What does SEPTA’s bus network redesign mean for Philly’s 10th Council District?
SEPTA’s proposed bus network redesign could mean significant changes for riders. This redesign is also cost-neutral, which means that SEPTA is committing no more funding for operations than what we have today, which is reduced from the level of public transit service we had pre-2020. A cost-neutral redesign means that some riders will get more service and some will get less service.
District 10 Summary: Far Northeast, Near NE West of Roosevelt Blvd
Routes Eliminated
- 50 is eliminated and Service is merged into a more frequent 20.
- Service north of Somerton Station on the 58 is eliminated
- 1 bus is eliminated. Local Service on Roosevelt Blvd between Pratt St and
- Bustleton Av is removed. Next closest routes are the 532 on Oxford and the 59 on Castor.
- Direct Service to Byberry East Industrial Park is replaced by a transfer to the 551 at Comly Road.
- Direct service to Decatur and Drummond is replaced by a transfer to the 549 at Red Lion Road
- Direct Service to Parx Casino is replaced by a transfer to the 542 at Neshaminy Mall
- The Industrial Park deviations on the 14 are eliminated, and all trips run exclusively between Frankford Transportation Center and Neshaminy Mall
- Service between Neshaminy and Oxford Valley Malls is replaced by the 602.
- Direct Service to Byberry East Industrial Park is replaced by a transfer
- to the 551 at Comly Road.
- Overnight service to Bybery East Industrial Park is eliminated
- Direct service through Caroline and Comly is replaced by a transfer to the 549 at Red Lion Road
- Service to Bucks County Technology Park is eliminated
- Service on Haldemon Av between Bustleton Av and Red Lion Road (provided by select trips on the 58) is eliminated
- Service on Haldemon Av between Red Lion Road and Roosevelt Blvd (provided by select trips on the 67) is eliminated
Service Improvements
- Frequency on the 19 is increased to every 30 minutes, from 60 minutes now. Bus now runs on Sundays. East-West segment re-routed through Welsh Rd instead of Grant Av.
- Buses on Red Lion Road runs every 30 minutes (from 60 minutes now). Service is extended west to Holy Redeemer Hospital
- Buses on Grant Av increased to every 30 minutes, from 60 minutes now.
- Introduction of Sunday Service. Westbound buses terminate in Willow Grove instead of Frankford Transportation Center
- All Day Frequency on Rhawn St (28) is increased to every 30 minutes, from 30-60 minutes now
- Service on Southampton Road is increased to every 30 minutes (from 60 minutes now). Service terminates at Torresdale Station instead of Frankford Transportation Center
- All-Day Service along State Road is increased to every 30 minutes (from 20-60 minutes now).
Service Decreases
- Rush hour frequency on the 26 and 67 (South of Red Lion) is reduced from around 12-20 minutes to 30 minutes
Bus Lanes
Dedicated bus lanes are a cost-neutral way to improve bus service with no trade-offs to riders and a high level of support from riders. Yet SEPTA officials call the idea a “third rail no one wants to touch.” Why, for example, in a supposed “Bus Revolution”, bus riders in Northeast Philly are told that having to wait as long for a 14 is a “reasonable tradeoff”, but asking for one of the six lanes on Roosevelt Blvd to be dedicated for buses is an impossible to touch third rail?
Last, buses should be given priority at red lights. Currently the only transit signal in the city is at 15th and Market.
Frequency
“Frequency” is a measure of how often a rider waiting at a stop can expect a bus to show up. It can be a difficult measure to quantify because it will vary across multiple dimensions of time; day of week and hour. For example, a transit agency might run more buses during the typical office-worker shifts, resulting in more buses and higher frequency slightly before and slightly after both 9am and 5pm, with less buses running during “off hours.” In SEPTA’s redesign the route changes are quantified as the maximum frequency the route will run, which only tells part of the story; the route running at peak-service. Even though it’s not a complete picture of what the changes mean, it can be used to broadly compare SEPTA’s proposed changes.
Using this measure of peak-service, many suburban routes will run every 30 minutes instead of hourly. Most of the hourly buses in SEPTA’s proposed redesign are routes that ran less than hourly before or didn’t operate at night or on weekends.
At peak-service, some crosstown routes would see improvements:
- The 39 bus would run every 15 minutes instead of 20-30 minutes
- The 43 bus would run every 15 minutes instead of every 30
- The 64 bus would run every 15 minutes (up from around 20)
Some buses that currently run 20-30 minutes on weekends would have 10-15 minute schedules that bring them up to their weekday schedules. Many routes would see levels of service on weekends that more closely align with their weekday service.
However, there are also important routes that would see service cuts:
- The 68 bus is marked as a 60-minute route, when it was previously timed with UPS shift times
- Several buses in the Near Northeast have their frequency reduced, to have more frequent routes in the Far Northeast
- During rush hour, the 27 bus would run every 30 minutes (from every 8 minutes currently)
- The 14 would run every 30 minutes (down from every 10-18 minutes now)
Span of Service
Span of service is another consideration with these changes. While SEPTA’s preferred public metric seems to be “max frequency” it is a metric that can hide service cuts that would affect second and third shift workers.
Under SEPTA’s proposed changes, all 10 and 15 minute “max” routes have overnight service. Buses that run a maximum frequency of 10 minutes are proposed to run every 30 minutes overnight; those with a maximum frequency of 15 minutes would run every 60 minutes overnight. On the whole, this represents an increase in coverage and frequency for overnight service in a lot of the city. There is also an increase in service or introduction of overnight service to some suburbs. For example Lancaster Pike, West Chester Pike and Norristown would have 24 hour service 7 days a week.
A notable service reduction is the proposed 599 (the 9 bus replacement) and the 798 (the 125 bus replacement); both of which would stop running at 9pm on weekdays and 7pm on weekends.
Stop consolidation is the idea that removing stops means faster trips– a bus that stops less moves more quickly. While Philly does have shorter stop spacing than most cities, stop consolidation puts a higher burden on riders with limited mobility. Copy-pasting bus stop standards from other cities might not be effective in Philadelphia. Many streets already have stop signs on every block, and previous bus stop consolidation pilots on these streets had “marginal” effects.
If a bus stop is being considered for removal, SEPTA should post information both online, and at the stop in question, explaining the logic behind the stop removal and where to go for feedback. If stops are going to be removed, we should improve the conditions where stops remain and SEPTA should request more money for more shelters, curb cuts, and accessibility improvements.
Stop Consolidation
If stops are going to be removed, we should improve the conditions where stops remain and ask for more money for more shelters, curb cuts, and accessibility improvements
Transfers
At the core of SEPTA’s redesign is the idea that if riders transfer more, transit routes can be straighter and run more efficiently. This is one area of the redesign where riders are being asked to sacrifice while getting nothing in return. SEPTA’s redesign does not seem to include provisions for adding more safe, well-lit areas out of the weather for riders to wait for transfers, nor a fairer fare policy.
Currently only SEPTA Key users are given one free transfer and cash riders are expected to pay full fare, twice. Cash riders can pay 40% or more than Key users for the same exact ride. The proposed bus network redesign turns many one or two seat rides into 3 or 4 seat rides. Unless SEPTA’s inequitable transfer policy and cash fare policy is addressed before any changes take effect, riders with the least amount of money will be paying the most. SEPTA should bring back paper transfers for cash users and commit to giving Key users unlimited transfers within a 90-120 minute window.
Polling and Outreach
The SEPTA bus network redesign team has done outreach and requests for feedback through in person events at transit terminals, community centers, virtual events at Zoom calls oriented at each neighborhood, and online through their website. One issue with the virtual meetings is that when a rider shares a concern, there is no way to see how many other riders share that concern. The time allotted for these meetings is short, limiting the amount of feedback riders can give, even when there are few participants. The in-person meetings typically have much larger attendance.
None of the survey methods measure riders’ specific satisfaction or dissatisfaction for each specific route proposals. SEPTA’s online feedback option is just a text box soliciting feedback from riders. Other transit agencies have quantified riders’ feedback on route changes; Vancouver’s TransLink makes that information available.
Early on in the redesign process, we gave SEPTA our concerns and observations about their redesign process, driven by our experiences speaking with riders at bus stops who had no idea that SEPTA was considering extensive changes. SEPTA has recently begun using more direct language as we suggested, but was initially resistant because they were concerned they would “alarm” riders. Honesty is important, especially because riders distrust SEPTA.
What Defines a Successful Bus Network Redesign?
SEPTA has not publicly stated what a successful bus network redesign would look like. In a change affecting so many riders, it is important to define success so any failures can be corrected. What happens if less riders use the system after the redesign? What is SEPTA’s plan if it results in worse service?
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