On March 21, SEPTA abruptly closed the Somerset El stop with no timeline for reopening. The station serves approximately 800 riders each day (2000 pre-COVID) and was closed with less than two weeks' notice.
Passengers who rely on Somerset Station are exposed daily to a dangerous environment through no fault of their own. Kensington has been the epicenter of the opioid epidemic in Philly for years. Rather than a sudden development, the station closure is the result of repeated failures of city, state and federal governments to provide basic sanitation, housing and medical services.
Though SEPTA has eliminated convenient access to the El for hundreds of people, managers have failed to provide a reasonable alternative. Service on the Route 3 Bus is nearly unchanged compared to when Somerset was open.
Transport Workers Union Local 234 President Willie Brown has recommended running shuttle buses between Huntingdon and Allegheny El stop so riders aren’t left stranded, as SEPTA has done previously. Three neighborhood-based organizations– NKCDC, HACE, and Impact Services –have called for a date for reopening of the station, a station free of syringes and human waste, increased bus service along Kensington Ave, expanded services for people who are unhoused and for those suffering from addiction, and other changes in the community. We support the reopening of the Somerset station, and we support the community-based solutions recommended by Kensington neighbors to make the station safer for riders.
We endorse these demands and encourage TRU members and supporters to:
- Use the form below to send these demands to the SEPTA Board before their Thursday meeting– or change the form to say whatever you want to the SEPTA Board.
- March on Kensington Ave on Tuesday, March 23 at 5:30pm, beginning at Somerset.