown Square local - did not run, causing a major overflow crowd on the 5:35pm West Chester Express. There has been an ongoing problem with availability of enough road worthy buses at Red Arrow - which is hardly news by this point. On several occasions, peak hour 104 departures to West Chester have either departed late or have been cancelled due to a lack of available vehicles in the yard at pull-out time. How much longer would it take for SEPTA's Minster of Mis-Information Richard Maloney to deny that there's a bus shortage?

MEANWHILE, DEMOCRACY TAKES A DAY OFF... Someone at SEPTA must have a very interesting sense of fiscal restraint. At today's SEPTA Board meeting, those people who arrived had to be furious when only an agenda - rather than a package including the financial report, updated resolutions, _and_ the agenda - were left. SEPTA's reaction: You snooze, you lose. Never mind the fact that there weren't quite as many people at this month's meetings. Gee, there's nothing like only telling people only half of the story; it's worked for SEPTA almost since the day David Gunn left the company.

To top things off, after arriving for the meeting late and attempting to get on the speaking list, one of the SEPTA Transit Police goons (P/O R Buggy, #102) rather rudely told me that I wasn't going to be able to get on the speaker's list because I was late. Never mind that my 104 bus was one of the many buses that broke down over the course of the day along West Chester Pike and other parts of Red Arrow territory. When I took exception to being denied the right to address the board, I was escored out by Buggy and the rest of Capt. Rodgers' goon squad. Yep, that's democracy under SEPTA Board Chairman/Radio Mogul/Turnpike Commissioner/Land Developer Extraordinaire/All Around Jerk Pasquale T. Deon, Sr. Well, after today, the gloves come off. For those who've been regular readers of this blog: If you thought I had a chip on my shoulder before, then you ain't seen nothing yet...

Goon Squad notwithstanding, SEPTA did pass an interim budget, pending what they expect to be a $41 million windfall from Harrisburg. HA! Don't Fearless Leader, Don Pasquale, and the rest of the idiots at SEPTA understand that neither the Governor nor the Legislature is going to send a blank check for $41 million just because SEPTA whines about being broke? Considering that several people have suggested that SEPTA restructure the way the Regional Rail system is operated (the first step would be firing COO Pat Nowakowski) by re-pairing lines to reduce layover/recovery times at outer terminals, and have also suggested that several bus routes be moved to depots closer to terminals to reduce deadheading, did it ever occur to SEPTA to try those options before acting like one of those low-life panhandlers who annoy the hell out of commuters at Suburban Station and other major terminals?

Yes, as you can see, I am in a very bad mood...

TRAGEDY AT ALLEGHENY A trespasser was struck and killed by a southbound Broad Street express train yesterday morning. According to the Daily News, the unidentified victim was struck by the southbound express train - which was en route to Walnut-Locust - shortly after 7:00am. The victim was reportedly attempting to cross the tracks from the southbound platforms to the northbound platforms. A bus-bridge was deployed between Fern Rock and Girard while Philadelphia Police conducted an investigation. Normal service was restored shortly after 8:00am.

CUTS NOT AS BAD ... FOR NOW A revised listing of service changes which would take effect in the fall is now posted at the site. Please bear with me as I upgrade the format of the page, but it should be pointed out that - for now - no routes would be eliminated, pending final passage of the Pennsylvania budget.

MIXED BAG OF NEWS The SEPTA Board will meet next Thursday to finalize the FY 2004 Operating Budget ... sort of.

Most of the Draconian Service Cuts that were being proposed, including the elimination of several bus and rail lines, are on hold for now. SEPTA is, however, proceeding with these changes:

• Increasing the parking fees at Regional Rail stations from $.50 to $1.00 and at Subway parking lots (69 St, Bridge St, and Fern Rock) from $1.00 to $2.00
  
• Converting the 5 trackless lines - 29, 59, 66, 75, and 79 - to diesel bus operations
  
• Weekend closings of Allegheny and Frankford depots, with operating moving to Midvale and Comly, respectively
  
• Changes in service frequencies on some bus routes and rail lines (whether or not these were part of what was originally proposed has yet to be confirmed)
  
• Service changes on the R1 Airport, R6 Cynwyd, and R8 Chestnut Hill West lines - the R8 will most likely see an increased headways from 30 minutes to hourly during the mid-day hours

As for the fare increases and service cuts, those are delayed pending adoption of the Commonwealth's operating budget. Once Harrisburg passes its budget, SEPTA will then review the remaining items that were under consideration during the hearing process, depending on whether or not additional funding comes from Harrisburg.

These moves were based upon the report of the hearing examiners, who released their reports last week.

Inquirer - June 14
Daily News - June 14

LABOR UNREST... All apparently is not well within the leadership of SEPTA's largest union. According to Tuesday's Inquirer, Jean Alexander, president of TWU Local 234, was suspended from her position, pending a union hearing. There are rumblings within the union that the suspension was political at best.

"I was elected with a split board. They have been against me from day one," Alexander said (on Monday). "I don't know why they're doing it, other than they just don't want me because I am a woman."

A union attorney told the Inquirer that Alexander may have been suspended for requesting time to review an order from the union's Executive Board regarding an insurance provider. Attorney Joshua Rubinsky told the Inquirer:

"It's highly unlikely that you can remove a chief executive officer for wanting to look at something before she signs it."

Rubinsky also noted that it was very likely that the suspension would be overturned at a hearing to be scheduled within 20 days. This certainly seems like a strange time for TWU 234 to be in the middle of an internal war, with the current collective bargaining agreement for City Transit Division employees set to expire 9 months from now.

...AND SOME WISHFUL THINKING Meanwhile, some rumblings have also come from 1234 Market regarding the status of Fearless Leader herself. Based upon some rumors that had been floating around 1234 Market, Fearless Leader wrote a "candid" memo to employees that was recently posted at elevators within 1234 Market:

"The SEPTA challenge... is not the toughest thing I've had to face ... I appreciate all of those concerned about my stamina and sympathize with those who want these rumors to be true, BUT I'M NOT GOING ANYWHERE!!!"

SEPTA's Minister of Mis-Information Richard Maloney provided yet another classic for the "Stupidest Things Ever Said by a Liar" file by saying this after the rumors began to fly around 1234 Market:

"When a major rumor comes up, she's going to address it head on."

Ah, yes, leave it to Richard Maloney to make statements so ridiculous, that it makes "Baghdad Bob" as credible as Bill O'Reilly. Well, if Fearless Leader is willing to address major rumors "head on" as Maloney mis-stated, why is it that she has practically disappeared during this recent budget crisis? It wouldn't happen to be because of the horrendous performance of the Regional Rail Division, would it? Or the fact that her credibility is virtually non-existant after misleading the public regarding SEPTA's financial status, not to mention the contoversy involving the Market Street Elevated reconstruction project? Or could it be that as some of the mismanagment occured while Jack Leary was finishing up his stint as GM, Fearless Leader was SEPTA's Treasurer?

Well, it's too bad that the rumors about Fearless Leader's departure were unfounded, because hiring her was one of the biggest mistakes that SEPTA has ever made.

NOT GUARANTEED One area that may be cut is the often controversial Service Guarantee on Regional Rail. According to Sunday's Inquirer, SEPTA plans to dump the Service Guarantee due to an increase in claims, mainly as a result of SEPTA's horrendous on-time performance since the start of the current fiscal year. When the program was initiated in the early 1990s, Regional Rail's on-time performance was around 93 percent. In FY 1999, the performance level dipped slightly to 91 percent. Now, as of the end of April, on-time performance is an appalling 84 percent. Instead of admitting that the conversion to the new Control Center at 1234 Market has been a contributing factor in the constant delays on the railroad, SEPTA's Minster of Mis-Information Richard Maloney passed the buck and found a convenient scapegoat:

[Maloney] puts most of the blame for the system's delays on Mother Nature.

Old power lines were snapped by the cold and stretched by last summer's heat, he said. In the fall, "our slippery rail season was the worst in our recorded history."

Oh. Well, Maloney apparently forgot to mention the major meltdowns that have occured on the Regional Rail system in the past 10 months alone, and not all of the blame can be placed on Mother Nature.

SEPTA's problems cannot be pinned entirely on weather, said Tom Dorricott, a spokesman for the Philadelphia area chapter of the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers.

Since a new regional rail dispatching system debuted in September, he said, engineers have grappled with slow signal changes and confused traffic control.

In any case, Maloney's predecessor as the Mis-Information Minister at SEPTA, Stephan Rosenfeld - who was a marketing manager when the program was instituted - offered this ominous warning about ending the Service Guarantee program:

"(SEPTA) put it into effect because we needed to restore passenger confidence in the railroad, [and] we had to do something dramatic to show we were serious ... If you kill the program, you chill the relationship with your passenger [who is] struggling to decide between driving and continuing to [take the] train. It might be the added push."

No kidding. Here's a concept for SEPTA - try improving your on-time performance on the railroad, and maybe, just maybe, you'll get some of those costs down.

CONTRACT SETTLEMENT? SEPTA appears to have reached an agreement with Fraternal Order of Police Lodge 109 - the union which represents SEPTA Transit Police officers. Although the actual resolution was not included in the agenda package for next Thursday's board meeting, the fact that it's on the agenda indicates that an agreement has been reached. Last month, SEPTA Transit Police officers had authorized a strike if a contract hadn't been reached.

MORE WEST CHESTER PIKE MADNESS It seems like something else messes up the 104 every day, doesn't it? During today's PM peak, the 5:05pm from 69 St to West Chester (5148/4231 block) was initially cancelled - then departed 30 minutes behind schedule - after a downed wire on Market St at Bolmar in West Chester (near the Dunkin Donuts) blocked traffic. The wire fell literally moments before 5148 was to pass the intersection. The 5:05pm, which had been initally announced as cancelled, ultimately departed 69 St as a 104 local to West Chester at 5:34pm. The 5:35pm West Chester Express (3438/4241 block) departed on schedule, however the two buses were leap frogging each other for the entire trip to West Chester.

Now, far be it for me to criticize Red Arrow management (ha, ha, ha), but it would've made more sense to run 4231 block as an express to Newtown Square - and possibly cut it back to New St/Market St, bypassing West Chester University to at least get it back on schedule somewhat - then send out 4241 block either as a West Chester local or as it's scheduled West Chester express to Eagle Rd, then have local passengers between 69 St and Eagle Rd (or at least Darby Rd) take the 5:40pm 112 to Lawrence Park. Of course, 4231 block arrived before 4241 block at West Chester University. And of course, logic seems to be a missing trait among the front line managers at 69 St Terminal, who only seem to show up when the trolleys are off schedule...

Adding insult to injury (as if that were possible) there were no spare operators available to fill the schedule 5:05pm departure. Even worse, while an announcement was made that the 5:05pm departure was cancelled, I think it would've been nice if we found out the reason why, so at least people wouldn't be tempted to blame the operator.

FOLLOW UP (6/18/03) Separate problems on the 104 wreaked havoc on the line later that night. 3438, which had been the bus used on 4241 block, apparently broke down at some point during a later run. The 9:05pm departure from West Chester subsequently departed about 20 minutes late, using a spare driver and 5373. The regular operator for 4241 block did make the 11:05pm departure, but had 3378 for that run.

SCHEDULE CHANGES NEXT WEEK City Transit Division schedules change on Sunday, June 15. Among the major highlights of the summer pickings:

• ROUTE 8: Service will be reduced from every half hour to every hour between 10:00am and 2:00pm
  
• ROUTE 34: A bus-bridge will be deployed between 40 St Portal and 61 St/Baltimore Av due to track renewal. The bus-bridge will continue until August 8.
  
• ROUTE 37: Will officially become a bicycle accessible route.

More details will be posted when they become available. I would suspect, though, that most routes would see relatively minor changes due to the end of the school year in Philadelphia. Changes on the Red Arrow lines will be delayed until July 6.

PARATRANSIT CONTROVERSY IN MONTCO Yet another example of how picky SEPTA has become when it comes to dealing with disabled passengers. An article in this week's Montgomery Newspapers/North Penn Life details the story of Saul Burnstine, 63, of North Wales. Mr. Burnstine suffers from the after effects of an coma-enducing epileptic seizure, which makes walking difficult for him. Due to a quirk in SEPTA's ADA Paratransit borders, the Burnstines live just outside of the SEPTA Paratransit service area, forcing him to walk three blocks to a nearby 7-Eleven. The three block walk takes Mr. Burnstine nearly half an hour. So you'd think that SEPTA would try and accomodate this gentleman considering his health condition, right? Of course not. Now, here's where the quirks come in:

Burnstine insists she and her husband live in the service area and should get door-to-door service. And although Burnstine said she sees ParaTransit drive down nearby Maple Glenn Drive from her living room window, SEPTA officials still tell her she's out of their reach.

Making things even more interesting is that the Burnstines reportedly recieved a letter dated May 9th from Fearless Leader herself claiming that their house was not within the paratransit service area. That elicited a response from Montgomery Township officials:

James Mallon, assistant township manager of Montgomery Township, replied to Moore and SEPTA May 30, writing, "We are
aware of your present policies, but ask that you reconsider them under these unique circumstances."

Well, Mr. Mallon, good luck. As much as I'd like to see you succeed in your fight on behalf of the Burnstines, remember that this is SEPTA we're dealing with, not some non-profit human services organization.

Related article in Lansdale Intelligencer

TROLLEY/SCHOOL BUS COLLIDE An inbound 11 trolley collided with a school bus on Thursday near the start of the PM peak, injuring 5 trolley passengers. At 3:30pm, the vehicles struck at 64 St/Woodland Av. There had been no further details posted about the accident.

NEW GRETNA UPDATE The Press of Atlantic City reports that NJDOT and Burlington County officials are still trying to formulate a plan to accomodate stranded Route 559 passengers in the New Gretna section of Bass River Township, nearly 6 months after the 559 was diverted off of US 9 due to construction of the Bass River bridge. NJDOT officials are now saying it's up to either Burlington County or Bass River Township to come up with a solution. NJDOT officials had recently promised $25,000 towards shuttle service, however township officials are coming across some snags in their plans.

(Bass River Township Mayor Rich Bethea) said that possible shuttle service is complicated by several logistics, not limited to personnel, insurance, scheduling and putting a face on exacly who the town's ridership is now.

Maybe it's just me, but doesn't that seem like another example of NJ Transit's bias against South Jersey?

DISHING MORE DIRT ON NJT It appears that the City of Camden isn't the only one that's being used by NJ Transit as a staging area for dumping dirt from other townships and boroughs along the South Jersey Boondoggle Express. According to the Burlington County Times, Assemblyman Jack Conners (D-Pennsauken) is taking exception to dirt being dumped in the Roebling section of Florence Township:

"I request that your respective departments initiate plans to remove any contaminated soil from Florence and stop using the township as a dumping ground for soil from other communities along the line,'' he wrote (in a letter to NJ Transit).

It should be pointed out that Conners had been one of the more vocal critics of the entire project.

Meanwhile, in Camden, Assembly Majority Leader Joseph Roberts (D-Camden) is also taking shots at NJ Transit over dumping of dirt in his East Camden district. According tp the Cherry Hill Courier Post, Roberts has also demanded that dirt be removed from the East Camden site, sending off letters to NJDOT and the state's Department of Enviromental Protection.

LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL? The Philadelphia Inquirer reports in today's editions that there's an outside shot of Harrisburg restoring some of the funding cuts that led to the proposed Draconian Service Cuts. State Rep. Don Walko (D-20, Allegheny) is drafting legislation that would the nearly $16 million in statewide transit funding cuts. This, in effect, would restore the $15 million that SEPTA stood to lose in state aid and corresponding matching local aid. Walko has also been attempting to amend the Pennsylvania Constitution to allow gas tax revenues to be used by transit systems, a prohibition in effect since 1945. In Pennsylvania, both houses of the legislature must approve a resolution in two consecutive sessions before the amendment is placed on the ballot in a future election, which makes Walko's amendment proposal an uphill battle at best.

In addition to Walko's proposal, State Sen. Christine Tartaglione (D-2, Philadelphia) introduced a bill that would double the tire-sale tax to $2.00, and the car-rental tax to $4.00. Tartaglione's proposal would raise an additional $38 million for transit systems across the state. State Rep. Joseph Markosek (D-25, Allegheny/Westmoreland) also introduced a bill that would increase the cap on transit's share of sales tax revenue from $75 million to $93 million.

Yet, despite potential relief from Harrisburg, both SEPTA and the Port Authority of Allegheny County (which is suffering some severe budget problems of its own) are still being targeted by Republicans in Harrisburg to see what additional administrative costs can be pared in order to increase efficiency. To that end, former Amtrak financial executive Arlene Friner has been reviewing the financial records of both SEPTA and PAAC. In reality, all Ms. Friner has to do is get in touch with DVARP and other critics of SEPTA's current mis-management (including the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers) to find out where the waste within SEPTA exists.

CALL BOX UPDATE Three of the damaged emergency call boxes exposed in a scathing news report last month still remain out of service, according to today's editions of the Daily News. The two call boxes at the Girard Av El station and the 19 St subway-surface station remain out of order due to additional problems with the boxes. Despite SEPTA promises to affix stickers on the damaged boxes, only the 19 St box had such a sticker. Somehow, I doubt anyone at the Daily News took a look at the call boxes on the southbound platform at the City Hall subway station, since those boxes were still covered as of Sunday afternoon.

MORE FALLOUT OVER SOUTH JERSEY LRT In the latest black eye for NJ Transit, the Cherry Hill Courier Post noted in an editorial that NJ Transit planned to dump the equivalent of nearly 8,000 large dump trucks of contaminated soil in East Camden. Officials claimed that the soil came mostly from Camden, then later admitted that the soil in fact came from towns outside of the city. Doesn't it seem strange that NJ Transit's management tends to get dumber the further south of Trenton it goes?

ON THE OTHER HAND... For every Trenton-Camden LRT fiasco that occurs at NJ Transit, there's usually something along the line that actually improves the system in South Jersey - even though there are people in South Jersey who still think they get blown off by North Jersey. The new Vineland Regional Transportation Center officially opened last Wednesday, despite delays due to the rotten winter and funding issues. The new terminal replaces an obsolete location along Landis Avenue which had long been the source of operator complaints, due to its location. Operators had been forced to drop passengers off along Landis, which made for some very unsafe conditions. The new terminal includes a newsstand, clothing store, electornics/furniture store, and a modernized ticket office. A hair salon, day care center, taxi stand, and home-ownership/employee training office will open in the near future, adding to the mix of services offered. The Vineland Regional Transportation Center serves bus routes 313, 408, and 553.

P&W DEATH A 3-year-old Upper Darby boy was killed following an incident along the P&W last night. Brandon Davis was pronounced dead earlier today following an incident near the State Rd overpass in which he and a friend reportedly wandered unto the tracks. There was some confusion as to what exactly happened. According to KYW 3, a child reportedly told Upper Darby police that he and Davis were throwing rocks at the passing P&W trains at around 6:00pm last night, when the victim allegedly bent over to pick up a stone and was struck by an inbound train. This is where things get a little muddled. SEPTA's Minister of Dis-information Richard Maloney initially denied that it was a P&W train that struck Davis, according to the Delaware County Daily Times:

None of our operators reported hitting anything on the tracks. None of the passengers felt anything either. We are conducting a major investigation with the Upper Darby Police, but the circumstances are very unusual in this kind of case.

That's a far different story from what Upper Darby police are saying:

"We responded to a call for a child struck by a train," Detective Sgt. David Madonna said. "The child was on the train tracks with a friend."

Now, of course Maloney is paid to present a rosy picture of SEPTA's operations in general (see the way he and the rest of SEPTA's management have lost all credibility during the budget crisis), but this is getting ridiculous. Of course, I'm sure there are many in the upper levels of mis-management at 1234 Market who have some very bad memories of the Shareef Hall incident at the Cecil B Moore/Temple University station a few years ago (Cecil Bond - who amazingly is still on the SEPTA payroll even though he was AGM for Safety and Risk Management at the time - comes to mind), in which SEPTA covered up it's shoddy maintenance of its elevators. The end result was a massive lawsuit against SEPTA, resulting in a $51 million judgement (later reduced significantly on appeal).

Why bring the Cecil B Moore incident up? Because neighbors in the area near the P&W Yard adjacent to where the accident occurred have told several media outlets about a hole in a fence near the State Rd overpass. It was through that hole in which Davis and his friend, 4-year-old Jahlil Straughn, apparently passed through to reach the P&W right-of-way. Keisha Sutton, a resident of the neighborhood, told 6 ABC:

"(The holes have) been there a long time. People have been complaining about that big hole. Little kids will be up there playing on the tracks."

Of course, NOW SEPTA will likely take action in order to repair the fence. That's little comfort to Brandon Davis' family, who are now preparing for their son's burial instead of his 4th birthday - which would've been next month...

SCHUYLKILL VALLEY DE-RAILED? That appears to be the way things are going, according to the Pottstown Mercury. The article notes the planned reduction in federal matching funds from 80/20 (state/local match 20 percent) to 50/50 would potentially force Harrisburg, SEPTA, and the Berks Area Reading Transportation Authority (BARTA) to come up with half of the $1.8 billion (and rising) price tag. While the new formulas have not been approved by Congress yet, BARTA boss Dennis Louwerse, whose agency stands to lose nearly $2 million in operating assistance for day-to-day bus operations in Reading, offered this worst case scenario:

"No guaranteed funding and 50-50 would mean the death of the Schuylkill Valley Metro, barring a miracle."

Here's an idea. How about scaling back the project so it doesn't become the boondoggle that it appears to be becoming? Considering the costs for other passenger rail extentions across the country are coming in far less than what Schuylkill Valley would potentially cost, SEPTA, BARTA, and their enablers in this scheme (take a bow, Greater Valley Forge TMA Director Peter Quinn and the rest of the "SVM Coalition" who have taken an all or nothing approach to this project from day 1) may want to try designing a less ambitious project instead of risking political embarassment from Washington when the plug gets pulled on this project.

ANOTHER VOICE HEARD FROM Inquirer Architecture Critic Inga Saffron is the latest person to spin the potential impact of SEPTA's Draconian Service Cuts. Saffron's view is that SEPTA's cuts combined with an increase in parking decks within the Center City over the past 10 years (not to mention the botched DisneyQuest site at 8/Market, which is now - you guessed it - a parking lot) would significantly decrease any advantages Center City - and for that matter, Philadelphia as a whole - would have over suburban areas and even the rest of the nation. It is, to say the least, an interesting read.

AND YET ANOTHER ONE This week's Philadelphia Business Journal offers it's own editorial views on the SEPTA budget crisis, calling upon Harrisburg to send some consultants to find ways to reduce expenses without resorting to Draconian Service Cuts. Not so surprisingly, the editorial notes the following SEPTA position, which has been spun through the press ever since the Draconian Service Cuts were proposed:

SEPTA says it has left the door open to such a review, even as it denies there are better places to cut spending from. An independent evaluation would be useful about now.

They're kidding, right? Well, a good place to start would be laying off 200 employees, as SEPTA had promised to do as part of expense reductions (the Daily News reported recently that the layoffs would save nearly $10 million). Then, freeze the salaries of all remaining non-union (ie. management and other executives who are not covered by a collective bargaining agreement). I'm sure you can find about $5 million in savings if such employees delayed raises for a year or two.

The next step would be to reassign several bus routes to different depots to reduce deadhead mileage and to eliminate wasteful deadhead mileage on the remaining routes (don't even get me started on all of the buses that deadhead from Southern to starting points in North Philadelphia and to Overbrook Rail Station (G bus); not to mention the fact that the 89 runs out of Midvale even though the starting point for all runs are at Arrott Terminal, which is about 7 blocks south of Frankford Depot).

And finally, SEPTA needs to reform the Railroad Division, or at least the scheduling and line pairings. It seems wasteful to send a 5 car train to the Airport, then turn it around and run it to West Trenton or Warminster when such longer consists aren't really neccesary.

But, then again, why would SEPTA want to listen to logic?

MORE TOUGH TALK FROM COUNCIL Philadelphia City Councilman Darrell Clarke (D-5) is the latest member of City Council to jump on the anti-SEPTA management bandwagon. KYW 1060 reports that Clarke is floating around the idea of having the City of Philadelphia pull out of SEPTA and form it's own transit agency. As tempting an idea as it may be, there would be numerous potential roadblocks to such a plan, not the least of which is the frosty (at best) relationship between the City and lawmakers in Harrisburg. Then again, Emperor Street can't do any worse being in charge of transit within Philadelphia than Fearless Leader.

MORE FALLOUT FROM EXEC SESSION The SEPTA Board got another bashing in the press, this time in a Sunday Inquirer editorial criticizing the Board for it's recent executive session prior to the May 22nd Board meeting. Considering that this seems to be the way SEPTA has conducted business over the last 10-plus years, it would take a major turnover of the board membership (highly unlikely) to see any changes take place.

SANTORUM ON BOARD FOR QUAKERTOWN RAIL The Lansdale/Doylestown Intelligencer reports that in a recent visit to Northern Bucks County, U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) offered his support for restoring rail service to Quakertown. This comes a couple of months after fellow U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) also threw his support behind the project. Santorum indicated that support for Quakertown had to not only come from the communities to be served in Bucks and Montgomery Counties, but also by Harrisburg and by SEPTA. Milford Township Manager Jeff Vey offered a very pessimistic view of SEPTA's potential support:

"If it relies on SEPTA to back it, it's not going anywhere ... Its time has come."

I'm sure there are people along the US 422 corridor between King of Prussia and Reading who would share Mr. Vey's assessment.

ANOTHER FINE MESS IN NORTHWEST There's an interesting take on SEPTA's financial crisis in this week's Philadelphia City Paper. However, it appears that not everybody is as sold as others regarding the sorry state of leadership and a lack of accountability from Fearless Leader and the rest of her cronies at 1234 Market. Take Tom Hutt for example. Hutt represents the Northwest Campaign for Public Transportation, "a group of Germantown, Mount Airy and Chestnut Hill residents fighting the planned end of service on the R8 Chestnut Hill West line." Hutt told City Paper:

"We've decided to turn our attention to Harrisburg because ultimately it's not just SEPTA's mismanagement, but Harrisburg's lack of funding that has caused the proposed cuts."

Okay. Maybe Harrisburg hasn't been as supportive of transit systems in the Commonwealth as other states have been in the past. But before Harrisburg starts sending off blank checks to SEPTA, perhaps some management reform is in order. Given the sorry state of the Regional Rail system (an 84 percent on-time record, clearly among the worst in the nation), it appears that some "advocate groups" are oblivious to the fact that SEPTA's problems aren't directly tied to a lack of funding from Harrisburg, but rather a lack of competent operations people at 1234 Market. This site has repeatedly noted most (though not all) of the problems just on the operations side alone over the past few years, not to mention some very dubious decisions by management. Perhaps Mr. Hutt would like to review the news archives of this site from the past 2-3 years to get a better grip on the problems facing SEPTA.

ROUTE 207/WHIRL HEARING A public hearing is scheduled for Thursday, July 10 at the West Whiteland Municipal Building in Exton regarding the Route 207/Whirl service funded mainly by a CMAQ grant applied for by the township. The hearing, which begins at 1:30pm, will make permanent routing changes that took effect last year. Ridership has been dismal in recent months, due mainly to the stagnant job market.

COATESVILLE PLANNING AHEAD? The City of Coatesville is in the process of developing and building a new parking deck near the Amtrak station off 3 Av/Diamond St in the city's east end. The city sees the construction of the parking deck and potential renovation of the old rail station as a possible precursor to bringing the R5 - which currently ends at Thorndale - back to Coatesville and Parkesburg. Considering SEPTA's budget crisis and historic aversion to making ANY transit improvements in Chester County, I don't see that happening anytime soon.

MEDIA RESCHEDULES CRAFT FAIR Due to the inclement weather last Sunday, the Media Art Exhibit and Craft Fair was rescheduled for this Sunday, June 8. As a result, the 101 Media Trolley will terminate at Providence Rd/Bowling Green station, with a bus-bridge in effect between Bowling Green and Orange St. Incidentially, there's no notice about any bus-bridge on the SEPTA web site, which is nothing unusual.

AND ON A RELATED NOTE... It appears that the people responsible for setting schedules on the Broad Street Subway dropped the ball, as they usually seem to do. Despite the fact that the Phillies were playing a double-header against Montreal on Sunday which started at 1:05pm, the Sports Express trains were running as though the first pitch was at 1:35pm. It does make one wonder if somebody at SEPTA even had a clue that the time for the first pitch had changed. (Just remember three weeks ago when that parade along West Chester Pike fouled up the 104, 112, and 123 for most for most of the afternoon, but nobody bothered to post signs at the terminal or even send a supervisor out to the platforms.) Well, it's a good thing that only 36,000-plus passed through the turnstiles for both games, as I would suspect that a lot of people would've been squeezed like sardines if attendance was higher. (Side note: I highly doubt that there were 36,000 at the Vet on Sunday. Maybe most of them saw the first game, then left while others missed the first game and saw the second. It seemed the attendance was more like 20- to 25,000, but what do I know?)

ROADEO UPDATE The SEPTA Roadeo is still scheduled for Saturday, July 12. However, due to the "Summer Sanitarium" concert being held at the Vet on that day, this year's Roadeo will be held at the parking lot area of the Philadelphia Park racetrack in Bensalem. That seems like a rather odd - and transit unfriendly - location to hold a bus roadeo, but what do I know?

SCHEDULE CHANGES COMING SOON The City Transit Division schedule changes will take effect on Sunday, June 15; Red Arrow schedules will change on Sunday, July 6, even though the timetables will be dated June 15.

NEW FLYER PROBLEMS There have been a slew of problems with windows on the 5600 series New Flyers operating out of Midvale and Southern Depots, in what is believed to be the first significant problem with the low floors since arriving at SEPTA nearly 2 years ago. According to sources at Midvale, the entire fleet of New Flyers assigned there are being stored for the weekend, and will continue to be that way for the immediate short term. The problems stem from a lack of replacement windows and windshields to replace broken ones. At least 5 New Flyers - 5671, 5675, 5689, 5694, and 5707 - are confirmed to be out of service indefinitely due to damaged windows. This could lead to some lines that are supposed to be wheelchair accessible on weekends seeing some non-accessible 3000s. Southern is reportedly having similar issues with their 5600s, but the problem apparently isn't as widespread as it is at Midvale.

PSST ... CAN YOU KEEP A SECRET? A report in Thursday's Inquirer should come as no shock to those who've followed SEPTA regularly over the past several years. Jere Downs reports that the SEPTA Board discussed a possible fare increase in addition to those proposed during the executive session prior to last month's meeting. Throughout the article, several SEPTA Board members indicated that they did not want the draconian service cuts to take place (duh!), but at the same time floated the idea of increasing fares even further to avoid the cuts. The board reportedly asked staff to make three new financial outlooks, including fare hikes to avoid any cuts, fare hikes to allow for "minimal cuts" and the possibility of allowing SEPTA to carry a deficit past the end of the fiscal year (June 30) pending funding relief from Harrisburg. This sounds like shades of two years ago, when SEPTA proposed the base fare increase of $1.90 during the public hearings, then turned around and hiked it to $2.00 on the day the budget was adopted. Apparently, streamlining operations was not one of those options, but considering the lack of competence that Chief Operations Officer Patrick Nowakowski displays, not to mention the virtual invisibility of Fearless Leader during the entire process, why wouldn't SEPTA try a back door approach to raising the base fare?