Category: Uncategorized

On Saturday night, Brandon S. spotted TMC RTS #51 in service on the Pottstown Area Rapid Transit night service to Upland Square.  According to others, TMCs #53 and #55 are still in service as well, meaning that the Gillig BRTs have NOT retired the TMCs as originally thought.  However, the 18 year old buses won’t be around much longer, as Pottstown is purchasing more buses with federal stimulus funds this year.

According to Joe Parlin, the rumor about five Silverliner Vs being lost at sea is false. More likely it was sparked out by a railfan who did not wanted to see the Silverliner IIs (The units which they were replacing to leave SEPTA). As it stands now, everything is on schudule. Hopefully there will be no more delays in this order.  Last week, Rotem in South Korea has shipped three completed (701, 801-802) Silverliners Vs. The ship carring these Silverliners is expected to arrive in early March.

There are some rumors out there that the ship carrying the first production cars of the Silverliners V from Rotem in Korea has capsized with these shells on board. We do not have any more actual information at this time, nor can we verify if any of these rumors are true or not.  More infomation to follow..

 

According to Nicholas Mutignani, who is SouthernSeptaRida215 on the forums, hybrids has been swapped between Midvale, Callowhill, and Southern. The reason why this move has occurred is to test the performance on the route 23.  The route 23 is split between Southern and Midvale. Currently, the 2008 hybrids, which Callowhill has, are the only massive fleet of buses that are equipped with these devices. So in order to test the performance on the route 23, SEPTA has temporary swap buses between Callowhill, Midvale, and Southern.

The buses conformed at Midvale are as follows:
8130, 8131, 8133, 8138, 8143 & 8145 and possibly others

The buses conformed at Southern are as follows:
8146-8148, 8150-8160  and possibly others

[Photo-Right] 8139 on the route C to City Hall (Southbound).
Photographer: Michael E. Pearson

Southern and Callowhill are now involved in yet another temporary bus swap. Southern has sent several 8000 series New Flyer buses over to Callowhill in exchange for Callowhill’s hybrids. The hybrids which Callowhill sent over has passenger counters installed on them which enabled SEPTA to collect more performance statistics on Southern lines. Mainly the route 17, as mentioned on the forums within the past several years, the Route 17 has had an unexpected increase in ridership!

 

Taken within the Southern depot Bay by SEPTAfan

According to Joe Perlin (SilverlinerII on the boards), and several other reliable members in the community. The next order of buses #8340-8439 will be the DE40LFR model of the New Flyer. The opition for the additional 20 buses has been exercised as well. Making the total order to buses to be 120 units (8340-8459).

Next week on December 14, 2009, route 102 trolleys will return, running all the way to Sharon Hill.  However, with this return of service, SEPTA is discontinuing the Shisler Ave street stop on Woodlawn Ave.

Also, on December 14th, rt 101 will begin its bustitution.  The trolleys would run from 69th Street to Woodland Ave, and buses will take over the rest of the route.

Due to a loss of external funding, weekend service on the 134 will be discontinued on December 5th, 2009.  Weekday service won’t change.  A new timetable reflecting this change will be available in Spring of 2010.

On Wednesday, November 18th, SEPTA upgraded its website at noon (in fact, during the bimonthly City-County meeting!).  This website has a completely different look and feel, and is much more user friendly.  It still has a few bugs to work out, though.

Check it out at www.septa.org.

As of last night, the TWU 234 members voted to ratify the new contract.  No more labour pains with the 234 for another five years.  UTU 1594 which represents the Victory drivers is still working without a contract.  They will likely agree to a deal similar to what the larger city union ratified last night.