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WHYY By Colmon Holmes, who uses CCT as his main mode of transportation, said he was concerned about the cleanliness of public transit at a PhillyTRU rally outside SEPTA headquarters on May 24, 2021. (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY) Kenneth Brown of Chestnut Hill rides the 23 bus everyday. He goes to his stop and waits for the bus to slow to a halt to let him and whoever else may be waiting on. But far too often the bus just keeps rolling due to overcrowding, even during the pandemic, he says. Nat Lownes said SEPTA riders deserve to be treated with respect at a PhillYTRU rally outside SEPTA’s headquarters on May 24, 2021. (Kimberly Paynter/WHYY) ....
It’s that last part Philadelphia never managed to get right. The fares and operations on SEPTA’s regional system were never adjusted to the RER idea. Say someone arrives on Amtrak at 30th Street Station and then wants to head to Temple University. It’s $5.25, more than twice the regular transit fare, for the 15-minute ride through the Center City tunnel. Moreover, “sometimes crew changes are done in the regional rail tunnel, so you could wait,” explained Christopher Puchalsky, of Philadelphia’s Office of Transportation, Infrastructure and Sustainability. Or one can do the trip on Philadelphia’s regular subway and bus lines, run by a different division of SEPTA. That requires changing trains, takes over 20 minutes, and costs $2.25. ....
SEPTA’s planned Mall Boulevard station on the planned King of Prussia line. SEPTA The Philadelphia Inquirer reported yesterday that SEPTA wants to spend $40 million in federal funds the agency received for Covid-19 relief. However, they don t want to spend it on Covid-19 relief. They want to spend it on the engineering and design work for their new line to King of Prussia. The $40 million was provided to SEPTA to keep trains running during the pandemic. Nat Lownes, a member of the Philadelphia Transit Riders Union said “this money is intended to run transit through the crisis. The maneuver is not illegal, but it looks shifty when they could be spending money on keeping more buses running.” Lownes also said that transit vehicle overcrowding is an “immediate threat.” Many SEPTA riders and others feel the same as Lownes about the issue. ....