SEPTA FLEET NEWS ARCHIVES
March 2001
March 28, 2001
Apparently, the ElDorados are not getting as warm of a reception at Frontier as hoped. At least two ElDorados are reportedly out of service after the front of the buses "bottomed out" turning off of Swede St into the Norristown Terminal. This might explain why Frontier has been assigned 4514-4530, when the original plan was for them to recieve 4514-4540. Incidentially, 4531-4537 have already entered service at Red Arrow, so it's likely that either Red Arrow or Midvale will have an extra 10 buses to their roster than originally planned, accellerating the retirement of the 86xx, 87xx, and 13xx series Neos assigned there.
- SEPTA isn't the only Southern Pennsylvania transit system to get new buses. Rabbit Transit, the bus system based in York, recently put 7 Gilligs into service. The Gilligs will replace the 1990 Orion I coaches that had been in service. This is just the latest in a series of improvements to the York transit system, which included a name change from "Community Transit" to "Rabbit Transit" (though the system is officially known as the York County Transportation Authority), a new transfer center in Downtown York City, new bus service between York City and Hanover, expansion of service within Hanover, two new bus routes within Southern York County, and expansion of the 6 core bus routes in York City to 7 day per week service. In June, Rabbit Transit schedules will be improved to operate on more of a pulse system, with buses departing at 15 and 45 after the hour.
- The American Public Transportation Association will hold their annual meeting in Philadelphia this fall, from September 30 to October 4. On the weekend prior to the APTA Annual Meeting, the APTA International Bus Roadeo will also be held on the week of September 26 to October 1. The likely location for the Roadeo will be Veterans Stadium, provided that the Eagles or the Phillies aren't playing that weekend. In any case, more details on these events as they become available.
- If the recent bus spottings from Midvale haven't been strange enough, today on the 95, one of the lines originally slated to recieve the ElDorados, NABI #5137 was seen during one of the AM runs. Considering the 95 only sees Breeze vans on that line, plus the fact that a NABI has never been used on that line, it's very odd indeed.
- At Germantown, Breeze #2056 was spotted without any markings on it. Up until the ElDorados arrived, 2056-2062 were assigned to the LUCY service. With 4508-4513 holding down service on LUCY, it appears that the 2056-2062 service will be repainted. 2060 and 2061 still sported the LUCY scheme, while 2058 was repainted in the standard SEPTA colors and sent to Krapf's. By next week, there will be an extra 4 Breeze buses (2052-2055) available, as Lion Tours' contract to operate the 301 and 302 ends. (Unfortunately, the 301/302 will still run, despite it's poor performance, thanks to some political influence - see below.)
March 27, 2001
There is a legitimate threat of a strike at Red Arrow, as bus and rail operators represented by UTU 1594 authorized a strike if negotiations failed. The UTU 1594 contract expires at 12:01am on April 1 - this Saturday night/Sunday morning. The TWU 234 contract covering mechanics at Red Arrow also expires at 12:01am Sunday morning. So, if you have any plans to take SEPTA from Red Arrow territory into the city on Saturday night, be prepared for the worst. The City and Frontier buses would still operate, however there's a chance Red Arrow will be knocked out of service, either by a UTU strike, or a TWU strike and subsequent UTU lockout.
- Add the 112 to the list of Red Arrow buses that have seen the new ElDorados.
- New Flyer low floor #5401 is rumored to be at Red Arrow, but I haven't confirmed it just yet.
- SEPTA will hold a public meeting on April 3 to discuss a plan that would cut back the 9 to Summit Loop and extend the 35 from Roxborough High School to Andorra using the present 9 bus routing. The meeting begins at 7:00pm at the Houston Rec Center, located at Wissahickon and Grakyn.
- NABI #5355 was spotted in the deadline at Frankford garage today. It looks as though 5355 is about to go through either a major overhaul or is about to be scrapped. The front destingation sign was frozen on "R - Henry Ave/Midvale Ave" which is very unusual for a Luminator MegaMax sign. It looked as though some major reworking around the driver's dashboard is needed, as the wires around that area were sticking out. In addition, both the farebox and radio have been removed. I don't know if this bus was involved in an accident or not, but it looks like 5355 will be out of action for a while.
March 23, 2001
Neoplan artic #7101 has a new TwinVision destination sign that is currently being tested. Instead of the traditional green flip-dots, the test sign is an orange LED, which pulses instead of flashes. The front sign features a one line reading instead of the traditional two line reading, while the side sign has a two line reading. DART's Gillig #402 has a similar sign installed, after testing out the TwinVision flipdot sign.
- Despite the arrival of the ElDorados, the Breeze buses will still be used in regular SEPTA service. The majority of the Breeze buses were purchased in 1998, and have a 5 year life as mandated by Federal law. Don't expect these buses to disappear for at least two or three years, unless SEPTA finds a sucker willing to take this borderline junk. Another possibility is that SEPTA could relegate some of the Breeze buses either to Paratransit duty or onto the Phlash line. The first batch of Breeze buses, built in 1996 for the Routes 310 and 311 lines, are expected to be retired sooner, rather than later.
March 22, 2001
File this under "Friends in High Places." SEPTA Board Chairman Pasquale T. Deon tabled a plan to cancel SEPTA Route 301, and absorb the 302 into the 24. The 301 and 302 both serve Bucks County - which Deon represents. This move came after five speakers soundly criticized the proposal, despite public hearings that were held and properly publicized. SEPTA had been ordered by an arbitrator to end the contracting out of the 301/302 to Lion Tours, a Levittown based bus operator.
On April 1, operation of the poorly performing routes will be taken over by the City Transit Division (most likely Comly), which had operated the 301/302 predecessor operation, the Fox Chase-Newtown Shuttle. The move from contract operations to CTD operations will needlessly spike the costs of the service. (Despite the 301/302 controversy, the Krapf's contracts will not be affected by the arbitrator's ruling, since the 204, 208, and 314 are completely new routes by SEPTA.) So, when SEPTA comes around and says that they need to cut routes to make up any defecits due to cost overruns, you'll know who to blame.
- The ElDorados are now arriving in Red Arrow territory. 4514, 4531, 4532, and 4533 have been spotted operating Red Arrow routes 103, 107, and 116.
- A new bus route will begin operating in the Exton area sometime in April. The "Exton Express" - a service managed by SEPTA and funded by a federal grant awarded to West Whiteland Township - will be contracted out to Krapf's. No word on what the route number will be or what kind of timetable of service will be offered.
March 21, 2001
SEPTA and TWU 234 have reached an tentative contract agreement. A strike has been avoided for the first time since the 1992 negotiations. The TWU 234 rank and file are expected to vote on the deal within the next 10 days. The SEPTA Board is expected to approve the deal at it's April meeting.
- Now the bad news. SEPTA announced that it will be raising fares by July 1. While public hearings are scheduled to be held throughout the SEPTA region, it appears the board would still approve a fare hike regardless of how people react. Expect the base fare to jump to $1.75 for city and suburban buses, 50 cents for zones and/or transfers, $1.25-1.50 for tokens, and anywhere from 25 to 50 cents for Regional Rail base fares. Unlike other fare restructurings in the US, it doesn't appear that SEPTA is able - or willing - to make some sort of consessions to riders. Isn't that going to make a great campaign to encourage riders to use SEPTA during the July 4th holiday season, when Welcome America festivities abound? For example:
- Two years ago in Washington, the base fare was set at $1.10, however a $2.50 Regional Day Pass was introduced on 10 different Capital Region bus systems - including MetroBus and major suburban systems in Virginia and Maryland.
- Baltimore increased it's base fare to $1.35, however a $3.00 day pass was also introduce in lieu of transfers. Both Baltimore and Washington eliminated zones as part of their fare restructuring.
- Pittsburgh's Port Authority Transit is set to increase it's base fare to $1.60 on April 1, however the number of zones will decrease from 5 to 3.
SEPTA did, at one point, have a fare collection and fare policy study in progress (I had served on the Fare Policy study working group), however no action had been taken on either study in nearly two years.
March 19, 2001
In order to expedite boarding on the 65 at 69 St Terminal, a CTD employee has been assigned to collect transfers and passes to allow passengers to board at the rear of the bus, a technique also seen at some high volume stops in the city (such as 52 St & Market and 15 St & JFK).
- At least two ElDorados are confirmed to be at Red Arrow. The drivers are currently being trained on these buses.
- Recently, a few NABIs have been spotted without the www.septa.org or fleet number markings on the rear engine cover.
- The 33xx-series Neoplans based out of Southern have seen a few more trips on the 108 recently. Today, 3341 and 3351 were seen running the 108. Usually, 31xx and 32xx buses are seen on the Southern runs.
March 16, 2001
The contract may have expired, but that doesn't mean there isn't some fleet news updates. Early Friday morning, Midvale artic #7248 was involved in a pretty bad accident at Broad and Huntingdon Streets while in service on the Broad Street Owl bus route. 17 people, including the driver, were injured. The front end of the bus was badly damaged. This is the second Neoplan artic that is out of service due to serious damage, the first being Allegheny #7117, which is out of service following a fire in Roxborough.
- It looks as though the NABI buses will be getting a bit of a makeover. Comly #5068 was spotted without the black window trim following a recent repainting.
March 12, 2001
SEPTA officials seem to be breaking out their John Bolaris impersonations as it relates to the current SEPTA/TWU 234 negotiations. With three days remaining until the TWU contract expires, SEPTA has issued a strike contingency plan at it's web site.
- Not surprisingly, the rank and file of TWU 234 voted to authorize a strike. That doesn't neccesarily mean that there will be a strike this week, however. In 1998, the union worked under the old agreement for two and a half months before going out on strike in the summer of 1998 - effectively disrupting the city's Welcome America celebrations.
March 9, 2001
- Negotiations between SEPTA and TWU 234 are slowly proceeding. The two major sticking points, according to the Philadelphia Daily News, are health care and prescription drug costs. Other issues that haven't even been touched upon include employee issues, specifically, hiring, assignment of posts, transferring to other posts, and discipline. The TWU 234 membership is slated to hold a strike authorization vote on Sunday, however that step is considered routine during such a negotiation. Union leaders are hoping to avoid a strike, however given SEPTA's past labor history, that's not saying too much.
- A Callowhill operator was assaulted as he was starting a Route 52 trip on Tuesday night. Alonzo Marcus, 27, suffered facial injuries and pain in his right hand after being attacked by about 15 male teenagers at the 54 St & City Av layover. Police say that the teens were involved in a dispute as the bus was pulling out. Marcus stopped the bus, at which point he was attacked by one of the teens. The rest of the group joined in the attack.
- Pennsylvania State Police conducted surprise inspections on SEPTA buses at 69 St Terminal yesterday (March 8). FOX 29 reported that minor infractions were found (i.e. loose handrails), however they did not appear serious enough to pull buses out of service. The inspections delayed several buses departing 69 St, including the 21 and 65.
March 8, 2001
- DART First State is planning a new summer service connecting New Castle and Kent Counties with the Rehoboth Beach area starting this summer. Details on the Route 305 - "Beach Connection" bus can be viewed by following this link.
- DART is also seeking to change it's fare structure. Details on the proposal can be viewed by following this link.
- SEPTA's public hearing on Routes 301/302 was rescheduled for Thursday, March 8 at the Newtown Joint Municipal Authority building, located at 15 S Congress St, Newtown Boro. This hearing was rescheduled from two weeks ago due to the winter weather.
- SEPTA will hold a public hearing to make the Route 94 express service between Chestnut Hill and Montgomery Mall permanent. The hearing will be held on Friday, March 9 at 2:00pm, at the Best Western Montgomeryville, located at PA 309 & Stump Rd in Montgomery Twp.
- SEPTA will hold a public hearing to make the routing extensions on Route 43 between Spring Garden and Port Richmond permanent. The hearing will be held on Friday, March 23 at 4:00pm, at Penn Treaty Park Place, located at 1341 N Columbus Blvd (Delaware Av), Philadelphia.
March 3, 2001
ElDorado #4518 was spotted today on the 92 between West Chester and Exton Mall. Finally, my hopes were answered! Apparently, the ElDorados are seeing some regular service during the weekday AM peak on the 92 and 133 lines, so that's rather promising. In any case, there are rumors floating around that the bike racks installed on some of the ElDorados may not be suitable for some of the Frontier routes.
March 1, 2001
With the June pick coming up (strike permitting, of course), SEPTA will be swapping routes again. The 28, as speculated earlier this year, will be going from Comly to Midvale. In addition, all 47m trips will operate out of Southern instead of being split with Midvale; the 19 and 67 will be assigned to Comly, instead of being split with Frankford, and the 5 will no longer be split between Frankford and Southern. The 5 would most likely go to Frankford, however with construction of the new Frankford Terminal, it wouldn't shock me to see it go to Southern.
- Yet another strange spotting from Midvale. This time, Neoplan 35 ft 1301 was spotted on Block 118 operating on the 23. Now, I know SEPTA took a lot of the 40 ft buses from Midvale when the artics arrived, and I know a few more will be sent away once the 30 ft buses arrive, but please...
- Commuters at 69 St Terminal used to hearing announcments about departing buses at the West Terminal are now hearing the sounds of silence. SEPTA has, for whatever reason, elimiated the "starters" at 69 St Terminal. The starters were responsible for making announcements about departing buses at the West Terminal, specifically, the 101 and 102 trolleys, along with the 104, 107, 109, 110, 111, 112, 120, and 123 buses. Now, the operators are supposed to make these announcements (emphasis on the words "supposed to"). This sort of takes "Serious About Change" just a little too far.
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