Photo via Septa.org

SEPTA will soon be looking for 10,000 people to test out their new fare payment system – SEPTA Key Card – starting in June.

We know what you’re thinking … you’ve heard this before. But this time SEPTA appears to be almost ready to go. The 10,000 early adopters will be issued a Key card on June 13 and will be able to purchase monthly or weekly passes (just passes for now) on buses, trolleys, the El, the Broad Street Line and the Norristown High Speed Line.

SEPTA recently announced that every bus and trolley now has a card reader on board. There are also 175 fare kiosks around the city and so far 187 turnstiles have been set up for the subway lines.

So stay tuned for more information on how to become an early adopter. Meanwhile, here is a little video SEPTA put together about the Key Card.

The Philadelphia Streets Department is conducting street improvement work, including road surfacing, in some parts of West Philadelphia this week. Residents are asked to move their cars from the work sites when temporary “No Parking” signs are posted so that vehicles are not towed. If your car has been towed, please contact your local Police District to determine its location.

The work scheduled for this week will be mainly conducted on streets north of Market Street – in Powelton Village, Mantua, West Powelton and Mill Creek neighborhoods. Click here to see if your street or block is scheduled to be resurfaced (weather or special events in the area may alter the resurfacing schedule).

Residents are urged to plan ahead and use alternative routes when traveling in these areas. 

The entire list of streets being paved for the 2016 season has not been completed yet. We’ll post more information as soon as it becomes available.
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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