Citizen Activism Protects Busway — SEPTA is hard at work its the long-neglected Hathaway Lane busway in Ardmore and we accept a nice chunk of credit for the authority getting off its tail and going to work.
Well done, Sharon Devaney.
As work progressed, however, a new and deep pothole was found by Ellen Segal DiStefano. She told a SEPTA worker who responded that it was a township problem.
So she called Haverford Township who told her it was a SEPTA problem.
She persisted, however. She contacted elected officials and wrote about it on Facebook’s South Ardmore Business Alliance.
SEPTA Stupidity In Springfield — Once upon a time the SEPTA Route 101 trolley made all stops on the north side of Springfield Road at this station in Springfield. A while back, some genius decided it stop on the north side for trolleys bound for 69th Street and on the south side for trolleys bound for Media.
This means a round-trip commuter is always going to have to cross the busy street once whereas before the street would rarely have to be crossed.
Note the “do not cross” sign that directs one a block away to a crosswalk which makes sure the automobile traffic gets sated before one gets a walk signal.
Did any of the brilliant thinkers every consider that one rushing to catch a trolley might not be inclined to do things properly and risk a rather dangerous crossing?
The reason for the change was supposedly to take advantage of some parking. The second picture is the north side parking lot during the morning rush hour, today, July 11.
Not very strong thinkers are running things. Perhaps the idiocracy has arrived.
Graffiti Plagues Ardmore; Does Larry Holmes Care?— This fence that separates the SEPTA bus route from Chestnutwold Elementary School sure is looking a bit urban. This is in the 6th Ward in the Ardmore section of Haverford Township, Pa., which is represented by Commissioner Larry Holmes. So Larry what are you doing about this? Don’t you care? Does the Haverford Township School Board? By the way the SEPTA bus route is looking pretty poorly too. We see that former Montco Commissioner Ken Lawrence has been named chairman of SEPTA’s board.
— Sharon Devaney
And the poorly maintained SEPTA busway. Photos by Sharon Devaney
More Signs Of Decline In Delco — Here are some more signs of decline in Delaware County, Pa. The below images are from SEPTA’s Route 101 Springfield Road trolley stop in Springfield taken this morning, Aug. 7.
Under the impression that a broken window left unfixed leads to more serious problems, residents begin to change the way they see their community. In an attempt to stay safe, a cohesive community starts to fall apart, as individuals start to spend less time in communal space to avoid potential violent attacks by strangers.[1] The slow deterioration of a community, as a result of broken windows, modifies the way people behave when it comes to their communal space, which, in turn, breaks down community control. As rowdy teenagers, panhandlers, addicts, and prostitutes slowly make their way into a community, it signifies that the community cannot assert informal social control, and citizens become afraid that worse things will happen. As a result, they spend less time in the streets to avoid these subjects and feel less and less connected from their community, if the problems persist.
SEPTA Strip Tree Removal At Springfield Road Station — The old oaks and evergreens along with not-so-old cherry trees have been removed from the Rolling Road green buffer strip along the Route 101 trolly line at the Springfield Road station in Springfield, Pa.
One of the workmen said the plan is to put in a parking lot. He was a nice guy. He offered me the wood and I took a big chunk of oak.
SEPTA Eagles Parade Schedule — SEPTA has announced significant adjustments for service on Thursday (Feb. 8) for the Eagles Super Bowl Parade, according to State Rep. Alex Charlton (R-165). Free rides will be offered on the Market-Frankford and Broad Street lines, but service will be limited to select stops.
Regional Rail will board only at select stations and will service only select stations in Center City. Customers MUST have either a Weekly or Monthly TrailPass, an Independence Pass, or a pre-purchased senior/reduced fare ticket. Discounted Independence Passes will go on sale today (Feb. 6) for $10.
There are a lot better, cheaper and less disruptive ways of increasing the ridership and utility of the Philadelphia area’s transportation system.
Way back when the Philadelphia area’s bus and trolley lines were run by private business, transfers were free. Why? The guys running things understood they would get more riders (and ultimately money) by doing this. They understood that transferring from a busy line to another wasn’t costing them anything as the other had to run anyway and the less the consumer cost the more use the busy line would get.
SEPTA now is a tax-funded bureaucracy. Nobody in management is going to lose his job if the bureau doesn’t make a profit. Further there is no incentive to increase ridership. In fact, there is a disincentive as more riders mean more aggravation and the ones running things are going to be paid the same whatever.
So the point for the taxpayer is, instead of dumping money into what will be a money losing venture, why not bring back free transfers? Public transportation use might very well increase as much if not more than by building this thing and without the tax hit and construction annoyance.
Somebody might point out that SEPTA is pushing for commuters to use monthly passes. Really? How’s it working for them? What percent of the residents of the area use SEPTA on a weekly (or monthly) basis much less have passes?
Monthly passes are a good way of using SEPTA, of course, but have you seen any marketing for them? Have you seen the advertisements for them on TV? In any media? Have you seen any marketing for SEPTA anywhere? We haven’t. The private transportation companies used to advertise but not SEPTA. We really don’t believe SEPTA is interested in increasing its riders.
Here’s a thought: where is the attempt to synch SEPTA’s rail service with it’s bus/trolley service? How about free transfers for that? It would be cheaper than this rail extension.
This project is just a means of getting somebody else to pay for more government-connected jobs.
This thing won’t go through Springfield Montco much less Springfield Delco and it won’t be a monorail but we have no problem using the Simpson reference.
SEPTA Free Transfers Beat ‘Springfield Monorail’
The cost of SEPTA Free Transfers would be a fraction of what building a five-mile spur along a busy highway.
SEPTA Free Transfers might actually cause revenue to increase.
We are not sure if the looming SEPTA ad features this photo of Adolph Hitler with Haj Amin al-Husseini or another.
U.S. District Judge Mitchell Goldberg has ruled that SEPTA must accept advertising featuring a photo of Adolph Hitler with friend and ally Haj Amin al-Husseini, who was the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, with the tagline “Jew Hatred: It’s in the Quran.”
SEPTA had rejected the ad on the grounds it violated “minimal civility standards”. SEPTA says it is considering an appeal.
The ads are produced by the American Freedom Defense Initiative, a New Hampshire-based group that opposes U.S. aid to Islamic countries and has filed similar lawsuits in New York and other cities.
Judge Goldberg noted that SEPTA has run viewpoint ads on public issues including animal cruelty, birth control, religion and fracking.
Look for it on a trolley or bus or El train near you.
Dangerous Trees Of Springfield Pa — The spruce tree in the photo is on the North Rolling Road “Rock Island” traffic island in Springfield Pa. It’s ready to fall like three of its sisters have already done.
Several large trees are dead or nearly so in the unit block of North Rolling Road in Springfield Pa in Delaware County.
One is a spruce tree on a township-owned traffic island at the northern tip of Windsor Circle.
It would be a lot wiser for the trees to be removed now before they crush a car (or pedestrian) or simply fall and block the well-traveled road for a day.
Three of the spruces have already fallen from the traffic island damaging private property.
This dead and dangerous oak tree on the SEPTA land on North Rolling Road, Springfield has been known to block the sidewalk with its fallen limbs.
Another dead or near-dead tree on the SEPTA land. What would the township do if these were on private residences?
Today’s observation regarding logic and SEPTA concerns the bus lanes on Market Street in Philadelphia.
You are motoring at a snails pace down Market Street east of City Hall and you find yourself wondering why the right lane is reserved for buses. The subway/el runs the entire length of the street.
Pull the buses off of Market Street and maybe SEPTA would not have been able to cut those routes nobody was using anyway so Tom Corbett and the rest of the other-people’s-money spenders in Harrisburg would give them a half billion.
