SEPTA FLEET NEWS ARCHIVES
January-February 2002
February 6, 2002
- As suspected, bus services along West Chester Pike was impacted by the funeral procession for Upper Darby Twp Ofc. Dennis McNamara today. While West Chester Pike was closed, several bus routes were rerouted via State Rd and Lansdowne Av to West Chester Pike or via the 105 routing via 75 St, Woodbine Av, and 77 St to Township Line Road. Buses were running several minutes behind schedule departing and arriving 69 St Terminal. There were no supervisors at the platforms to notify passengers of any detours when I was at 69 St Terminal at around 10:30am. Route 115 service was back on it's regular routing by 2:15pm.
- It looks as though the bus shortage at Red Arrow is slowly being resolved, as several City Division buses from Southern and Midvale were spotted in the wash line at the Victory Av depot.
February 5, 2002
- Several SEPTA bus routes will be affected due to tomorrow's funeral for Upper Darby Twp Police Officer Dennis McNamara, which will be held at Upper Darby High School on Lansdowne Av. Lansdowne Av will be closed between Garrett and State Rds between 8:30am and 2:30pm, which will impact 115 service. There is no word on the detour route which will be utilized. Delays can also be expected on Routes 110 and 111, since both routes operate in the vicinity of Lansdowne Av and State Rd. In the event that a funeral procession passes by the Upper Darby Twp Police Headquarters on West Chester Pike, expect all West Chester Pike corridor services (103, 104, 110, 111, 112, 120, and 123) to encounter delays.
- SEPTA's groundhogs must have seen their shadows this past weekend, as there will be six more weekends of bus bridges on the west end of the Market-Frankford line between 30 St and 69 St. West end bus service will resume on the weekend of February 9/10, February 16/17, February 23/24, March 2/3, March 9/10, and March 16/17.
- Broad Street Line service will be adjusted for the next 4 weekends between Olney and Girard due to a rail project. Southbound trains will operate on the express track between Olney and Girard, stopping only at Erie and North Philadelphia. Southbound subway passengers en route to Logan, Wyoming, Hunting Park, Allegheny, Susquehanna-Dauphin, and Cecil B. Moore will be required to either transfer to the C bus at Olney or transfer to northbound local trains at either Erie (for Hunting Park, Wyoming, and Logan), North Philadelphia (for Allegheny), or Girard (for Susquehanna-Dauphin and Cecil B. Moore). These patterns will also be in effect between 9:00pm and the start of NiteOwl bus service on weeknights. Additional service will be added on the C bus to accomodate extra ridership.
- Three public hearings will be held on the extension of the R6 Norristown line to Reading and Wyomissing (also known by it's "official" name - the Schuylkill Valley Metro) next month. The hearings will be held at the Upper Merion Twp Municipal Building on Tuesday, March 5, at SEPTA Headquarters (1234 Market, Philadelphia) on Wednesday, March 6, and at the Reading Area Community College's Yocum Library (30 Front St, Reading). All hearings will be held from 4:00pm to 7:00pm. This is a link to the official hearing notice.
- Schedules on the City and Red Arrow routes will change this weekend, with most City schedules changing on Sunday, February 10 and some City Routes (1, 8, 19, and 80) and all Red Arrow routes will change on Monday, February 11.
January 31, 2002
- There may be some more bus route swaps in the near future, namely the Summer schedule change in June. One rumor floating around has the 1, 26, and/or R trips assigned to Frankford being moved to Midvale, though 1 trips presently assigned to Frankford could go to Callowhill. If some R trips are sent to Midvale, the good news is that the often overcrowded line could occasionally see a Neoplan artic. The bad news is that the R could also see an occasional ElDorado (as was the case YET AGAIN on the 18 yesterday).
- The $1.00 fare for the ridership challenged Route 200/Center City Shopping Spree will be reinstated on February 11, when City and Red Arrow schedules will change for the Spring pick. The Center City District is offering funding to make this fare possible. Whether or not it is successful remains to be seen.
- The Pennsylvania Department of Revenue purchased two full wraps for SEPTA buses. Callowhill 5025 and a Southern NABI (number has yet to be confirmed) are the two buses wrapped to promote the Commonwealth's "Tax Back" program.
- Speaking of advertisments, SEPTA is slowly starting to add side and rear ads to the New Flyers. Southern 5497 has a curb-side ad for Verizon's long distance phone service, while at least one Callowhill Flyer has a rear ad.
January 25, 2002
January 15, 2002
- Service on the R7 Trenton line was delayed between 30-60 minutes during the AM rush hour due to a trespasser being killed by an Acela train early this morning. The incident occured near Holmesburg Junction.
- Evening service on the 92/133 last Thursday was yet another sloppy effort on SEPTA's part. The 7:40pm 92 trip from Exton Square Mall to West Chester (208 block) never arrived. The excuse given by SEPTA was the the driver was "lost". The replacement bus arrived at Exton Mall about 20 minutes late for the 8:40pm trip. Also, the 6:20pm from West Chester to King of Prussia (a 92/133 throughroute; 206 block) bypassed Market & New Sts, where passengers were waiting. Did SEPTA even bother to train these drivers on the 92/133 in the first place?
January 14, 2002
- Allegheny 7147 is out of service indefinitely due to major accident damage incurred on Sunday while operating on the El Shuttle. There's no word as to whether this was on the local or express routing or if where the accident occured. The rear of the bus suffered some damage, while the "accordion" middle section of 7147 was ripped.
- Red Arrow 5296 was involved in an accident this afternoon on West Chester Pike just west of Sproul Road in Broomall. 5296 was westbound on West Chester Pike as the 2:30pm 104 to West Chester (15 block). No replacement bus was sent out, and passengers on the 2:30pm trip travelling west of Newtown Square were squeezed onto the 3:00pm to West Chester.
- The 11:00am 113 to Marcus Hook ran about 20 minutes late this morning. Apparently the original bus assigned to that block was taken out of service, which caused delays on that run throughout the day. The 12:30pm return trip was running about 15 minutes late, while the 2:00pm to Marcus Hook left 69 St Terminal about 8 minutes late.
- This month, SEPTA's weekly and monthly passes are featuring pictures of SEPTA's vehicles. Last week's passes featured a P&W car; this week's passes are of the subway-surface cars, probably on Woodland approaching the 40 St Portal. Oddly enough, the January Cross-County pass has a picture of the failed MetroTrans bus #4501. I'm surprised SEPTA didn't pay more attention to that one...
January 13, 2002
- On Saturday, SEPTA operated at least 5 extra trains on the Broad Street Subway in order to accomodate the extra Eagles, Flyers, Phantoms, and motocross traffic at the Sports Complex. Although 9 runs were added prior to the Eagles game, 5 trains were used, with the first four trippers returning to Fern Rock, then returning to Pattison. The 5th tripper was stored at Pattison. Two other trains were also stored at Pattison and two more stored at Walnut-Locust. Additionally, SEPTA operated shuttles between the Navy Yard satellite parking lot and Veterans Stadium for the Eagles blowout of Tampa Bay.
- SEPTA is currently looking into leasing a 35 foot platform truck for use by the light rail and trackless trolley maintenance units. At the present time, only one such truck is available for all catenary maintenance within the City of Philadelphia, including Girard Av, Subway-Surface, and trackless routes.
- A SEPTA T-Car was involved in an accident on the 6900 block of Market St in Upper Darby on Wednesday. This was a similar accident situation to the one 5308 encountered last week.
- The New Flyers are showing up on the 12 on weekends. The 12 has long been a Neoplan stronghold, as it was only within the past few weeks that an occasional NABI would show up on that line.
- Midvale has done it again. ElDorado 4572 appeared on a northbound C trip (817 block) yesterday morning heading to Ogontz Loop.
- Callowhill 5412 suffered a fuel leak at Germantown and Chelten last week. 5412 was preparing to operate as an inbound 65 to 69 St Terminal when the incident occured.
- While this has been on the schedule for quite some time now, the 104 5:06pm Newtown Square Corporate Campus to 69 St Terminal - which operates express from Sproul Road - carried only 2 or 3 passengers the other day, while the 4:35pm 104 out of West Chester was nearly a standing load, and arriving about 10 minutes late. Didn't someone at SEPTA realize that the West Chester trips should be run as expresses and not as locals?
January 8, 2002
- On Saturday, Red Arrow 5308 was involved in a minor accident at 69 St & Chestnut in Upper Darby. 5308 was en route to 69 St Terminal as a 108 when a car pulled out and was struck on the side, causing damage to the drivers side mirror. 5308 was able to return to service shortly after the accident, and was only about 2 minutes late for the 6:15pm trip to 67 St/Elmwood Av.
- Rumors are once again floating around that SEPTA may test an MCI D4501 cruiser for use on the 123, 124, and 125. Nothing has been set in stone yet, but this rumor seems to be more feasible than it was about 2 years ago when the rumor was first floated around.
- Many Red Arrow buses which did not have the yellow "CAUTION: FREQUENT STOPS AND WIDE TURNS" tape are finally getting them applied to the rear engine cover. It only took about 4 years for most of the rest of the NABI and the handful of Neos which didn't have this tape to finally get them. Most of the 5300s (including 5311, 5315, 5317, 5319, and 5321) and 3100s (including 3122) without the tape have recieved them thus far.
January 3, 2002
- The El Shuttles are back. For the next five weekends, Frankford El service will operate as shuttle buses between 15 St and Frankford Terminal. Local buses via Market, Front, and Kensington will operate, as will the express buses via Market, I-95, and Bridge St. SEPTA has decided to issue a special pink transfer for those connecting between the El and the shuttles at 15 St.
- For those who missed it, a high speed chase ended in a wreck on the 30 St offramp from 76 West on Tuesday. Following the accident, the suspect fled into SEPTA's Powelton Rail Yard and was found hiding in one of the Silverliner cars. Isn't it heartwarming that SEPTA has done a fantastic job maintaining security at its bus and rail storage facilities?
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