Some long-anticipated accessibility improvements are finally coming to SEPTA’s 40th Street Market Frankford Line Station. Today, SEPTA, with state and city elected officials, disability advocates and West Philadelphia community and business leaders broke ground on the 40th St Station ADA Accessibility Project, which will include the installation of two elevators on the northwest and southeast corners of 40th and Market Streets. In addition to the two new elevators, the $7.4 million construction project includes four new head house entrances and overall station improvements.

“In addition to the accessibility enhancements, all users will benefit from the improvements to be made at this station,” according to SEPTA general manager Jeffrey D. Knueppel, who participated in the groundbreaking ceremony.  Continue Reading

If you’re going grocery shopping this weekend, think about picking up some extra canned goods and help SEPTA and Philabundance feed our neighbors in need. SEPTA has been holding its annual “Stop Hunger At Your Station” Food Drive this month, and it has been extended until Monday, Nov. 2.

The response so far from SEPTA customers and employees has been great, according to General Manager Jeffrey D. Knueppel, but they decided to extend the food drive through Monday to give people a little more time to donate. Their goal is to top the 18 tons of food contributed last year.

SEPTA is collecting donations of canned goods in marked barrels at 43 designated stations throughout the transit system. In West Philadelphia, you can drop off your donations at the following stations:  Continue Reading

This weekend, the city of Philadelphia will greet Pope Francis, an exciting time for Philadelphians and guests, but also stressful for many local residents. Here’s our summary on various closures, restrictions and cancellations associated with the papal visit. The schedule of events and activities during the Papal visit on Sept. 26 & 27 is available here. Also check out these useful links: Papal Visit Playbook, Philly Pope Map, Papal Visit FAQs. There will also be live streaming of events from the World Meeting of Families and the Papal visit stream (click here).

We will update this post as more information becomes available. Feel free to post comments or email us (editor-at-westphillylocal.com) if you know of any closures or cancellations not included in this post.

Highway Closures, Traffic Restrictions (“Traffic Boxes”)

Some road closures and parking restrictions have already begun ahead of the visit, but major highway closures and traffic restrictions will start on Friday night. Mayor Michael Nutter has announced Papal “traffic boxes” for parts of Center City and West Philadelphia, beginning on Friday, Sept. 25 at 6 p.m. and 10 p.m. respectively. Vehicles will be allowed to exit the traffic box area, but will not be allowed to re-enter it (except for emergency vehicles). There will be no SEPTA bus or trolley service within the boundaries of the traffic box, but there will be no restrictions to bicycle and pedestrian traffic. Here are the boundaries for the West Philadelphia Traffic Box:  Continue Reading

New schedules for City and Suburban Transit divisions go into effect beginning Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday (Sept. 6-8, 2015). Most timetable adjustments are minor, designed to account for seasonal changes in ridership and to improve customer service, but here’s some good news for trolley riders: SEPTA is introducing additional service on Saturdays on the Routes 11, 13, 34 and 36 to accommodate growing weekend travel demand. Starting next week, trolleys will run more frequently on Saturday afternoon and evening.

More great news is that trolleys will return to Route 15 between Delaware Avenue Loop and 63rd and Girard. Trolleys on this line were substituted with bus service over the summer to accommodate construction projects. Riders will be able to return to their regular boarding locations for travel.

New schedules are available at SEPTA customer locations and online. Riders can also access real time service information year-round by using the official SEPTA App available as a free download for both Apple and Android devices.

Even if Beyoncé or Death Cab for Cutie aren’t your jam, the enhanced SEPTA train schedule this weekend might get you where you want to go quicker. SEPTA is beefing up some of its schedules this weekend – Sept. 5 and 6 – to accommodate traffic to and from the annual Made in America show on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway.

SEPTA announced that local train service will be available on the El (Market-Frankford Line) and the Broad Street Line every five minutes on Saturday and Sunday beginning at noon and lasting “throughout the day.” Additional trains will also be deployed when the concert ends.

Additional evening trips will be added on Trolley Routes 10, 11, 13, 15, 34, and 36.

There will also be additional late-night regional rail trains leaving from Center City and 30th Street Station. The special schedules are available here.

This is a reminder that the SEPTA Trolley Tunnel Blitz, the annual maintenance and construction project in the trolley tunnel connecting West Philadelphia and Center City, is underway until Monday, Aug. 17. All trolleys are being diverted to 40th and Market where passengers can switch to the Market-Frankford line.

Over the weekend, SEPTA crews were also repairing tracks at the 40th Street Trolley Portal at 40th and Woodland (see photo below).