I usually take the BSL down to the Phillies games, but last night I rode SEPTA's most heavily-traveled bus route, the 23. I had never taken the 23 south of Market Street, and was pleasantly surprised: it was a really nice ride past South Philly rows.

Seems like I had a nicer ride than folks on the 88 yesterday. On Tuesday at about 6pm, the bus caught fire while in the Bustleton section of town.

The best part of the story--like the best of many stories on SEPTA Watch--is in the comments:

My sister our friend and I were driving behind the bus when it caught on fire. It was a small fire at the back of the bus, but it got bigger quickly. Some people were honking, but the bus driver didn't know why. We pulled along side the burning bus and shouted at the driver, "Your Bus Is On Fire!!!" We then drove on. Did we save any lives?

The bus driver just called and told me what happened. A guy started a fight and she knocked him out, but all the commotion on the bus she didn't realize there was a fire. So a passerby in a car told her the bus was on fire, could've been katrina, So then the guy who started the fight woke up as she was driving, and when she kicked him out at the next stop, literally, so i asked why did you make all the stops, and she said "people kept ringing the bell"

You can ask all the other people that were stopped at the light honking. It was a three foot fire Under the bus at first. There was smoke, but not obvious smoke. No one else was able follow him without going through a red light. When he heard us, he did look in his mirrors. There were a lot of people there and the fire company was called quicky. It was a little bit dangerous of a thing to do, (burning busses can blow up)but it was one of those things where you just act.

(image credit.)