An impressive piece of work, but it needs some proofreading by a third party to fix some little mistakes. For example, on P55 you seem to have confused your metrics..you are talking about passenger-miles per car-mile and then compare it to passenger-miles per train-mile for peer systems. Read the second paragraph again and I'm sure you'll see what I'm talking about. This is something that it took me a couple read throughs before I understood the error and I'm sure there are others which is why I suggest a proofreader who has never seen this document go through it....adds professionalism.
I would be curious as to what other transportation providers use as a metric to guage how well they are providing transit. SEPTA seems to be very good at measuring how well they are controling costs but no so well at measuring how well they are serving and expanding their ridership. To me, this seems to be important but not the ultimate measure of how well they're doing - a point that you make, but perhaps ought to highlight, perhaps in an executive summary which section 1 seems to be, but isn't quite.
What is your ultimate suggestion for reforming SEPTA? You outline several possibilities but don't come down and say which one you feel is the best for Philadelphia, the region, and SEPTA and why. Yes, I saw that you said that you had not drawin a preference for any one style of governance, but you have just outlined all of the expertise that DVARP has. Surely you have an oppinion as to what the best way to set up SEPTA is? If not the experts, then who?
In a report like this, I would suggest that you have 3 parts (which can be divided into sections however you wish):
1 Say what you'll say
2 Say it
3 Say what you said.
This report, while very complete, is very notably missing section 3 - the conclusions that you are drawing. If you are aiming this report to the political leaders of the region, please keep in mind that most people that will read this report don't know much about public transit and probably don't use it themselves. The people who are making decisions about public transit don't ride it themselves for the most part and may have no idea how well it works in other places. SEPTA will never do more than be the transportation of last resort until Philadelphians (and their suburban neighbors) who have a choice
want to ride it. This will take a huge paradigm shift for a great many people but if cuts to transit are billed as affecting only the poor, disabled and the "captured riders", then SEPTA is doomed.
Okay, these are just my thoughts and take them for what it's worth. I'm not an expert on rail transportation, just a concerned Philadelphian (and member of your organization) who feels that a big part of why Philly isn't a world class city is because of the poor public transportation here and that is a direct result of the mindset of the folks who provide it.
Michael T. Greene wrote:As a member of DVARP's Board of Directors, I can assure you that we WILL welcome comment.
