Emergency road repairs are causing closures of two West Philly blocks.

The 4900 block of Walnut Street is currently restricted to one lane and will be fully closed from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday, March 31 to perform emergency roadway repairs, according to an announcement by the Streets Department. Traffic will be detoured onto Spruce Street. When the work is completed on Thursday evening, the street should re-open to one lane. The Streets Department is coordinating with SEPTA and PennDOT on this detour.

The 4200 block of Sansom St. is currently closed to through traffic due to a large sinkhole. We reported about this sinkhole earlier this month, when it swallowed a cone. The good news is that the sinkhole is finally being repaired. Here’s what it looks like right now.

You can get more information on the proposed SEPTA bus route 49, which would connect Brewerytown and Fairmount with Grays Ferry via West Philly’s University City section, at an open house this Monday (March 28) at SEPTA Headquarters, 1234 Market Street.

The Open House is scheduled for 5-6:30 p.m. and will introduce SEPTA’s Fiscal Year 2017 Annual Service Plan, which includes proposals for some new transit services and changes aimed at improving existing services. SEPTA riders, stakeholders and the general public are encouraged to provide feedback regarding the proposals.

The Open House will be held in the Board Room, Mezzanine Level.

For more information on the proposals, or to submit comments, click here.  Continue Reading

UPDATE (1/25/2016): SEPTA has restored service on all regional rail lines. As of Monday morning, the following bus routes were operating: 1, 4, 6, 9, 14, 15B, 16, 18, 20, 21, 22, 23, 27, 28, 37, 38, 40, 42, 44, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 59, 60, 61, 64, 66, 70, 73, 78, 79, 84, 93, 96, 97, 99, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115, 117, 118, 119, 120, 123, 124, 125 126, 132, 201, 205, 206 310 and R and LUCY. SEPTA customers should check the System Status section at www.septa.org for detour information.

SEPTA restored service on its trolley lines on Sunday morning and is working toward restoring service on bus and rail lines that have been suspended since 4 a.m. Saturday. Service on Market-Frankford and Broad Street subway lines has been running on or close to normal schedules since the snow storm hit the area on Friday.

Bus service will be restored on a route-by-route basis starting 10 a.m. Sunday morning, with a focus on priority routes that feed customers to the Broad Street and Market-Frankford Lines. Priority City Routes include 14, 18, 21, 33, 42, 52, 56, 58, 59, 60, and 66.

Service on all SEPTA Regional Rail Lines will remain suspended on Sunday.

SEPTA trolley and bus riders should expect delays until full service is restores.

Visit septa.org for updates.

The City of Philadelphia is working with a contractor, Intersection, to replace the existing transit shelters with a new design and to add new locations. The Philadelphia Transit Shelter Project is inviting residents to vote and provide feedback on proposed new bus and trolley shelter locations throughout the city, including West Philadelphia. Most of the existing transit shelters are in the easternmost part of University City, so this is a chance to have your say in where new shelter locations are needed.

The new locations have been picked based on the following criteria:

• ridership
• requests by citizens, local agencies and elected officials
• availability of space on the sidewalk
• proximity to hospitals
• proximity to shopping centers
• proximity to senior centers
• proximity to community centers

Some of the new transit shelter locations being proposed in West Philly are at: 44th and Walnut (Bus Route 21), 48th and Spruce, 49th and Baltimore (Bus Route 64), 46th and Market (Bus Route 31), 49th and Woodland (Trolley Routes 11, 36), 52nd and Woodland, 52nd and Market (Bus Route 52).  Continue Reading

To accommodate New Year’s Eve travel, SEPTA will operate enhanced late-evening schedules on the Market-Frankford and Broad Street lines and Regional Rail (a special customer guide is available online). A number of bus detours will also be in effect on New Year’s Day to accommodate the Mummers Parade.

Thursday, Dec. 31:

• Extra trains will operate on the Broad Street and Market Frankford Lines starting at 7:05 p.m. for travel to the fireworks at Penn’s Landing.
• Broad Street and Market Frankford Line trains will operate overnight service Dec. 31 into Jan 1.
• The Market Street/Convention Center entrance to Jefferson Station will remain open until 2 a.m. to accommodate customers returning from New Year’s Eve fireworks.  Continue Reading

Photo courtesy SEPTA

Have you spotted or ridden on the Jolly Trolley yet? If so, consider yourself lucky. To put commuters in the seasonal spirit, SEPTA has again decorated several trolleys with tinsel, lights, bows and bells. This one was spotted on Baltimore Avenue last night:

The Jolly #Trolley! #happyholidays #merrychristmas #christmaslights #septa #Philadelphia #westphilly

A photo posted by VIX Emporium (@vix_emporium) on Dec 4, 2015 at 4:07pm PST