SEPTA FLEET NEWS ARCHIVES
January-February 2001
February 26, 2001
A 5th bus boarding platform is being added at 69 St Terminal at the South (Market St) Terminal area. This is apparently to accomodate the increased service on the 108. The 65 is temporarily boarding and unloading at South Terminal due to construction at North Terminal.
- Egg Harbor is the latest South Jersey garage to get the new MCI D4000 cruiser buses. The Egg Harbor buses, numbered in the 7700s, have been spotted at the Greyhound terminal in Center City Philadelphia operating on the 551 to Atlantic City.
February 13, 2001
There is now an explaination as to why the 77 has seen an artic from time to time. Apparently, in a scheduling snafu, SEPTA has paired one of the 77 runs with the 22, which uses artics.
- The ElDorados are starting to see more regular revenue service. #4508-4513 are in the LUCY livery and used on that line. Most of the LUCY ElDorados (except 4510) have bike racks installed, however 4510 does have a support structure in place to hold a bike rack. In addition to 4514, 4518 is also at Frontier, operating on the 206 between Paoli and Great Valley.
- It appears that all of the NJT Eagle AE-20 buses assigned to Newton Av garage in Camden have been pulled from service. The new D4000 cruiser coaches have been running mostly on the 317, 409, 413, and 419 lines. The 317 and 409 Trenton trips almost always saw an Eagle; now the D4000s pull these trips. The Nova RTS-6B buses pretty much stayed in South Jersey today, as the 404, 405, and 407 - where the Novas are often spotted - saw Flxibles.
February 11, 2001
SEPTA schedules in the city and suburbs change today. Among the highlights:
- Route 1: Added PM and late night service between the IRS Bldg on Roosevelt Blvd and Wissahickon Transfer Center
- Route 14: Saturday 5:25am trip from Frankford Terminal extended to Neshaminy Mall
- Route 18: Added trips during AM and PM rush hours
- Route 20: Saturday 5:58am and 6:58am departures from Frankford Terminal extended to Franklin Mills Mall to provide connections with Route 130
- Route 27: Weekday 5:34pm trip from Broad and Washington to Barren Hill extended to Plymouth Meeting Mall
- Route 31: Saturday/Sunday 1:12am trip from City Hall extended to 76 St and City Av
- Route 44: Weekend service between Center City and Ardmore will be altered to have service alternate via Narberth or Haverford & Montgomery Avs
- Route 52: Added peak hour short turn trips from 52 St & Baltimore Av to 48 St & Parkside Av loop
- Route 56: AM Peak service will see added departures from 23 St & Venango loop at 6:41am and 8:25am
- Route 80: A new stop is established at Fitzwatertown and Jenkintown Rds in Upper Moreland to allow connections with Route 98
- Route 100: Weekday morning service will see a new trip from 69 St Terminal to Norristown departing at 5:36am and a new 69 St to Bryn Mawr trip leaving at 9:12am; operating times will be adjusted after 7:00pm
- Route 105: The 6:20am departure from Ardmore will now originate at 63 St & Malvern loop at 6:44am
- Route 108: New weekday 5:40am departure from 69 St to 67 St & Elmwood; 4:25am departure from 69 St now departs at 4:15am
- Route 110: New weeknight 11:20pm express trip from Granite Run Mall to 69 St Terminal
- Route 119: New 11:10pm trip from Franklin Mint to Granite Run Mall; this trip continues as the 110; transfer to 117 is required to reach Chester
- Route 120: Weekday mid-day shuttle service from West Chester Pk & Chester Rd to Cheyney University discontinued
- Broad Street OWL: Weekday service is supposed to be improved with added trips between Oregon and Erie Avs, however the timetables do not reflect these changes
- ElDorado #4514 is apparently now being tested at Frontier. On Saturday, February 10, 4514 was spotted on the 130 between Franklin Mills and Bucks County College.
- There are still reports of artics being used on the 77. Since the buses scheduled to go to Midvale will be the last ones to arrive on SEPTA property, this crazy assignment may continue.
- New Flyer #5401 has apparently been sent over to Callowhill for testing after spending a few weeks at Southern. Reportedly, this bus is being used on the 38, in addition to the plans to use it on the 21 and 42. If the current plans are still in place, Red Arrow should be seeing 5401 in a few weeks.
February 3, 2001
NJ Transit is sending it's new MCI D4000 cruiser coaches to South Jersey after all. At least three have been spotted in the area - 7555 was spotted in Center City, while 7562 was spotted heading westbound (towards Camden) on NJ 38. A third one was reportedly spotted on the Ben Franklin Bridge, operating on the #419 River Rd line. This batch is apparently being sent to Newton Av garage in Camden to replace the Eagle AE-20 buses.
January 31, 2001
Neoplan artic #7117 is out of service after it caught fire on the 27 on Tuesday, January 30. It is now at the Berridge shops awaiting repairs.
- ElDorado #4514 is reportedly being tested at Red Arrow, presumably on the 107 or 111. There are presently 14 ElDorados on SEPTA property, with the remaining 13 assigned to Germantown. 4514 will return to Germantown after it's stint at Red Arrow.
- Apparently, the New Flyers will arrive sometime this summer. In addition to being sent to Callowhill and Southern, some of the new buses will be sent to Red Arrow. Likely candidates for the New Flyers to see service include the 104, 108, 110, 113, and 114, though most likely, they will see service initially on the 104 due to it's straight shot between terminals.
January 30, 2001
The New Flyer order is apparently being delayed for some unknown reason. This is only the latest vehicle procurement that has been marred by a delay in the delivery of the vehicle. No firm date has been set for the arrival of these buses.
- The following public hearings are scheduled for February:
- Monday, February 12: Route 314 route modification offering direct service to the State Farm Automobile Insurance offices in Concord Twp. 4:30pm, State Farm Insurance Company, 1 State Farm Dr (NE Corner of US 1 & US 202), Visitor's Entrance.
- Friday, February 16: Route 95 route modification offering direct service into the Philadelphia Newspapers, Inc. plant in Upper Merion Twp, thus eliminating a small segment of routing along River Rd. 2:00pm, Swedeland Volunteer Fire Company Social Room, 609 A St, Upper Merion.
- Thursday, February 22: Abandonment of Routes 301 and 302; extension of Route 24 to Upper Southampton Twp, and permanent extension of Route 130 to Gloria Dei Manor in Newtown Twp and to Country Commons in Bensalem Twp. An arbitrator recently ruled that SEPTA must end the subcontracting of the 301/302, presently operated by Lion Tours, by April 1. Route 301's performance standards has been predictably horrible, while 302, the stronger of the former Fox Chase/Newtown shuttles, will be merged into the 24, since the 24 already operates as far north as Lower Moreland. 7:00pm, Newtown Twp Municipal Bldg, 100 Municipal Dr.
January 24, 2001
There are major changes in boarding locations at Frankford Terminal starting Monday, January 29. This is to accomodate the reconstruction of Frankford Terminal, which would block access to the bus lanes facing Frankford Av located directly underneath the El. Boarding locations are as follows:
- Routes 3 and 5: Board on Griscom St alongside the SEPTA parking lot; drop off at Frankford Av & Pratt St near Thriftway.
- Route 14, 19, 20, 58, 67, 88: Board on Bustleton Av alongside the cemetary; drop off on Bridge St alongside the Terminal.
- Route 25, 26, 73, 84: Board on Bustleton Av alongside the SEPTA parking lot; drop off at Bridge St & Frankford Av alongside Walgreen's.
- Route 8, 24, and R: Board on Pratt St alongside the terminal (no change in current location for 24 and R); drop off at Pratt St & Frankford Av near Thriftway.
- Route 66: NO CHANGE.
January 22, 2001
Yet another strange bus assignment. On Saturday, January 20, Neoplan BP #1325 was spotted in service on the 130 between Franklin Mills and Newtown Boro. This is unusual because Frontier hasn't had a Neo BP assigned there in nearly three years. The excuse has long been that the buses couldn't handle the stress on the PA Turnpike when traveling from the yard in Plymouth Twp to Bucks County. Well, I guess it can handle getting to Northeast Philadelphia, can't it?
- In recent weeks, some NABIs have been seeing service on the H/XH lines. This is an unusual move since there are narrow passings at Mt Pleasant Av and Lincoln Dr, and the narrow width of 16 St near Erie, where the H/XH loop in order to reach Broad and Erie. A telephone pole on Mt Pleasant has a major indentation, reportedly from a NABIs curb side mirror.
- New Flyer #5401 is already in testing service on the 17 out of Southern. The rest of the bus order is due to start arriving on SEPTA property this summer. One of the reports says that there is a rear destination sign on the New Flyer bus. If so, this would mark the first such order since the failed rear sign experiment on Red Arrow Neo DK #3122-3131.
- Route 99 is being rerouted through Henderson Square in Upper Merion at the corner of DeKalb Pk and N Henderson Rd.
- The ElDorado buses are starting to arrive. At present, at least 11 of these new 30-ft buses are at Germantown, which will get the first 14 new buses (#4501-4514). Frontier and Red Arrow will get the next 55 buses (#4515-4569), with Midvale to get the rest (#4570-4580). At Midvale and Red Arrow, the 4500s will replace the ailing 35-ft Neo BP coaches, while the Germantown and Frontier order will probably replace the Breeze II coaches.
The Germantown allotment will most likely see service on the Route 310/311 Breeze service and the 316 LUCY loop in University City. At Red Arrow, these new buses will be used on the 107, 111, 116, and 305, and perhaps on the 103 and 106 as well. Frontier will probably assign these buses to the 92, 95, 127, 128, 129, 130, 133, 203, and 304. Additionally, these buses might show up on the Norristown hub routes on Sundays (save for 96 and 99) and on a few 201 and 206 trips. The Midvale assigned buses will run on the 35, 77, and possibly the 89. It's also reported that once the 28 is sent over from Comly to Midvale this summer, the Eldorados will go there too.
January 12, 2001
File this one under "I'm not making this up." Yesterday (January 11), Neo artic #7249 was spotted in service on Old York Rd and Township Line Rd on the Abington/Cheltenham township line...operating as a Route 77 between Northeast Philadelphia and Chestnut Hill. Considering that the 77 will be first in line for the new 30-ft ElDorados, this is a weird operating move.
- And then, there's the story of #7117. Apparently, the console that controls the automatic stop announcements was not working, because the sign displayed on 7117 while on Broad St read "127 Morrell Park". The 127 doesn't serve Morrell Park, the 129 does. The operator must have tried to punch in a line code for the 27, but out popped the 127 instead. And you wonder why I hate the TwinVision signs...
- If I can be serious for a moment... The Transport Workers Union Local 234 is now back under the control of former Local 234 president (and current TWU International VP) Harry Lombardo. This came after a federal judge ruled that the International office of the TWU had cause to remove current Local 234 honcho Steve Brookens. The good news is that the possibilities of a crippling strike may have decreased. The bad news is that the contract negotiations for City Transit operators is just getting started now.
- Phase 2 of the Bucks County route improvement plan will take effect on Monday, January 15. This involves new Routes 203 and 304, a routing change for Route 129, and a routing change to Route 130 in Newtown Boro and Twp.
January 2, 2001
A public hearing is scheduled for Friday, January 12 at 2:00 pm to solicit comments on the status of Route 122 between Chester and the UPS Air Hub in Tinicum. The hearing will be held at the Sheraton Suites hotel, 4101 Island Av, Philadelphia. At present, there is only 1 round trip on the 122, which is timed to transports Chester City residents to the UPS Air Hub for the third shift.
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