Colin
Snapshots: More Silverliner Vs
Courtesy of the RAILROAD.NET Forums:
801 meets the rails for the first time.
The interior of 801.
The cab of 801.
Silverliner V 801 hangs out with Budd Silverliner II 256.
It's Official: Goodbye Rs
Multiple sources are reporting that SEPTA has officially announced the removal of the R designations from its Regional Rail lines.
Originally announced a few weeks ago by Harry Garforth at a CAC meeting, it was later revealed that Garforth got a bit ahead of himself and SEPTA had not yet made an official decision on the matter.
The Rs will be removed and the lines will be renamed based on their current endpoints. The one exception being the Norristown line, which will become the Manayunk-Norristown line.
Communications director Elizabeth Mintz insists that SEPTA will be swift in replacing all signage which currently references the R designations. Hopefully SEPTA will use this opportunity to put their new signage initiative into overdrive, finally eliminating dated and destroyed maps and signs that are still prevalent at some outlying and Center City stations.
It will be sad to see the Rs go away - it's the final nail in the coffin of a system that was never realized. I previously wrote that I would love to see the full through-routing system be implemented, but that will never happen. In light of that, this move makes sense. If the lines will never be paired off on schedules, then keeping the pairings serves no real purpose. No more pairings also effectively means an end to differentiating the Reading and Pennsylvania sides of the system, since each paired line contained one endpoint from each side.
WTF: S 10th and Walnut
Do I complain to SEPTA or the Center City district about this one?
Notice the ridiculous amount of gravel in the shelter? Just behind the camera is this massive pothole crater, which has been there since the first snowstorm in early February.
I call 311 to report it every few days, and then a cone gets placed in it and run over a few hours later. When it fills with water, the passengers waiting in the bus shelter get a massive spray of runoff and gravel every time a car plows through. I'm honestly surprised no one has blown a tire on it yet.
They're heeeeeere
Three Silverliner V pilot cars and 9 car shells were unloaded at Packer Terminal on Sunday. Word is that the next stop for the cars is Liberty Yard.
Snapshots: Art Museum
Courtesy of a railroading friend of mine.
Submit your SEPTA snapshots! Post them to Flickr or your favorite photo-sharing site, and then email the link via the feedback page.
Three Cheers: TTC Looks to SEPTA for Customer Service Guidance
No, seriously, stop laughing at that headline. Apparently there are some major issues with TTC in Toronto, and the board is looking to SEPTA's customer service initiatives over the past few years for guidance.
Of particular note are the comments of one blogger:
Colin Weir, who runs the transit blog septawatch.com praised many of Philadelphia's changes, particularly the introduction of an online route planner similar to the one unveiled by the TTC last week. He also lauded Philadelphia's enthusiastic use of Twitter to give customers service updates.
But he said Philadelphia still needs a lot of work.
"They really need to work on the cleanliness of the system. [That's] what I would say my biggest gripe with them is."
Check out the full story, plus the video. Worth noting is that the video leaves out my positive comments and leaves only my cleanliness comment.
Snapshots: SEPTA City
From reader Ray Skwire:
Submit your SEPTA snapshots! Post them to Flickr or your favorite photo-sharing site, and then email the link via the feedback page.
WTF: Why Not Just Tow the Cars?
The past several mornings the Route 15 trolley has been replaced with buses. SEPTA's reasoning is "autos blocking the rails". This has, of course, lead to the question of, "Why not just tow the cars?"
The first thing to remember is that it's not in your interest, it's not in SEPTA's interest, and it's not in the City of Philadelphia's interest for service to not run. Bustituting the 15 means losing buses elsewhere, and burning diesel fuel underneath perfectly good electric wire. When you ask, "Why not do simple solution X?", it's probably because X is not that simple.
The problem is that we've run out of places to put the snow. On streets like Walnut and Chestnut, they've been able to clear the entire street due to rush hour restrictions that eliminate parking. These restrictions don't exist on the path of the 15, so the snow is not removed all the way to the curb.
What then happens is that cars are legally parked, and are not blocking the physical tracks or the right of way for automobiles, but the space remaining is not wide enough for a wide trolley car to fit through.
