Septa Crashes From Choking On A Throat Lozenge
A SEPTA driver choked on a throat lozenge Saturday afternoon and lost control of his bus, which crashed into five cars, knocked down a utility pole, and rammed into a house in the 4000 block of Ford Road in the Wynnefield section of Philadelphia, transit officials said yesterday.
How long until SEPTA announces it has banned Ricola for its drivers? Anyway, this is the best excuse for a bus accident I’ve ever heard — true or not, and I see no reason to think it’s a lie — and I hope to see future hilarious accident explanations from SEPTA in the future.
SEPTA driver chokes on lozenge; bus crashes [Inquirer]
More Info: http://willdo.pwblogs.com/2009/02/16/lozenge-causes-septa-accident/
SEPTA: Find Alternative to Regional Rail
SEPTA is urging Regional Rail riders to find alternate service to the city today.
Officials suggest using buses, the Broad Street line, of the Market-Frankford El due to the overwhelming use of the lines from parade spectators.
All Regional Rails running with delays of up to 1 hour in all directions. Alternative service is printed in rail schedules.
The trains are running on a normal weekly schedule. Trains were already running at peak capacity because of increased demand due to gas prices.
Broad Street Line service is running every 10 minutes – express service will follow regular schedule until 2:00 p.m. Broad Street Line’s Ridge Spur has been suspended all day.
Market/Frankford Line is running at peak service all day – trains will run every 4 minutes. After the conclusion of the parade, SEPTA will offer free shuttle service from Pattison Avenue to 2nd and Market Streets where riders can pick up the Market/Frankford Line.
Center City buses have been affected by the parade as well. There are detours on approximately 20 routes, which will stay in effect from noon to 3:00 p.m.
PATCO trains will run every 5 to 6 minutes.
STREET CLOSURES
Market Street between 20th Street and City Hall – no cross traffic will be allowed on Market Street.
S. Broad Street between City Hall and Pattison Avenue – no cross traffic will be allowed on Broad Street.
Pattison Avenue between Broad and 7th Streets – no cross traffic will be allowed on Pattison Avenue.
There are no major delays on I-76, I-676, or I-95.
I love how they urge everyone to use public transportation and SEPTA can’t even accommodate enough people. AWESOME!
More Info: http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=resources/traffic&id=6480848
SEPTA’s New Train
The Silverliner V, SEPTA’s bold new foray into eco-friendly mass transportation, was unveiled on the second of October in Suburban Station on Track 0. My friend took my down to see it. I felt like a rock-star as I walked on board, getting my own little tour of the new features from my friend, who works for a transportation engineering firm. I have to say that I am quite impressed… The Silverliner V will be a sleek new addition to SEPTA’s regional rail lines. It features an AC propulsion system that is attached to the undercarriage of the train and converts braking energy into electronic energy, which is then used as additional power. For a cool slideshow produced by an American company that includes information on AC propulsion, click here. The train runs on 11,000 volts AC, which is transferred, as usual, through wires that hang above the train. The train also features new color-coded directional signs, a better ventilation and air-conditioning system, as well as a seat called the “rail fan,” which looks out over the tracks in front of the train. Visitors are allowed to take a full tour of the mock-up train car. I got a chance to walk through it and speak to some people who were really hip with trains. One man, who turned out to be the 2nd Vice Chairman of a NJ Transit advisory committee, gave me the low-down on how the Silverliner V will reduce our dependence on foreign oil because it runs on electricity. Now that’s what I call real change. The train car will be on display weekdays only from 11 am to 6 pm, Oct. 2-Oct. 16.
SEPTA to Offer Free Evening Regional Rail Travel This Weekend
Psycho Hammers Subway Passenger
As the SEPTA subway train rocked forward, a thirty-something guy leaned over near the doorway and gently planted a kiss on the little boy at his side.
When the train neared the Fairmount Avenue stop shortly after midnight on Thursday, the man reached out like an adoring parent and directed the 3- or 4-year-old tyke to an open seat.
Then he flew into a monstrous rage.
Without uttering a word, police said, the unidentified man whipped out a double-claw hammer and began bludgeoning a 20-year-old man who was dozing off in his seat.
For five long minutes, SEPTA surveillance cameras captured the deranged attacker – who was still on the loose late last night- digging his hammer into the man’s head and neck.
Through it all, disgusted investigators said, at least 10 passengers stood by and did nothing as the random attack moved from the train to the platform, when the hammer-wielding maniac tried to push his victim down onto the train tracks.
When the beating was finished and the suspect fled with the little boy, the victim staggered back onto the train, bloodied, confused and alone, said Detective Kenneth Roach, of Central Detectives.
And even then, no one tried to help him.
“Somebody should have helped this guy,” Roach said. “I understand the [other] guy had a hammer, but they outnumbered him at least 10 to one.”
Miraculously, the victim took the subway up to Temple University Hospital, received several staples and sutures and was discharged, Roach said.
The motive remains a mystery.
“I’m baffled,” Roach said. “He had no reason to do that. It was unprovoked. The victim was just going home from work, minding his own business, listening to his iPod.”
Roach said that the victim, whose name was not released, boarded the subway at City Hall.
The attacker – a bearded, stocky, 5-foot-9-inch black man who wore a yellow shirt and black pants – also got on at City Hall, with a youngster who may or may not be his child.
The victim and the hammer-toting psychopath never exchanged a word or a glance, Roach said.
“According to the victim, there was no contact or verbal discussion,” he said. “They didn’t even notice each other.”
The hammer was hidden in a black-and-yellow book bag that the attacker clutched throughout the short subway ride.
The little boy dashed off the train with the other passengers during the brutal beat-down, but was later seen running back on to recover the book bag. The boy and the suspect are seen on camera leaving together.
Roach described the attacker as “very dangerous” and asked anyone who knows him to contact police at 215-686-3093 or -3094. *
More Info: http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/20080909_Psycho_hammers_subway_passenger.html
SEPTA to offer more buses, late-night trains
More frequent buses. Late-night trains. Better weekend service.
That’s what SEPTA promises in the next few weeks and months as it launches what it calls its most ambitious service expansion ever.
After decades of cuts, SEPTA will announce today a $10 million project aimed at easing overcrowding and improving daily service. The first of the 65 upgrades will begin Aug. 25, and all of the changes are to be made by Nov. 3.
The changes will include bigger buses on busy Route 14 along Roosevelt Boulevard between Northeast Philadelphia and Bucks County, more frequent service on Route 23 between Chestnut Hill and South Philadelphia, and after-midnight trains on the R5 Paoli/Thorndale, R6 Norristown, and R7 Trenton Regional Rail lines.
“This is really unprecedented for us,” SEPTA general manager Joseph Casey said. “We need to respond to increased ridership and other customer needs.”
With commuters reacting to higher gasoline prices and switching from cars to public transit, SEPTA’s ridership has increased by about 6 percent, or 38,000 trips a day, from a year ago. Rail ridership is up 12 percent, to its highest point in 25 years, and many rush-hour trains are packed with standing passengers.
“It’s been getting pretty crowded” on his daily commute, Rico Paolino of Horsham said yesterday as he waited for an R5 train at Suburban Station. When he catches his usual 6:30 a.m. train in Ambler, “you may not get a seat.”
Now, at the height of summer-vacation season, crowding isn’t too bad, he said. “But the first week everybody’s back in school, it will really be packed.”
Casey, who became general manager early this year, credited the state’s new transportation-funding law, Act 44, with providing the money to make the improvements possible. He said more expansion might be on the way, as SEPTA tries to hang onto its new riders and attract more.
To handle the expanded service, SEPTA is hiring 184 bus and train operators, mechanics, cleaners, police officers, maintenance workers, and customer-service agents.
The new bus service is made possible by the arrival of the first 40 of more than 400 hybrid diesel-electric buses to be delivered over the next four years.
New rail cars also have been ordered, but the first of the 120 Silverliner V cars are not likely to be in service until 2010. In the meantime, eight used rail cars bought from NJ Transit will be added to SEPTA’s fleet by October to help ease overcrowding.
SEPTA will tout its improved service with a $1 million advertising campaign on TV, newspapers and radio, and it will pitch its late-night service to college students with whimsical ads on bar coasters, coffee-cup sleeves, and Internet banners.
The chance to add service is a big change for SEPTA after decades of route cutbacks, “doomsday scenarios,” and higher fares. After lowering riders’ expectations for years, SEPTA officials acknowledged the challenges they face in offering more to passengers.
“Certainly, there is a risk,” said Pat Nowakowski, assistant general manager for operations. “We will create expectations, and we have to work to make sure we meet them.”
Kim Scott Heinle, assistant general manager for customer service, said, “We don’t want to invite people to a party and then have a bad time.” Heinle said his staff would work to make sure details such as signs and rider information make the new service easy for passengers to use.
Of the 65 route changes, 26 are designed to reduce overcrowding on SEPTA buses. Nine upgrades involve adding peak-hour trips to improve service, such as the addition of 14 round trips on Route 201 in Fort Washington. And 30 of the changes are designed to improve midday, evening, weekend and late-night service for buses and trains, such as the addition of a 1:32 a.m. train from Trenton to give Friday-night passengers out of New York a later connection.
“We’re no longer a 9-to-5 society,” said Charles Webb, chief planning officer for SEPTA. He said the later trains “are a test of this market. We’ve received a lot of requests for later service.”
At Suburban Station, Regional Rail riders said any changes to reduce overcrowding would be welcome. But peak-hour commuters said they wouldn’t see much benefit from the new late-night service.
“Sometimes we stay in Center City for the theater and dinner, and late trains might help then,” Paolino said. “We might not feel so rushed.”
Stephanie Hartman, 26, of Somerton, said she would rather see SEPTA add earlier trains.
“When I have to go to the airport early, there aren’t any trains running. Even 5 a.m. would be better.”
And she bemoaned infrequent midday service: “There’s only one train an hour.”
Bus riders said more frequent service and less-crowded buses would be a good thing. Regular passengers said that they had noticed the increase in ridership and that, in some cases, SEPTA’s actions had made things worse.
On Route 27, from Center City to Roxborough, passengers have noticed that large 60-foot “articulated” buses, which can hold up to 100 riders, have been replaced with standard 40-foot buses, which can accommodate 60. SEPTA says it is shifting articulated buses from Route 27 to Route 14 to ease overcrowding there.
“It’s even more crowded now,” said Nicole Green, 18, waiting for a bus to take her home to Roxborough from her summer job at a Rita’s Water Ice stand at 15th and Market Streets. “I don’t understand that.”
From a rider’s perspective, SEPTA’s expansion plan “is all good. . . . The only thing I’d like to see is things they can’t do because they don’t have the equipment,” said Bob Clearfield, chairman of the Citizen Advisory Committee, a passengers’ advocacy panel that advises SEPTA.
“I’d like to see more trains or more train capacity, but they’re making maximum use of the equipment they have,” Clearfield said.
I Hate Septa!!!
Everyday for work, I take the Septa subway to Olney, then transfer over to the L. It’s a 40 min commute, twice a day. This past Wednesday and Thursday they were remodeling where I caught the L. On Wednesday, I walked around tryna find out where they were picking people up and I couldn’t find it. I ended up taking the 6 to my Dad’s store to see if he could drop me off at work; I was about 30 min late to work. Alright, 30 minutes late, no big deal–I run my own store (Philly Locker Room) anyway.
The next day I came to the same place early. I went to the booth lady and asked her where the 6 was picking people up. She looked annoyed, gave me an attitude and went, “I DON’T KNOW.” Why don’t you try the next part where they pick people up? I’m like UH YEAH, I’ve already tried that. That’s why I’m asking you, DON’T YOU WORK HERE???? How is she gonna give me an attitude when I’m asking her a legit question. ‘Cos it’s SO hard to find out for me, you would’ve thought I had asked her for a fucking kidney. If I had more time, I would’ve picked a fight with her dumbass.
Also, seeing this (kinda NSFW) first thing in the morning, only fuels my hate for Philadelphia’s public transportation.
When I used to ride the bus to my old job in West Philly, the buses were late everyday and it didn’t even show up sometimes.
Why does Philly have the worst public transportation? Tokens are so outdated, most major cities have upgraded to refillable pay-as-you-go type cards. SEPTA, step your game up.
Dear Septa,
I hate you and if you were a real person I would kick you in the nuts.
Comment and tell me why you hate SEPTA too.
-Sally
