SEPTA’s proposed bus revolution is another example of the national trend of cities doing cost-neutral redesigns of their bus network. In earlier stages of outreach, the Bus Revolution staff championed about how much of an improvement the new bus network will be to riders, and, in their defense, we have seen a lot of good things being proposed. A higher number of routes will run every 15 minutes or less on all days of the week, overnight service is being proposed on more corridors throughout the city and suburbs, and some corridors, like Cheltenham Avenue, are finally getting bus service that they’ve asked for years.
But as more and more riders have come to the conclusion that these changes would actually make their commute worse, SEPTA has fallen back on talking points to looking at the Bus Revolution as a way to cut what they refer to as, “lower performing routes”.
While some of these changes make sense on a map from a planner’s point of view, a lot of the decision-making seems baffling to Philadelphians we’ve talked to on the ground who ride, walk to and operate these routes. For example, in the Oak Lane neighborhood, SEPTA is using the fact that they’re adding a bus on Cheltenham Av as an excuse to cut Route K on 66th Avenue. This is despite the fact that Cheltenham and 66th are often over half a mile apart, 66th runs through Oak Lane’s heart while Cheltenham runs along its northern edge, and that Route K is one of the highest performing bus routes in the system.
We’re seeing similar logic with some of SEPTA’s other decisions around the city, such as eliminating Route 4, which would create a service gap between Broad and 5th Streets, and merging Routes 3 and 5 onto Frankford Av, eliminating an accessibility and safety lifeline along Kensington Avenue.
In our final example, we address the fact that a lot of these changes work against existing commuting patterns. In the latest draft, Routes 124 and 125, which currently run to midnight, are scheduled to end at 9 pm on weekdays and 7 pm on weekends, meaning riders will no longer be able to get home from their closing retail shifts. The Bus Revolution also proposes taking Route 68, which currently has schedules timed with UPS Air Hub shift changes, and making it run every 60 minutes, adding a transfer for West Philly-bound riders and eliminating trips past midnight that align with overnight shift changes.
Despite the fact that the Regional Rail had much lower ridership recovery after the pandemic compared to the buses, SEPTA is treating Reimagining Regional Rail as a long-term investment into the system, while the Bus Revolution is born out of a cost-neutral desire to survive the short-term. There’s an ongoing contradiction where one of the Regional Rail scenarios promised to integrate better with the transit system, while the Bus Revolution actually proposes cutting service to several Regional Rail stations.
As SEPTA moves forward with more phases of outreach, we need SEPTA to be more cognizant of its riders needs. We strongly urge SEPTA to go out and meet with its riders, not just at transit centers or community meeting places, but along bus routes across the system. Metrics should exist to quantify riders feedback on changes on a per route level, and the rationale behind each change should be clearly explained on all communications platforms. And any Bus Revolution should put operators at the forefront of route planning. The front-line staff know their routes better than anyone else. They regularly interact and build relationships with riders, and they need to have their voices heard.
SEPTA’s decision-making risks making the service less, not more, useful for the overwhelming majority of its riders in the years to come. By observing how riders use the system now, SEPTA can make it work better for them in the future. Rather than rush to implement a half-baked vision for the future, let’s take the time to make a fully-baked one work.
Testimony as part of Philly City Council’s 2023 hearings about SEPTA’s proposed cost-neutral bus network redesign, branded “Bus Revolution”