SEPTA

SEPTA
(Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority)
SEPTA text.svg
Info
Locale Delaware Valley
Transit type
Operation
Operator(s) SEPTA
(some routes in Chester Co. contracted)
Technical
Track gauge 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in (1,435 mm)
5 ft 2 1⁄2 in (1,588 mm)
Route map
Geographically-accurate SEPTA rail transit map. Includes Regional Rail, rapid transit, and trolley lines. Also includes connecting services.

The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is a regional municipal authority[1] that operates various forms of public transit — bus, subway and elevated rail, commuter rail, light rail, and electric trolley bus — that serve 3.8 million people in and around Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. SEPTA also manages construction projects that repair, replace, and expand infrastructure and rolling stock.

SEPTA serves the combined city and county of Philadelphia, Delaware County, Montgomery County, Bucks County, and Chester County. SEPTA also serves New Castle County in Delaware, and Mercer County in New Jersey.

SEPTA has the 6th-largest U.S. transit system by ridership, with about 306.9 million annual unlinked trips. It controls 280 active stations, over 450 miles of track, 2,295 revenue vehicles, and 196 routes. SEPTA also manages Shared-Ride services in Philadelphia and ADA services across the region. These services are operated by third-party contractors.

SEPTA is one of only two U.S. transit authorities that operates all of the five major types of transit vehicles: regional (commuter) rail trains, "heavy" rapid transit (subway/elevated) trains, light rail vehicles (trolleys), electric trolleybuses and motor buses. The other is Boston's Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (which runs ferryboat service as well).[2]

SEPTA employs more than 9,000 people. Its headquarters is located at 1234 Market Street in Center City Philadelphia.

Contents

History

SEPTA logo from the 1970s

Formation

SEPTA was created by the Pennsylvania legislature on August 17, 1963, to coordinate government subsidies to various transit and railroad companies in southeastern Pennsylvania. It commenced on February 18, 1964.[3]

On November 1, 1965, SEPTA absorbed two predecessor agencies:

By 1966, the Reading Company and Pennsylvania Railroad commuter railroad lines were operated under contract to SEPTA. On February 1, 1968, the Pennsylvania Railroad merged with the New York Central railroad to become Penn Central, only to file for bankruptcy on June 21, 1970. Penn Central continued to operate in bankruptcy until 1976, when Conrail took over its assets along with those of several other bankrupt railroads, including the Reading Company. Conrail operated commuter services under contract to SEPTA until January 1, 1983, when SEPTA took over operations and acquired track, rolling stock, and other assets to form the Railroad Division.

Subsequent expansion

SEPTA acquired the Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC) on September 30, 1968, which included bus, trolley, and trackless trolley routes, and the Market-Frankford Line and the Broad Street Line in the City of Philadelphia. This became the City Transit Division. (Established as the Philadelphia Rapid Transit Company in 1907 by the merger of a group of then independent transit companies operating within the city and its environs, the system became the PTC in 1940.)

On January 30, 1970, SEPTA acquired the Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company, also known as the Red Arrow Lines, which included the Philadelphia and Western Railroad (P&W) route now called the Norristown High Speed Line (Route 100), the Media and Sharon Hill Lines (Routes 101 and 102), and several suburban bus routes in Delaware County. Today, this is the Victory Division, though it is sometimes referred to as the Red Arrow Division.

On March 1, 1976, SEPTA acquired the transit operations of Schuylkill Valley Lines, which is today the Frontier Division.

Governance

SEPTA is governed by a 15-member Board of Directors.

The current members of the SEPTA Board are:[4]

The day-to-day operations of SEPTA are handled by the General Manager, who is appointed and hired by the Board of Directors. The General Manager is assisted by nine department heads called Assistant General Managers.

The present General Manager is Joseph M. Casey, who had served as the authority's Chief Financial Officer/Treasurer until his appointment as General Manager in 2008. Past General Managers include Faye L. M. Moore, Joseph T. Mack, John "Jack" Leary, Lou Gambaccini, and David L. Gunn. Past acting General Managers include James Kilcur and Bill Stead.

Routes and ridership

Rapid transit

Trolley and light rail

SEPTA subway-surface trolley

Bus

SEPTA lists 121 bus routes, not including over 50 school trips, with most routes in the City of Philadelphia proper. Currently, SEPTA generally employs lettered, one and two-digit route numbering for its City Division routes, 90-series and 100-series numbers routes for its Victory ("Red Arrow") Division (Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties) and its Frontier Division (Montgomery and Bucks Counties), 200-series routes for its Regional Rail connector routes (Routes 201, 204, 205 and 206 in Montgomery & Chester Counties), 300-series routes for other specialized and/or third-party contract routes, and 400-series routes for limited service buses to schools within the city of Philadelphia.

Commuter rail

SEPTA began operating its commuter rail division (as SEPTA Regional Rail) on January 1, 1983. This division operates 13 lines serving more than 150 stations covering most of the five-county southeastern Pennsylvania region. It also runs trains to Newark, Delaware, Trenton, New Jersey, and West Trenton, New Jersey. Daily ridership averaged over 100,000 in 2006,[5] with a third of ridership on the Paoli/Thorndale and Lansdale/Doylestown lines.

Most of the cars used on the lines range in vintage from 1963 to 1976.[10] New Silverliner V cars have been ordered [11] but delivery dates remain uncertain [12] due to production delays. The first test cars were to have been delivered in April 2009, however the delivery date was delayed until Spring 2010. The three test cars were received in March 2010[13] and displayed in Suburban Station for public introduction in April 2010. Testing and inspection of the three pilot cars is underway, but the full order may remain unfilled until 2011, barring additional delays.

Divisions

SEPTA has three major operating divisions: City Transit, Suburban, and Regional Rail. These divisions reflect the different transit and railroad operations that SEPTA has assumed.

City Transit Division

SEPTA'S Route 34 trolley in the 4500 block of Baltimore Avenue

The City Transit Division operates routes mostly within the City of Philadelphia, including buses, subway-surface trolleys, the Market-Frankford Line, and the Broad Street Line. Some of its routes extend into Delaware, Montgomery, and Bucks counties. This division is the descendant of the Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC). There are seven depots in this division: four of these depots only operate buses, one is a mixed bus/trackless trolley depot, one is a mixed bus/streetcar depot, one is a streetcar-only facility.

Bus and trackless trolley routes
Light rail routes
Garages

For latest info on Garages

Suburban Division

Victory District

The Victory District operates suburban bus and trolley (or light rail) routes that are based at 69th Street Terminal in Upper Darby in Delaware County. Its routes include the Norristown High Speed Line (Route 100) light rail line that runs from 69th Street Terminal to Norristown and the SEPTA Surface Media and Sharon Hill Trolley Lines (Routes 101 and 102). This district is the descendant of the Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company, also known as the Red Arrow Lines. Most residents of the Victory District operating area still refer to this district as the "Red Arrow Division."

Light rail routes
Bus routes

Frontier District

The Frontier District operates suburban bus routes that are based at the Norristown Transportation Center in Montgomery County and bus lines that serve eastern Bucks County. This district is the descendant of the Schuylkill Valley Lines in the Norristown area and the Trenton-Philadelphia Coach Lines in eastern Bucks County. SEPTA took over Schuylkill Valley Lines operation on March 1, 1976. SEPTA turned over the Bucks County routes (Formerly: Trenton-Philadelphia Coach Line Routes a subsidiary of SEPTA) to Frontier Division in November, 1983.

Suburban contract operations

Regional Rail division

The Regional Rail Division (RRD) operates 13 commuter railroad routes that begin in Central Philadelphia and radiate outwards, terminating in intra-city, suburban, and out-of-state locations.

This division is the descendant of the six electrified commuter lines of the Reading Company (RDG), the six electrified commuter lines of Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR, later Penn Central: PC) railroads, and the new Airport line constructed by the City of Philadelphia between 1974 and 1984.

With the construction and opening of the Center City Commuter Connection Tunnel in 1984, lines were paired such that a former Pennsylvania Railroad line was coupled with a former Reading line. Seven such pairings were created and given route designations numbered R1 through R8 (with R4 not used). As a result, the routes were originally designed so that trains would proceed from one outlying terminal to Center City, stopping at 30th Street Station, Suburban Station, and Market East Station, then proceed out to the other outlying terminal assigned to the route. Since ridership patterns have changed since the implementation of this plan, SEPTA has removed the R-numbers from the lines as of July 2010, and instead referred to the lines by the names of their termini.

The out-of-state terminals offer connections (and potential connections) with other transit agencies. The Trenton Line offers connections in Trenton, New Jersey to NJ Transit (NJT) or Amtrak for travel to New York City. Plans exist to restore NJT service to West Trenton, New Jersey, thus offering a future alternate to New York via the West Trenton Line and NJT. Another plan offers a connection for travel to Baltimore and Washington DC via MARC, involving extensions of the SEPTA Wilmington/Newark Line from Newark, Delaware, an extension of MARC's Penn service from Perryville MD, or both.

SEPTA equipment

Buses

In 1982, SEPTA made its largest-ever order of buses: the Neoplan USA order, which was at the time also that company's largest order. Over the years, these buses have made their way all around the system. SEPTA changed its specifications on new bus orders each year. The Neoplan AK’s (8285–8410), which were SEPTA’s first order of Neoplans, had longitudinal seating: all of their seats face towards the aisle. However, their suburban counterparts (8411–8434) had longitudinal seating only in the rear of the bus. The back door has a wheelchair ramp, which forced SEPTA to limit their use and specify wheelchair-lift operations on the authority's next order of coaches. These units also sported a nine-liter 6v92 engine and Allison HT-740 transmission.

In 1983, SEPTA would join forces with other transit operators in Pennsylvania in an order of 1000 buses from Neoplan of various lengths. SEPTA would ultimately receive 450 of these buses, of which 425 were 40-foot buses (8435-8584 and 8601-8875), which came without wheelchair lifts, and 25 buses that were 35 foot buses (1301–1325).

In 1986, SEPTA would buy more Neoplans on its own, and these began to arrive in early 1987. The first two groups (3000-3131 and 3132-3251) came without wheelchair lifts, but the last two groups, the first arriving in late 1987 (3252-3371), and a second group that arrived in 1989 (3372-3491), would have rear wheelchair lifts. All Neoplans built between 1986 and 1989 were equipped with a ZF 5HP-590 transmission.

By the early 1990s, SEPTA had 1,092 Neoplan An440 coaches in active service, making the Philadelphia operation the largest transportation authority in North America with a fleet mainly manufactured by Neoplan USA. These buses dominated the streets of Philadelphia through late 1997, when the earlier fleet of AK/BD Neoplans (8285–8581) was replaced by a series of 400 buses built by North American Bus Industries (NABI). More retirements occurred as SEPTA received its low-floor fleet, with the last ones retired in June 2008.

The Neoplan model has not entirely vanished from Philadelphia's streets, since SEPTA contracted with Neoplan in 1998 to build a fleet of 155 articulated buses, the first of which began to arrive in late 1999. By the summer of 2000, all were in service.[14]

As part of the procurement process that produced the articulated buses, SEPTA also went into smaller buses. This was manifested in an order of 80 buses from National-Eldorado (4501-4580), the first of which began to arrive in late 2000. Most of these buses are on suburban routes, but a group of them is in use in the "LUCY" service in the University City section of West Philadelphia, in a special paint scheme, and a number of them are on lighter lines within Philadelphia.

Also, a group of buses called "cutaways" was purchased. These buses were built on Ford van chassis, with bodies similar to those seen on car rental shuttles at various airports. These buses were retired around 2003 and replaced with slightly larger cutaway buses on a Freightliner truck chasis.

The last, which has steered SEPTA into a new era, was the low-floor bus. After evaluating sample buses in the 1995-96 period from New Flyer and NovaBus, an order was placed with New Flyer for 100 low-floor buses (5401-5500). A pilot bus arrived in January 2001, and production models arrived in the autumn of 2001. More purchases arrived from 2002 to 2005, with the 2002-2004 buses being numbered 5501-5600, 5613-5830, and 5851-5950. The 2005 arrivals were numbered 8000-8119, these numbers presumably chosen so as not to run into the 6000's, which had been reserved for an order of commuter coaches from Motor Coach Industries that SEPTA eventually did not pursue.

SEPTA has placed an order for 400 New Flyer hybrid buses - with options for up to 80 additional buses - to replace the NABI Ikarus buses at the end of their 12-year life span. These will not be the first hybrid buses, since SEPTA purchased two small groups of hybrids, 5601H-5612H, which arrived in 2003, and 5831H-5850H, which came in 2004. Before the 2008 purchase, SEPTA would borrow an MTA New York City Transit Orion hybrid to evaluate it in service. While in use for SEPTA, it bore the number 3999. After evaluation, it resumed its New York identity. The first of these hybrids arrived in late 2008, and by early spring 2009, all were in service. SEPTA was the first to purchase New Flyer DE40LFs equipped with roof-top HVAC units. Recently it had been confirmed by different sources that the next batch of hybrids for SEPTA will be New Flyer DE40LFRs due to New Flyer discontinuing the LF series in 2009.

Although transit authorities earn revenue from advertisements placed on buses, SEPTA earns more advertising revenue from advertisements placed on the backs of its buses. As the result, SEPTA buses are mainly equipped with a roof-top HVAC, and with their rear route-number sign mounted close to the roof, so they can have the space for rear advertisements—especially on the 2008-2009 New Flyer DE40LFs and future orders.[15]

One of SEPTA's articulated NEOPLAN AN460 buses

The new face of SEPTA's bus fleet which is the New Flyer D40LF.

One of SEPTA's New Flyer E40LFR trackless trolleys

Subway

The Broad Street Line uses cars built by Kawasaki between 1981 and 1983. These cars, known as B-IV as they are the fourth generation used on the line, are stainless steel and include some cars with operating cabs at both ends, as well as some with only a single cab.

The Market-Frankford Line uses a class of car known as M4s, built from 1996 to 1999 by Adtranz. These cars are built to the unusual broad gauge of 5 ft 2 1⁄2 in (1,588 mm), known as "Pennsylvania trolley gauge".

Trolley

Single-end Kawasaki trolleys waiting in the yard in 1993

The vehicles used on SEPTA's Subway-Surface trolleys were built by Kawasaki in 1981. Known as "K-cars", they use the Pennsylvania trolley gauge of 5 ft 2 1⁄2 in (1,588 mm).

Uniquely, the Girard Street Line uses "PCC II" trolleys, originally built in 1947 by the St. Louis Car Company, which were rebuilt for the line's reopening in 2003 to include air conditioning. The line, like the Subway-Surface lines, is Pennsylvania trolley gauge.

The suburban trolley lines use Kawasaki-built vehicles similar to, but larger than, the Subway-Surface trolleys. They too are Pennsylvania trolley gauge. Notably, they are double ended, unlike the Subway-Surface trolleys, as the suburban lines lack any loops to turn the vehicles.

The Norristown High Speed Line uses a class of cars known as N-5s. They were delivered in 1993 by ABB after significant production delays. Unlike the rest of SEPTA's trolley lines, they are standard gauge.

Regional Rail

Maintenance-of-way vehicles

Maintenance facilities

Connecting transit agencies in the Philadelphia region

Local services

SEPTA Market-Frankford Line at 52nd Street Station.

Regional services

National and international services

See also

References

  1. ↑ "2007 Governments Integrated Directory (GID)" (database). Census of Governments. U.S. Census Bureau, Governments Division. 2007. http://www.census.gov/govs/cog/. Retrieved 2009-11-08. 
  2. ↑ "SEPTA Facts". SEPTA Web site. http://www.septa.org/inside/facts.html. 
  3. ↑ Pawson, John R. (1979). Delaware Valley Rails: The Railroads and Rail Transit Lines of the Philadelphia Area. Willow Grove, Pennsylvania: John R. Pawson. pp. 21. ISBN 0-9602080-0-3. 
  4. ↑ septa.org/about/board/
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 5.6 SEPTA 2007 Annual Service Plan. http://www.septa.org/inside/reports/ASP2007.pdf. Retrieved May 7, 2007. 
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Nussbaum, Paul (May 29, 2009). "SEPTA approves $1.13 billion budget". The Philadelphia Inquirer. http://www.philly.com/philly/news/local/46447277.html. Retrieved 2009-06-09. 
  7. ↑ Trolleybus Magazine No. 275 (Sep.-Oct. 2007), p. 119. National Trolleybus Association (UK). ISSN 0266-7452.
  8. ↑ Trolleybus Magazine No. 280 (July-Aug. 2008), p. 95.
  9. ↑ Trolleybus Magazine No. 271 (Jan.-Feb. 2007), p. 23.
  10. ↑ "Philadelphia Transit Vehicles: SEPTA's Commuter Rail Fleet". Philadelphiatransitvehicles.info. http://www.philadelphiatransitvehicles.info/reg-roster.php. Retrieved 2010-05-22. 
  11. ↑ http://www.septa.org/news/press_releases/042607.html
  12. ↑ "KYW Newsradio 1060 Philadelphia - *". Kyw1060.com. http://www.kyw1060.com/pages/4250442.php. Retrieved 2010-05-22. 
  13. ↑ http://www.septa.org/media/short/2010/03-02.html
  14. ↑ "Philadelphia Transit Vehicles: History of the Neoplans". Philadelphiatransitvehicles.info. http://www.philadelphiatransitvehicles.info/history/neoplanhistory.php. Retrieved 2010-05-22. 
  15. ↑ "An Example of Rear advertising used on SEPTA's DE40LF and D40LF buses". http://i222.photobucket.com/albums/dd5/Bustitution/More%20than%201in%201/8139-5820.jpg. Retrieved 2010-05-22. 

Further reading

External links