News

The majority, if not all, of the Proterra electric buses operated by SEPTA have been sent to the Midvale Scrap Yard. These buses were plagued by a series of persistent issues since their initial deployment in 2019. In early 2020, these were sidelined and never entered full revenue service.

Problems encountered with the Proterra fleet included:

• Battery Issues: Frequent battery failures and charging difficulties significantly impacted the buses’ operational reliability.
• Frame Issues: Structural problems with the bus frames raised concerns about safety and vehicle integrity.
• Other Technical Problems: The buses experienced a range of other technical malfunctions, further hindering their ability to provide consistent service.

It’s unknown what the long term fate of these will be but rest assure these will not go back into service any time soon. There were some rumors or speculation going around that some of these would be overhauled however I wouldn’t count on them. It would be interesting to see what gets earmarked into SEPTA’s FY 2027 Captial budget moving forth.

So recently I have been digging through some of my older files and found a responsitory of older SEPTA Annual Service plans for the ones which I have available. These date back to 1996 to 2021.

1996-2010	2011-2021
1996 ASP	2011
1997 ASP	2012
1998 ASP	2013
1999 ASP	2014
2001 ASP	2015
2002 ASP	2016
2003 ASP	2017
2005 ASP	2018
2006	2019
2007	2020
2008	2021
2009
2010

Anyways since SEPTA has cancelled this year’s holiday event. I wanna share my collection of photos. These were taken back in 2017.

It comes as no surprise that the SEPTA Holiday bus event is not happening this year. SEPTA posted on social media that this is due to the budget shortfall. Yet again the shortfall claimed another annual event. The first major event which was cancelled was the rail rodeo cancelled back in October. Hopefully next year when or if SEPTA gets funding, these events would be held once again. But for now we can only hope that cooler heads would prevail in Harrisburg.

As of today here is the current status of the new bus deliveries being diligently tracked by the transit enthusiast community.

Here is the current retirements:

On 12/1/2018, it marked the last time when the AEM7 and ALP44 last ran in service.

SEPTA Regional Rail train on the Chestnut Hill Line going past “Austin tower” this tower apparently was closed during the PRR era and interlocking controlling operations were moved to the station building before being based from A tower along the Airport line briefly and soon after the SEPTA headquarters controlled by SEPTA-6.

Since it’s closure, This building was renamed as “Austin Tower” by SEPTA.

Today, SEPTA officials has announced the next tier of their fare increases starting January 1, 2025, due to ongoing financial challenges and a lack of state funding support. The fare hike will raise base fares for buses and metro lines to $2.90 and increase Regional Rail fares by up to $13.00 depending on the zone. A trip from Center City to Ardmore (or other zone 2 stations) go from $5 to $9 on the weekends on while paying on board the train! This fare increase is part of a broader plan to address a budget gap and prevent further financial decline, which SEPTA refers to as a “transit death spiral.” This is back to back of another fare increase which is set to occur on December 1st 2024.

Currently 5th Square and several other advocates urges Governor Shapiro to use executive action and flex federal highway dollars to avert transit crisis. This is similar to back in 2005 when Governor Rendell done the same thing. ( Check it out ). As there may not be any time to stop the December 1st 2024 increases, there may be time to stop more increases from occuring on January 1, 2025,.

In addition to the fare hikes, SEPTA also plans major service cuts, including scaling back its bus revolution and eliminating some routes. These reductions, which could total up to 20% of services, are necessary to bridge the funding gap but will not fully resolve the financial issues. The fare increase is expected to generate about $50 million annually, but a decline in ridership (from Covid) and service cuts may impact this revenue.

SEPTA’s financial struggles have been exacerbated by the expiration of federal COVID relief funding, and a previously proposed $161 million state funding boost was rejected by Pennsylvania legislators earlier this year. While fare increases and service cuts are imminent, SEPTA officials emphasized that these measures are painful and only temporary solutions unless further state intervention occurs. Public hearings on the fare increases will begin on December 13, 2024, with service cut hearings expected in the spring and summer of 2025.

For more infomation check out https://wwww.septa.org/news/proposed-fare-adjustments-winter-2025

The December 1st 2024 fare increases are slated to be voted in late this month.

Check out all of the fare increases

On August 25th, SEPTA roll out their bus/trolley and subway service changes,

The biggest highlights are at follows:

-15 sees service adjustment with every other trip terminating at Frankford and Delaware loop throughout the week. Also there were some headway mid-day headway increases as well.
-22 will now operate with a artic buses full time on the weekdays
-56 sees improve service midday service on Saturdays

The rest are the addition of school trips, service time adjustments.

Regional Rail

Yesterday, the Regional Rail schedule has changed: Now thoughout the weekends – 99 new trains has been added to the schedule with 24 additional trains: (https://wwww.septa.org/news/septa-to-increase-regional-rail-service-new-schedules-for-all-lines-effective-sunday-sept-8/)