SEPTA FLEET NEWS ARCHIVES

July-September 2000

September 13, 2000

• The proposed Annual Service Plan changes will take effect with the October 30 schedule change. For the most part, the entire plan was approved as originally submitted. In addition to the approved changes, Route 94 express service will be redesignated Route 134, however, the schedules will not change per se. The proposed new Route 303 will apparently not take effect right away, if at all. A review will be posted in a couple of weeks.

  Some of the ex-Allegheny 3300s and 3400s which were sent to Midvale within the past few months have been reassigned to Callowhill and Southern. Presumably, this would fill the complement of wheelchair accessible buses needed on Route 2 (Southern) and 31 (Callowhill), however, some non-accessible 3200s from Southern have been seen filling trips on the 17, which has been an accessible line for many years. Also, some Midvale 3000s have seen service on the 2, despite it's new status as part of the wheelchair route system.

  It appears that the Volvos will not be seeing service on the 23 after all. Most of the Midvale assigned runs have been using the 3000s. In another interesting fleet note, I have noticed that some NABIs are seeing more service on the L and an occasional trip or two on the 57.

  Southbound service on Routes 9, 27, 61X, 124, and 125 are being diverted off of I-76 due to road work at the City Av interchange with I-76. The 9, 61X, 124, and 125 are operating via Ridge Av, 33 St, Girard Av, 34 St, and Market St, then on route to Center City. The 27 follows a similar detour, operating via Ridge Av, 33 St, Girard Av, 29 St, Pennsyvlania Av, Spring Garden St, and Broad St. (Updated 09.14.00)

  Add two more public hearings to the calendar. The first of these hearings concerns making the new Route 80 express between Olney and Horsham Twp permanent. That hearing will take place on Thursday, October 12 at the Prudential Home Office, located at 2101 Welsh Rd in Upper Dublin.

  A public hearing is set for Friday, October 20 at 2:00pm at the Holiday Inn at 10 St & Packer Av in South Philadelphia. This hearing will be held to make permanent the temporary routing of Route 68 via Penrose Av. The reason for the rerouting was the closure of a nearby housing project at Hartranft St and Penrose Ferry Rd.

  The SEPTA photo gallery is presenly closed so I can do a quality check on the current photos. I hope to have the photos back online within the next 2-3 weeks.

September 6, 2000

• The Market-Frankford shuttle buses will return starting this weekend and continuing through early November. SEPTA is installing the Automatic Train Control system on the Frankford El segment and will continue to rebuild stations at Church, Erie-Torresdale, Allegheny, Huntingdon, and Berks.
  For the next four weekends, local shuttles will operate via Frankford and Kensington Avs between Frankford Terminal and Spring Garden. Starting on the weekend of October 6, local shuttle service will operate between 5 St and Frankford Terminal. The weekend local shuttle service will begin at 8:00pm on the Friday of the shutdowns and continue until 5:00am the following Monday. Market Frankford Night Owl bus service would still operate during its regular hours.
  In addition, Saturday and Sunday express bus service between 15 St and Frankford Terminal via I-95 and Bridge St will operate from 6:30am to 8:00pm during the weekends the Frankford El is closed. All trains will be operating between 69 St Terminal and Spring Garden/5 St, so Market St El service is not effected.

  The planned cutback of Route 9 and extension of Route 35 between Summit Loop and Andorra is on hold for now and may be implemented either later this year or considered as part of the FY2002 Annual Service Plan.

  Schedules for all of the CTD and Red Arrow routes changed over the weekend. Here is a listing of the major changes on the SEPTA system:

  • Routes 14 and R will see added weekday trips between 7:00pm and 10:00pm.
  • Route 18 will see service headway adjustments with the introduction of the Neoplan articulated buses to the line.
  • Route 23 will see two new weekday morning peak hour trips between 10 & Bigler Sts and Center City.
  • Route 37 will see new direct weekday service to the Boeing facility in Ridley Twp.
  • Route 40 will see two overnight trips extended from 49 St & Parkside Av to Conshohocken & Monument Rds.
  • Route 100 will see the elimination of some weekday evening Bryn Mawr to 69 St Terminal locals between 7:00pm and 11:00pm due to the re-construction of the Eagle Rd bridge over the P&W tracks.
  • Route 103 will see the elimination of the 8:50am trip between Ardmore and 69 St Terminal.
  • Route 104 will see adjustments in the PM peak schedule, including the ill-timed conversion of the 5:42pm West Chester Express to Local service.
  • Routes 105 and 106 will now operate to Suburban Square and the Ardmore Regional Rail Station (R5 Thorndale) in Lower Merion.
  • Route 109 will see several added trips to serve Springfield Mall. The current 6:50am Sunday departure from Chester Terminal to 69 St will now leave at 6:45am in order to improve connections to other Red Arrow routes.
  • Route 110 will see the cancellation of one late evening Granite Run to 69 St Terminal trip.
  • Route 115 will be detoured over the Route 103 busway during the re-construction of the Eagle Rd bridge.
  • Route 117 will see added weekday service between Chester Terminal and the I-95 Industrial Park in Chester Twp.

  In addition, Routes 2, 9, 27, 31, 48, 60, and 88 are now officially part of the SEPTA Accessible Route Network, which means that all trips will use wheelchair accessible buses (ie. the 3252 and up Neoplan 40-footers, NABIs, or Neoplan artics). The new timetables feature Midvale NABI #5173 on layover from a C bus run at 15 & Market Sts (most CTD routes); Allegheny artic #7145 (routes assigned artic buses) at the Penn's Landing loop on layover after a 33 trip; Southern NABI #5376 (Red Arrow routes); and Southern ETB #819 (it looks like the picture was taken near the Southern Depot, but I can't tell for sure). The Subway-Surface and Media/Sharon Hill schedules are set to change on September 10.

  A public hearing is set of Friday, September 29 at 2:00pm at the Holiday Inn at 10 St & Packer Av in South Philadelphia. The hearing will be held to make permanent the surface bus routing of Route 23. The 23 had been a streetcar line until 1992, when the line was "temporarily" converted to bus. The bus routing operates to the Oregon Av Subway Station, as opposed to the LRT routing at Bigler St between 10 & Marvine Sts. The routing is subject to change when (more like if) streetcar service returns to the 23.

  There has been no word on the arrival of the ElDorado National 30-foot buses, though that may occur either by the end of the year or early next year.

August 25, 2000

• City and Red Arrow schedules are set to change over the Labor Day weekend. Most of the Annual Service Plan proposals and other changes affecting CTD routes will be implemented on September 3; the Red Arrow routes change on Labor Day, September 4. More details will follow shortly.

  Southern #3179 is out of service following an accident on S 58 St near Springfield in Southwest Philadelphia. By all accounts in the news, the driver of the car that swerved into 3179 was killed, and 12 others - including the operator - were injured. 3179 was operating on the G route towards West Philadelphia at the time. No word on whether the bus will be repaired or scrapped.

August 16, 2000

• Now that the Republican National Convention is over, at least 15 Volvo artics which were rehabbed to cover Routes 9, 27, 48, and 60 while the Neoplan artics were on Convention charters will be assigned to Midvale and will be tentatively assigned to Route 23 exclusively. Speaking of the convention, by all accounts, SEPTA appeared to operate with very few problems, save for the unexpected delays and detours due to the morons (I mean, protesters) who were hell bent on disrupting the city and possibly the Convention. SEPTA reports that no trips were cancelled, despite the traffic delays caused by the protests near City Hall. I would publicly dare LACMTA to be able to do the same during this week's Democratic National Convention.

  There are possible routing changes on the 9 and 35 routes planned, possibly as early as the September picking. Route 9 would now terminate at Summit Loop (Ridge Av) while Route 35 would be extended from Ridge Av and Fountain St in Roxborough to Andorra via the current Route 9 routing. The 35 would now lay over at Wissahickon Transfer Center instead of the current Ridge and Fountain location.

  New Flyer pilot bus #5401 is expected to be on SEPTA property by the end of the month. #5401 will be tentatively assigned to Callowhill Routes 21 and 42 and Southern Route 17 during the 90 day test period. It is expected that the rest of the delivery will take place sometime early next year.

  Other systems in the area are also getting new buses. You may have noticed that NJ Transit recieved some new NovaBUS 30- and 40-foot RTS buses over the past year. In this area, most of the newer 40-footers (1000-1572) are running in Atlantic City, with the 1994 Flxible Metro D Transit buses being sent to Newton Avenue Garage in Camden. Newton Avenue also recieved some 40-foot RTS buses from the 2600-2775 series and some brand new 30-foot RTS buses. Washington Township garage also recieved some 30-foot RTS buses. The RTS buses are often seen on the #400 short turn trips to Audubon, #406, and rush hour trips on the #409 and #413 runs, in addition to most of the 450-series routes in South Jersey.

  DART First State will also be getting some new buses. Seven Gillig low-floor buses (#101-107) are slated to be on the property shortly, if they aren't already. #104 was on display at the SEPTA Roadeo this past June.

July 25, 2000

• SEPTA is planning to have its operators report to their respective districts for GOP Convention related pullouts instead of having all buses sent to one district. The buses would then be inspected and swept by the Secret Service at one of three staging areas before being put into service. Details are as follows:

  • SEPTA will use 125 wheelchair lift-equipped buses (the Neoplan artics and NABIs) pulled from all eight SEPTA Depots
  • SEPTA will be exclusively operating 10 of the GOP Shuttle bus routes and share service on 2 others with private carriers. The remaining 9 will be operated by exclusively private carriers. These routes are for delegates and other accredited personel only.
  • The staging areas for the buses will be at the King of Prussia mall at Lot 46B, Broad St & Washington Av, and at the Navy Yard.
  • Market-Frankford El and Broad Street Subway trains will operate until 1:15am. In addition, two 5-car protect trains and two 2-car police trains will be on standby.
  • 11 trips will be added all Regional Rail lines, except the R1 Airport and R6 Cynwyd lines. Added cars will be put on the R1 during delegate arrival and departure times.

• During the convention, Route 17 service along Pattison Av will be detoured. In addition, watch for detours along Chestnut between 3rd and 6th Sts, affecting the 9, 21, 38, 42, 44, and 121. Part of Packer Av will also be closed, so there may be a detour on the 68.

July 18, 2000

• The SEPTA Board is set to approve the FY 2001 Annual Service Plan next week. Most of the proposed changes will be recommended for approval. However, some changes to the original plan are being offered, including:

  • North Philadelphia Station on the R8 Chestnut Hill West has been spared from closing, thanks in part to the efforts of The Delaware Valley Association of Rail Passengers and the City of Philadelphia
  • Headways on the R7 Chestnut Hill West and R8 Fox Chase Lines will be reduced from 120 minutes to 60 minutes; the original plan was to operate 90 minute headways on both R8 branches, reducing service on the Chestnut Hill East segment, and 60 minute headways on the R7 Chestnut Hill East line to pair that line with the Trenton branch
  • Newark Station on the R2 Marcus Hook line will be re-zoned from Zone 5 to Zone 6. Apparently, this is being done that the request of the State of Delaware, and was not covered at the original hearings.

Once the SEPTA Board gives its approval, the City Division changes will take place in early September, while Suburban changes would take effect in October.
• SEPTA is tentatively set to approve an order for 12 low floor diesel-hybrid buses (DE40LF) from New Flyer. The 2 pilot buses would arrive on SEPTA property in February 2000, with the remaining 10 production buses scheduled on or before March 2003. An option for an additional 20 such buses is also included in the contract. For more information on the New Flyer DE40LF, follow this link.

April 2002 Archives
March 2002 Archives
January-February 2002 Archives
November-December 2001 Archives
October 2001 Archives
September 2001 Archives
August 2001 Archives
July 2001 Archives
June 2001 Archives
April-May 2001 Archives
March 2001 Archives
January-February 2001 Archives
October-December 2000 Archives
July-September 2000 Archives
April-June 2000 Archives
January-March 2000 Archives
October-December 1999 Archives
June-September 1999 Archives

Comments about this page can be emailed to ctrabs@hotmail.com.

Return to SEPTA Fleet News Archives Page

Return to Main SEPTA Page

Page re-launched Wednesday, 29 May 2002

DISCLAIMER: This page is not an official site of the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority, its agents, contractors or affiliates, or any of the above listed transit systems listed herein. Appearance of this page does not represent approval, endorsement, or recognition by the aforementioned companies or agencies.