What does SEPTA’s bus network redesign mean for Philly’s 4th 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 4 Summary: Lower Northwest and Overbrook

Council District 4 map. Eliminated bus lines are dotted red.

Routes 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
  • Local service on 77th St and Sherwood Road through Overbrook (Currently served by the 31 and 103) is eliminated. The next closest routes are the 905 on Township Line Road (to Wissahickon Transportation Center) and the 716 on Haverford Av (to 69th St Transportation Center). One-Seat Rides to Center City are eliminated.
  • Service on Wynnefield Av between 54th St and Belmont Av (Currently Served by the 40) is eliminated. The next closest routes are the 508 on Belmont Av and the 506 and 555 on 54th St.
  • Local Service through 58th St in Overbrook (currently served by the G) is eliminated and all G trips now terminate at Overbrook Station via 63rd St. The next closest route are the 506 on 54th St. The 905 replaces G service on City Avenue between Cardinal and 63rd.
  • Service on Roxborough Av and Domino St between Ridge Av and Umbria St (Currently Served by the 35) is eliminated. The next closest route is the 502 (65 replacement) on Ridge Av.
  • Service to Gladwyne (Currently served by the 44 and 52) is eliminated
  • Service to Narberth Regional Rail Station (currently served by the 44) is eliminated. All 44 trips will route through Montgomery Av.
  • Service on the Schuylkill Expressway is also eliminated, and the 44 will follow Parkside Av in West Philly to get to Center City

Service Improvements

  • Service on the 105 is increased to every 15 minutes (from 30-60 minutes currently). Hourly overnight Service is added.
  • Service on the 65 is increased to every 10 minutes (Currently every 10-20 minutes). Route is extended Eastward to Olney Transportation Center. Half-hourly overnight service is introduced.

Service Reductions

  • Service on the 9 after 9PM on weekdays and 7PM on weekends is eliminated. (End of service is currently at 12:30 AM). Saturday service is reduced to every 60 minutes (from 30 minutes now).
  • Peak Service on the 27 is reduced to every 30 minutes (Currently every 5-10 minutes during rush hour)
  • Combined service on the 124/125 along the Schuylkill Expressway between Wissahickon Transportation Center and 30th Street Station is reduced to every 30 minutes (Currently every 10-15 minutes)

Roxborough Bus Service Changes

One of the reasons given by SEPTA for the reduction of expressway buses is that they’re less productive since they can’t pick up passengers when they run along an expressway. If we’re at the point where we’re cutting service on crowded buses due to some technicality of them not being productive enough, it raises questions on if this redesign is supposed to serve the riders or if it’s supposed to benefit SEPTA.

For riders in Roxborough, being told to put up with either decreased frequency or an added transfer, contradicts SEPTA’s promises in their advertising that “Your ride will get faster.”

The Roxborough/Manayunk changes result in a net loss of service and longer travel times for a growing area of the city.

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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