Month: April 2007

The Wissahicken Transfer Center started to go under construction last week.  SEPTA is working on this center to improve passenger accesibility and safety, as well as to make this loop a little more navigatable for the buses that use it.

On Saturday, May 12th, the new Haddonfield Farmer's Market will start selling fresh produce in the parking lot at PATCO's Haddonfield Station.  It will be open every Saturday (rain or shine) from 11am to 3pm, until October 27th.  There will also be live music from local bands as well!  For more information, please visit their website at http://www.haddonfieldfarmersmarket.org/.

On Monday, 4552 caught fire while operating on the 305.  Unfortunately, this bus is a total loss, making this the second El Dorado in the fleet to be lost to fire (the first being 4539).

The SEPTA board, during its monthy board meeting yesterday, has approved the purchase of an 16 additional Silverliner V cars, adding on to the already 104 cars in the order. This will bring the total up to 120 cars expected to be delivered by 2011. The first pilot cars are expected to arrive later next year. These units will replacing the the 73 Silverliner II, and III cars which have been in service for nearly 50 years and are in need of being replaced!!

Also, the Delaware Transportation Corporation (DTC aka DART First State) has agreed to fund the purchase of four of these additional cars.  These cars will be paid for through federal funding and funds matched by the DTC.  The DTC owned cars will be used for service improvements on the R2 Newark line to address the rising ridership on this line.

The surplus of 47 cars is to address the current overcrowding problems throughout the rail system. Hopefully by 2012, SEPTA will be inundated with enough cars to fully supply service during rush hours without standees.

The total contract price would be $274,076,714.
http://www.pr-inside.com/septa-board-approves-purchase-of-r106578.htm

New Jersey Transit's Board of Directors approved the new fares that will become active on June 1st, 2007.  There have been a few changes as a result of passenger comments, but some highlights include:

*Raising of Interstate Zone 1 fares (Philadelphia to Camden) to $1.45
*Base fare (Zone 1 Instrastate) is raised to $1.35
*Atlantic City Line will cost $7.27 to Atlantic City from Philadelphia, and $3.25 from Lindenwold

More information on the fare changes can be found here: http://www.njtransit.com/var/var_servlet.srv?hdnPageAction=FPPDFTo

During the next schedule change, the #7295 which set to depart suburban station at 5:12 to Newark is schedule to receive a Push-Puller set!! It also states on the chart, this train consist will also be running local from Suburban station to Newark Delaware as well which is a pretty interesting practice considering that the AEMs were not built to operate under such conditions as their Muti-unit (MU) counterparts. 

For more infomation:

http://philadelphiatransitforums.cjb.net/index.php?showtopic=1020&st=0&#last

On April 23rd, 2007, Milbourne Station on the Market Frankford Subway Elevated will close for a year for station reconstruction.  Additionally, all trains will be making all stops on the Market Street El.

…if the state legislature follows Ed Rendell's demands.  According to today's Metro newspaper, Rendell is willing to ship federal transportation funds to SEPTA on one condition – that the legislature passes a plan for a dedicated fund for transit.  Knowing that his plan to tax the oil companies with a specific Pennsylvania tax for all business done in Pennsylvania won't take effect until March of 2008 (which is quite a bit too late to save transit), he is willing to use these federal dollars to fund transportation for that time, provided that the money would eventually be paid back.

SEPTA started the first hearing today in Delaware County.  As you may already know, these hearings are in regards to SEPTA’s Fiscal Year 2008 budget proposal, including the increase in fare among other things.  Depending on whether or not the state legislature comings bearing good money, the fares may increase 11 percent or 25 percent.

The other hearings are at these locations and times – why not voice your opinion in regards to the proposal, accessible by clicking here:

Montgomery County Human Service Center
(formerly Sacred Heart Hospital)
Community Room – Main Floor
1430 Dekalb Pike
Norristown, PA 19404
Wednesday, April 11, 2007
2:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.

Pennsylvania Convention Center
One Convention Center Place
1101 Arch Street, Room 204ABC
Philadelphia, PA 19107
Thursday, April 12, 2007
11:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.

West Chester Borough Hall
Council Chambers
401 E. Gay Street
West Chester, PA 19380
Friday, April 13, 2007
2:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.

Bucks County Free Library
Pearl Buck Meeting Room
150 South Pine Street
Doylestown, PA 18901
Monday, April 16, 2007
2:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m.

For more information, please visit the SEPTA website.

Richard Sarles was selected to become Executive Director of New Jersey Transit, replacing George Warrington.  He has an impressive background in transit, which includes working with Amtrak to establish High Speed Service and electrify to Boston, as well as working with PATH (Port Authority Trans Hudson) in the rehabilitation of their railcars.  With New Jersey Transit, he also helped to start the RiverLINE in addition to extensions to the Hudson Bergen Light Rail and Newark Light Rail in Northern New Jersey.  You can read more about him in New Jersey Transit's press release.