Category: Uncategorized

At the Montgomery Mall, Frontier’s 4572 caught on fire while starting to head back to the Frontier district.  The rear of the bus was burnt to a crisp!  Stay tuned for details on whether or not 4572 will be brought back to life and to service.

Within the past several weeks, SEPTA has started placing stickers on both the 2008-2009 hybrid fleet of buses as well as the trackless trolley fleet. The older hybrids has rear side stickers placed on it’s Air conditioner vents on the back of the bus.

Started back in the Spring of 2009, Midvale, and Allegheny has received it’s complete set of new hybrid buses. These New Flyer DE40LF hybrid buses are built just like the 2008 hybrids; the only exception is that they have LED lighting. 

SEPTA has also approved the option to receive 40 more buses. 20 buses out of the 40 were part of the optional order of 20 per year.  The other 20 is part of the Stimulus plan passed in the Winter by President Obama. Once this order is said and done, 8220-8359 will be in service.  It has been reported that 8327 has been spotted in Minnesota getting work done on the bus.

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2674/3821253093_714612928c_b.jpg

It’s unclear which depots will receive these additional 40 hybrids.

Well after a long hiatus, I’ve decided to add rosters to the site of SEPTA bus rosters from the past. These rosters were actually uploaded by a PTV admin onto a another group several years back, so I’ve decided they would be a great fit here on PTV. They were Contributed by Doug Diehl These rosters were the official rosters at SEPTA during these time periods.

The later rosters were merely copies of rosters which were on the PTV site.

http://www.philadelphiatransitvehicles.info/history/rosters.php

Enjoy!

In Atco, NJ, train 4630, heading towards Philadelphia, smashed into a car at the Bartram Ave railroad crossing, near Bartram and Atlantic Aves.  This occurred about 4:15 PM, resulting in a bus bridge for several hours.  Unfortunately, the female driver did not survive the accident.

Slides of the accident can be found here: http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/gallery?section=news&id=6937121&photo=1

In six weeks, SEPTA will begin with the reconstruction of Fox Chase Station.  Federal stimulus money will fund this well-needed project, since over the past 30 years, the station has fallen into such a state of disrepair. 

SEPTA plans to use about 3.2 million dollars to rebuild the station.  The new station would be more aesthetically appealing, be more resistant to vandalism, and be easier to clean and maintain. 

The construction should not effect train operations.  SEPTA hopes to have the project finished in 2010. 

More information here: http://www.philly.com/community/pa/philadelphia/netimes/Fox_Chase_is_onboard_with_plans_for_train_station.html

Unfortunately, Frontier’s 4579 caught on fire while in service on the 134.  It seems like the fire may have started in the dash/steering wheel area.  Due to the fire, this bus is now retired.  That marks Dorado number 2 that was lost to a fire.

SEPTA added its rail information onto Google Transit.  Now, trip planners can just go to http://maps.google.com and find information on what SEPTA rail lines they can take to get to their destination.  By the end of the year, SEPTA plans to have all of its bus information on Google Transit as well, making it the first multi-modal transit operator to have all of its information available on the website.

SEPTA also has Google Transit data available on its website for web developers.

With the arrival of the 17 Eldorados recently sent to Frontier. Frontier has sent their entire fleet of Champions to Germantown.  Given to the increased SEPTA ridership last year and this year, this prompt SEPTA to send higher capacity buses to both Frontier and Victory.  It was reported on the forums that some of the champions/last fords will be sold off, whereas the other champions will be overhauled and transferred to the contract operations.

Recently, there was a hilarious mock SEPTA notice that was placed on various EL and Regional Rail cars.  It was a spoof of the Title VI sign that was recently placed in SEPTA vehicles.  Here’s a link to pictures and text of the posted notice: http://www.philebrity.com/2009/06/15/widespread-septa-hack-actually-the-most-truthful-corporate-messaging-since-were-getting-there/

SEPTA, however, wasn’t quite as amused: http://www.philly.com/philly/news/breaking/20090616_Prank_SEPTA_signs_offend__amuse.html?viewAll=y&c=y

However, many commuters agree that this was probably the most honest corporate message SEPTA put out since it’s old slogan “We’re Getting There”.

Just last year, someone did a similar prank on SEPTA’s Regional Rail, although it wasn’t as clever or famous: http://willdo.pwblogs.com/2008/08/05/calling-out-septa-on-diesel-buses/