Month: August 2011

Hurricane Irene raised the level a lot of rivers and streams in the area, flooding areas like Conshohocken.  It also caused Assunpink Creek, which is right next to the tracks at Trenton Transit Center, to flood the tracks almost to platform level.

Unfortunately, SEPTA never moved its Push-Pull train, which is usually parked at the station during the weekends, as well as at least 4 Silverliner IV trains when the creek flooded well over its flood stage.

The Times of Trenton grabbed this picture of the trains still parked in the water:

NJ.com has more pictures of the flooded station: http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2011/08/trenton_transit_center_floods.html.  To this day, train service has not returned to Trenton, although NJT is running between New York and New Brunswick and the Trenton Line is running to Levittown Station from Philadelphia.

For the first time in history, SEPTA is shutting down all services due to a hurricane.  All service will be suspended at 12:30 AM Sunday, August 28th, 2011.  Anything out on the street after midnight will finish its run and that will be it.  No nightliners will pull out.  Regional Rail lines that operate over Amtrak trackage will cease operations at 5 PM tonight when Amtrak shuts down.  Trains on these lines at 5 PM will continue to their destination and that will be it.  SEPTA will evaluate each line for service restoration after 12 noon on Sunday.  

DART First State has suspended all operations until at least Monday morning.  

NJ Transit Rail service ceased operating at 12 noon today.  Trains in service will continue to their destination.  NJ Transit Bus, Light Rail, and Paratransit will cease operations at 6 PM today.  

This past Saturday, August 20th, 2011, Centre Area Transportation Authority (CATA) had a new schedule go into effect.  With this new schedule came several changes.  Among them are changes to the Red Link, consolidation of the Z into the G, merging of the H and P into the HP, and discontinuation of the AP.  For more info see http://catabus.com/ServiceSchedules/CATABUS/fall11changes.html.

Red Rose Transit in Lancaster County has a schedule change on August 29th.  New schedules can be viewed here – http://www.redrosetransit.com/transit-schedules-and-fares.html.

Capitol Area Transit of Harrisburg has new schedules for select routse coming out August 29th as well.  Those routes can be viewed here. http://www.cattransit.com/2011/08/labor-day-service-upcoming-schedule-changes/ 

Starting this Monday, August 29th, 2011, Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority (LANTA) will implement a new route structure.  Gone will be the current system of letters and numbers along with seperate evening service.  A new system using three digit numbered routes will go into effect.  The new route structure also includes several changes to the existing routes other than a redesignation.  

The new route structure will be as follows.

• 100 series – core routes operating Monday through Saturday with evening and Sunday service.
• 200 series – routes operating during the day six days a week.
• 300 series – routes that operate Monday through Friday.
• 400 series – Allentown School District routes (school trippers)
• 500 series – FLEX routes
• 600 series – Loops, circulators, crosstown routes, etc. 

For information on what routes will become what, see http://www.lantabus.com/conversionguide.html.  

SEPTA has provided preview schedules of the new Regional Rail and Red Arrow (Victory division) schedules. This will include changes to bus routes 112, 115, and new route 126.  Additionally, there will be some great changes to the Lansdale/Doylestown Line thanks to a new siding that will open at this time.  Colmar station will now be served every 30 minutes during weekdays, and travel from Doylestown to Center City will be 6% faster than it is today.

Frontier schedules will change on October 31st, the City Transit schedules will change on September 4th.

The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) has launched a study looking at the feasibility of opening a new SEPTA station by the Chester Waterfront, near the new PPL park.  This station would replace Highland Ave Station, which is only expected to last another 3 to 5 years and would cost $26 million to rebuild.  The new station, if SEPTA agrees to build it, would cost the same amount of money to build.

More information here: http://www.metro.us/philadelphia/local/article/940214–chester-could-get-new-septa-station-along-waterfront

Richard J. Hanratty Jr., chief of rail transportation, suddenly retired on Monday.  We do not know why he retired, but rumor has it that he was “encouraged” to retire with a deal that was too good to refuse.  A person from the Paratransit division of SEPTA apparently has replaced him.

Article: http://articles.philly.com/2011-08-10/news/29872435_1_septa-retirement-rail-transportation

Discussion on Railroad.net with information that is not in the news article: http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=72&t=85072&start=15

Thank goodness for cameras on buses!

On June 18th, Penny Chapman decided to discipline her child, who was running up and down the bus, by giving him a spanking.  A fellow passenger didn’t like that, and even threatened to turn her in for child abuse.  Therefore, Chapman made a phone call, and exited the bus at the next stop.  Her son’s uncle and his brother then fired at the bus with an assault rifle and a handgun, thankfully missing everyone on board!

The trial will be held later this month.  For video and more details, please visit Fox: http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/news/local_news/video-shows-dramatic-septa-bus-shooting and Action News: http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/crime&id=8291787

Earlier this year, Schuylkill Transit System (STS), the transit system for the Pottsville area, opened up a new bus terminal. The new terminal is called Union Station and has a rail spur in the parking lot for future train service. The terminal replaces the old one about a block away and not only hosts STS, but also the intercity buses. This is the first time PTV has been to Pottsville since the new terminal opened on June 27th, 2011.

The front of the building from the parking lot.

 

The bus loading and unloading area for Union Station.

For more information on the opening of Pottsville’s Union Station, please visit the Schuylkill Transportation System website: http://www.go-sts.com/news.asp