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December 8, 2009
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December 8, 2009
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December 8, 2009
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December 8, 2009
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December 8, 2009
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Entries in girard (6)

Friday, February 19, 2010
9:27AM

WTF: Why Not Just Tow the Cars?

Posted by AuthorColin at Date9:27 AM in under , ,

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.

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Friday, August 21, 2009
7:30AM

TGIF SEPTA news round-up

Posted by AuthorMichael at Date7:30 AM under , , , , , ,

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:

(image credit.)
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Thursday, July 30, 2009
7:30AM

Renovations coming along at Girard & Spring Garden Stations

Posted by AuthorMichael at Date7:30 AM under , ,

Looks like the stimulus-funded improvements at the Girard and Spring Garden Stations are coming along. A rider writes:
Do you know anything about the construction going on around Girard station on the BSL? Near the end of last week, some concrete barriers went up around the Broad/Girard intersection, along with 'temporary' no parking signs - temporary in scare-quotes because the restriction gets lifted on May 31st, 2010.

For the last couple of weeks, I've noticed on my walk to work that the boarded up entrances to Spring Garden station have fences and a porta-potty around them, and some of the plywood sheathing's been removed, presumably for construction access.

Anyway, I was just curious to see if there was any more info on what kind of updates are being done beyond the requests for art ideas that you'd linked to the other day. I saw the original contract description at http://www.septa.com/business/stimulus/projects/renovations/BSL.html but was kind of curious to see if there were, say, renderings of what might be expected at the new stations.
I had previously mentioned these renovations back in December and January. Does anyone have an update on where things stand now?

(image credit.)
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Monday, July 20, 2009
2:20PM

Call for artists to liven up Spring Garden & Girard stations

Posted by AuthorMichael at Date2:20 PM under , ,
SEPTA runs a much appreciated Art in Transit project. It won't make our stations look like those in Moscow, but I do appreciate the artistic touch.

Now, SEPTA's looking for artists to create art for its BSL stations at Spring Garden and Girard. You can download information in (pdf format) here:


Each project has a budget of $150k. The deadlines are coming up (SG: 8/1, Girard: 9/18).

Last year, I was really pulling for How Philly Moves to be selected for the 46th Street Station. It wasn't. But perhaps HPM can be adapted for Spring Garden or Girard stations?

(image credit.)
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Thursday, January 29, 2009
7:30AM

SEPTA preps for federal stimulus dollars

Posted by AuthorMichael at Date7:30 AM under , , , , ,

If/When President Obama's economic recovery package passes, SEPTA may be in line to receive some benefit.  At last week's SEPTA board meeting, several engineering firms were given the OK to finalize plans for a couple soon-to-be shovel-ready projects.
Between $225 million and $250 million in federal stimulus funding could be headed SEPTA’s way, SEPTA Chief Financial Officer Rich Burnfield said. SEPTA has identified more than $400 million in projects, some of which are already in the design phase, that will be ready to move quickly to take advantage of such funding, Burnfield said. ...

Among the projects on the ready-to-go list are a $28 million renovation of the Girard and Spring Garden station on the Broad Street subway line and the renewal of the Croydon station on the R7 Trenton regional rail line, both of which are already in design. Other projects include the $14 million replacement of track at the Fern Rock shop, which would be designed by Gannet, a $5 million replacement of a roof at the Woodland stop, which would be designed by Urban Engineers and a $6.5 million bridge rehabilitation program for five bridges, which would be designed by HNTB.

(image credit.)

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Tuesday, December 16, 2008
7:30AM

The economy wipes out millions of jobs, but at least we'll get new BSL stations

Posted by AuthorMichael at Date7:30 AM under , , ,
Congress, in consultation with the presidential election team, is reportedly putting together a big domestic economic recovery backage for President-elect Obama to sign when he takes office.  One of the components may be heavy investment in infrastructure, including transit, projects.  SEPTA's been asked to submit its list of shovel-ready projects:
SEPTA has identified projects it could start promptly, such as station improvements, rail replacement, painting and roofing projects, and the ordering of new vehicles.

The most expensive item on SEPTA's list is the $34 million overhaul of the Girard and Spring Garden stations, where the work is projected to create nearly 1,300 jobs in installation, manufacturing and related fields. SEPTA also proposes to spend $10.1 million to revamp the Malvern station on the Regional Rail's R5-Thorndale line, which it estimates would create 384 jobs.

Now this is the type of massive government spending that I can really support.
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