Month: October 2005

The Transit workers of the City, Frontier, and Victory divisions went on strike as of 12:01 AM this morning. Stranded Riders are flocking to SEPTA’s Regional Rail Lines and Cars while others are getting where they need to go by bike and foot. As of now there are no talks planned between the Unions and SEPTA.

2 of SEPTA’s 1999 Ford/Coach and Car Cutaways have been confirmed to still be service. 2056 and 2057 were reported to be retired a few months back are being used as spares for Route 312 (the Cornwells Heights parking lot shuttle). These buses were once leased out to Phlash and were painted in there Purple Livery, Both vehicles are now in full SEPTA livery.

There are now appx 30 8000 series in service 8027 has been spotted on the Route 17 recently. On a related note, Southern is starting to put the 8000 series on other routes as well. These routes are 2, 17, 64, 37, 108, G, and the route C.

Recently it appears that SEPTA has started a practice which the New York City Metropolitan Transportation Authority (NYCMTA) has going on for five years. That practice is repainting buses for every nine months, however SEPTA does not repaint buses every nine months. Many nabi’s that has received overhauls within the 1-2 year range has been repainted. Some of them come into service with new seat fabric and replaced instructions on the dashboard. As of this week all of the nabi’s that I and my assistants have spotted that has been repainted are, 5036, 5272, 5375, 5077, 5123 and 5167. Of course there are many others and will be passed to you once spotted.

It appears that several buses and trolleys stationed at the Callowhill depot have received red light sensors. These sensors are in a black casing and are located above of the drivers compartment of the bus or trolley.

As of today 24 of the 8000 Series D40LFs are confirmed to be operating out of Southern #s 8001-8024. 2 others #s 8027 and 8030 may also be at Southern, both buses According to Darryl Bulls broke down on I-76 while being delivered from Berridge Shops to the Southern Bus garage. 8027 broke down at the University City exit and 8030 at the Fox St exit.

Today there was a suspicious package found at Market East Station today. Due to this it caused the regional rail lines to be shut down doing the rush hours this morning. Buses that run parallel to the rail lines for example the 44 suffered from enormous crowds of people that usually take the regional rail system to work. During the mid-day all service on the regional rail lines has been restored.

There are now 16 2005 New Flyer D40LF currently in revunue service at southern. 8016 was spotted by Kyle O. earlier this morning on the 17. On a related note, 8012 after being in service for only one week is already sporting a rear WDAS ad.

Two Neoplan artics #7115 and #7185 both sported a side wrap advertising heathcare.

This weekend the EI service will be shut down from 40th and market to 69th street terminal and will have bus shuttles. This will commence Friday Oct 7th at 10pm until Monday Oct 10th 5AM. (Kyle O.)