7:30AM
TGIF SEPTA news round-up
Michael
And now, a round-up of recent SEPTA news:
- Remember last year when the Commonwealth told SEPTA that it would be getting a dedicated funding stream in part due to a plan to toll I-80? That plan's run into some problems and SEPTA is now worried it's going to be $120 million short this fiscal year.
- Remember the senseless murder of Sean Conroy, the Starbucks manager who was jumped by a gang of teens at the 13th & Market El concourse? His alleged attackers are on trial this week. This past Tuesday, they jury went on a field trip to the scene of the crime.
- Remember the construction that was set to begin on the Spring Garden and Girard Street BSL stops? It's begun.
- Remember how on-board cameras caught that grisly hammer attack on the BSL? SEPTA's now installing cameras on the El, too.
- Remember your manners? SEPTA started a new poster campaign this week to encourage politeness and civility for riders.
- Remember Darby? The Darby Borough Historical & Preservation Society is squabbling with the Darby Historical Commission over what should go on the historical markers outside the new transit center. Somehow, SEPTA's gonna get blamed for all this.
Oh yeah, and a couple accidents:
- Monday morning, an SUV plowed into a bus at Kensington and Lehigh.
- Wednesday morning, the 102 trolley hit a pedestrian at Baltimore and Glenwood in Clifton Heights.
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Reader Comments (6)
What will it take to get the Republicans up in the North to accept tolls on I-80? The tolls make sense since there's a LOT of out-of-state traffic. It's one of the silly illogical inconsistencies in rural Republican thinking that they talk about getting the government out of everything and lowering taxes, but when it comes to road taxes which support the roads which they drive on with their SUVs and trucks with gun-racks, they're up in arms -- perhaps literally? ;-).
It's weird how road-advocates seem to think that roads are free, but that public transit is a superfluous subsidy.
We suffer in the Philadelphia area, I think, because of this tension between rural and urban interests in Pennsylvania.
Have you noticed the murals going up on the north side of Market Street, west of 46th St.? They seem like they're designed for el riders to see.
It does seem a bit unfair to me to tax people outside the SEPTA service area for a service they probably will not see any benefit from.
Fairer would be to raise fuel taxes in the counties that SEPTA services. The argument here is drivers in this area benefit from SEPTA even if they don't use it, since those who can benefit from SEPTA are not on the roads in their own cars clogging up the roads even more.
I've seen those too! I just about to ask about them. They're like these bright exclamation points of color and bold graphic design that follow along the El for several blocks. I like them, I hope that they remain mostly intact. At least one of them has already been tagged (ugh).
I agree with Mark on the I-80 tolling, because the alternative was the raise tolls greatly on the PA turnpike. Plus the I-80 tolling plans were designed to limit the effect on local non-commercial drivers.
It doesn't make any sense to increase tolls on the turnpike and keep the I-80 free because it basically subsidizes trucks heading to northern Jersey and NY ports, at the expense of Philly's port. Why make it even more expensive and difficult to head to Philly's port if the state can avoid it? In that way, there are some statewide issues going on that are much larger than just the SE PA counties.
Hey, Biff, I found out who's behind those murals. It's Stephen Powers, a West Philadelphia native, in collaboration with the Mural Arts Program. The project was mentioned in a piece in the New York Times about the Philadelphia art scene.
You can read it here:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/28/arts/design/28philly.html?_r=2&hp