The Subway restaurant near 46th and Baltimore has closed along with several other spots owned by the same franchisee.

The restaurant, which became a focal point of controversy in late 2011 and early 2012, was one of four Subway locations that will close. But that doesn’t mean Subway is gone. The corporation that owns Subway is looking for another franchisee for the Baltimore Avenue location, according to Barry Grossbach, chair of the Spruce Hill Community Association zoning committee.

The zoning committee initially supported Subway’s plan to open on Baltimore Avenue, arguing that it would provide a stable tenant. Nearby residents complained that it would increase traffic in the nearby alley. Others complained that a franchise was out of place on a commercial corridor that was largely made up of locally owned businesses.

In early 2012, Subway signed a 10-year lease on the storefront at 4533 Baltimore Ave., which has churned through businesses over the last several years.

– Mike Lyons, Andrew Foronda

Good news for local late-night public transportation users. SEPTA is extending again its pilot “Night Owl” weekend subway service on the Market-Frankford and Broad Street lines, this time indefinitely. The service was introduced in June, prompted by the changing city, and initially it was planned to try it until Labor Day and evaluate it. Then it was extended until November and now SEPTA says that the service is so popular that it’s staying for an indefinite time.

Here’s some stats from SEPTA regarding the popularity of this service:

– An average of 15,000 riders each weekend have boarded trains between midnight and 5:00 a.m. since June 15. That’s 6,000 riders more than those who previously used overnight bus service.

– Weekend overnight train service has been most popular during holiday weekends (24,430 riders on July 4; 17,192 passengers over Labor Day weekend).

According to SEPTA, passenger safety was also evaluated during the pilot. Issues have been minimal, due to an increased police presence on overnight trains.

With the Fourth of July festivities and increased number of visitors in Center City in mind, SEPTA has prepared some subway and bus service changes for tomorrow. Here are some of them that may be of particular interest to West Philly residents:

• The Broad Street & Market Frankford Lines will operate an additional night of overnight subway service beginning at 12:01 a.m. on Friday, July 4.

•  Beginning at 4:30 p.m., service frequencies on the Broad Street & Market Frankford Line will increase to offer trains every 5 to 7 minutes until 1:15 a.m. to accommodate holiday event travel.

•  Holiday events in Center City and on the Parkway will force dozens of bus detours. Passengers traveling through Center City should consider rail travel alternatives. Detailed bus detour information is available online at http://www.septa.org/realtime/status

And here’s some more information on tomorrow’s parade, party and fireworks. The parade begins at 11:00 a.m. at 6th and Chestnut Sts. It will feature marching bands, floats, military groups and performance teams. Party on the Parkway is from 12 – 7 p.m. on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, 20th St to Eakins Oval. The 4th of July Jam and Grand Finale Fireworks will take place at 7 – 11 p.m. on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The Roots will perform with Nicki Minaj, Ed Sheeran, Jennifer Hudson, Aloe Blacc, and Vicci Martinez. Click here for more information.

Happy Fourth of July!

Photo by Bethany La Flamme

Over the weekend, SEPTA introduced a return to overnight subway service on Market Frankford and Broad Street lines, a pilot program that will be in effect through Labor Day. The new program means an uninterrupted, 24-hour subway service in Philadelphia (The Inquirer‘s Inga Saffron gets riders’ reaction to the return of the overnight train service).

Trains will now replace Nite Owl buses on weekends and holidays, including on July 4th and Labor Day. Buses continue to operate Nite Owl service on weekdays.

Here are some more details on how the overnight subway service will operate:

• SEPTA cashiers will staff major hubs and high ridership stations overnight on both lines. Where a cashier is present, riders will pay at the entrance gate.

• At unstaffed locations, signage will direct passengers through turnstiles to the Owl boarding location, where they will pay fares to the train operator at the head of the train before entering the train.

• Operators will accept exact cash fares, tokens, and passes. They will sell transfers, but will not give out change.

• Trains will run every 20 minutes between midnight and 5:00 a.m. Arrival times at the City Hall/15th Street Stations will be staggered by 10 minutes to accommodate transfers.

• Extra SEPTA police officers will be deployed to provide an enhanced level of security.

• A passenger guide with additional information and tips for riding is available online at www.septa.org/service/all-night.html

SEPTA used to have a 24-hour subway service, but it was replaced by buses in 1991 due to low ridership.

“Philadelphia has changed since that time,” SEPTA General Manager Joseph M. Casey said in a statement. “Now with all of the restaurants, increased late-night activity, and people moving back into the city, we’re excited to be able to provide this service that city, business leaders, and customers have been asking us for.”

Nearly 10,000 riders currently use the Nite Owl bus service on weekends, according to SEPTA’s report. SEPTA’s staff will evaluate ridership, staffing costs, overall security, and other factors to determine whether 24-hour weekend subway service will continue beyond the pilot program.

The Zoning Board of Adjustment has changed its mind and given the go ahead for a Subway restaurant to be located in a vacant storefront at 4533 Baltimore Ave.

The Board voted on Feb. 1 to approve the Subway, reversing a decision it made last month to deny the application because of concerns of nearby neighbors about additional traffic in the alley behind the proposed location.

The Board’s decision followed a “plea for reconsideration” from the Spruce Hill Community Association and the Subway franchisee’s attorney. In a letter to the Board dated mid January, Barry Grossbach, who heads a committee that considers zoning issues for the SHCA, wrote that the Subway would provide a stable tenant for the storefront property and that the Association was “at a loss” about the previous decision to deny Subway a take-out certificate that would enable it to open.

The Subway would be the first chain restaurant on that section of Baltimore Avenue, where many businesses are locally owned.

“‘Mom and Pop’ businesses are often operating at the margins and while they remain the central and cherished fabric of our neighborhood commerce, we are always fearful that what is here today might be gone tomorrow,” Grossbach wrote. “Subway … promised a degree of stability that any corridor would welcome.”

More than a dozen nearby residents wrote letters to the Board to voice their opposition to the Subway, including state Rep. James Roebuck, who lives on 46th Street.

“I live a block from this location and I too share these concerns about the impact a Subway would have on my community,” he wrote.

Appeals of the decision can be filed until March 2.

Plans for a Subway restaurant near 46th and Baltimore are in serious jeopardy. The Zoning Board of Adjustment recently rejected a takeout certificate to an out-of-town franchise owner.

The franchise owner, who proposed a Subway location at 4533 Baltimore Ave., has 30 days to appeal the decision, which was handed down on Jan. 11.

Several community members and nearby residents protested the proposed restaurant, saying the increased traffic would affect properties adjacent to the proposed location.

Wilhelmina Herbert, president of the Garden Court Community Association, recently sent a letter notifying nearby residents of the decision and praising them for speaking out against the plans.

“Without community support this would not have been possible,” she wrote in a letter dated Jan. 18. “We have shown that we can come together to ensure the safety of our children, to protect our properties, and for the overall good of our neighborhood.  Our voices have been heard!”

The Subway franchisee’s application for a takeout certificate, which is required for any restaurant, was originally approved by the Spruce Hill Community Association in a December meeting. Herbert and others, many of whom said they were never notified of that meeting, asked that the ZBA postpone a decision in December to give them time to discuss the proposal.

Many residents who commented on neighborhood e-mail lists and an earlier story here opposed the Subway because it would have been the only chain restaurant among several locally owned businesses in that area of Baltimore Avenue. But residents who lived near the proposed locations, which has been home to several short-lived businesses in recent years, insisted that their primary concern was increased traffic.