by Bill R.
I had the opportunity to use the Broad Street Subway between Walnut-Locust and Pattison today.
1) I noticed that they are doing renovations at Walnut-Locust.
The floor tile and platform edge work looked dirty and (more to the point) shoddy. Some type of alert device was repetitively chiming, to nobody's apparent concern. The tile on the columns seemed attractive, but did not appear to be high quality tile (able to withstand abuse). The glass block on the mezzanine seems the perfect candidate for constant replacement ($$$) as people bust them out.
As it was once said, "A gift-wrapped bag of dogsh__ is still dogsh__."
2) Single track operation occured between Wlanut-Locust and Snyder due to trackwork on the soutbound direction. No signs or anything other than announcements from the railcar PA system on arrival at the stations. Checked online (septa.org) when I arrived home, and found no mention of it.
3) The number of passengers even at the reduced weekend headways doesn't justify more than a two car train. The passenger load imbalance
(vs. North Broad)was so severe, I'm wondering if it might not be worth the money to run Walnut-Locust /Pattison as a shuttle on the weekends, other than during times for sporting events.
This experience indicates that SEPTA is not providing value for dollars spent producing the product. I'm certain that I could find a multitude of similar circumstances throughout the system; today was only a snapshot.
Admittedly, a partial or total system shutdown as a result of the recent transit funding crisis would have been extremely negative. However, the idea of unquestioning support of public transit in the current environment is anathema.
The status quo of SEPTA management and operations must be modified before there is a complete withdrawl of confidence in public transit in Philadelphia to carry out it's basic mission: transporting people in a safe, attractive and timely fashion.
1) I noticed that they are doing renovations at Walnut-Locust.
The floor tile and platform edge work looked dirty and (more to the point) shoddy. Some type of alert device was repetitively chiming, to nobody's apparent concern. The tile on the columns seemed attractive, but did not appear to be high quality tile (able to withstand abuse). The glass block on the mezzanine seems the perfect candidate for constant replacement ($$$) as people bust them out.
As it was once said, "A gift-wrapped bag of dogsh__ is still dogsh__."
2) Single track operation occured between Wlanut-Locust and Snyder due to trackwork on the soutbound direction. No signs or anything other than announcements from the railcar PA system on arrival at the stations. Checked online (septa.org) when I arrived home, and found no mention of it.
3) The number of passengers even at the reduced weekend headways doesn't justify more than a two car train. The passenger load imbalance
(vs. North Broad)was so severe, I'm wondering if it might not be worth the money to run Walnut-Locust /Pattison as a shuttle on the weekends, other than during times for sporting events.
This experience indicates that SEPTA is not providing value for dollars spent producing the product. I'm certain that I could find a multitude of similar circumstances throughout the system; today was only a snapshot.
Admittedly, a partial or total system shutdown as a result of the recent transit funding crisis would have been extremely negative. However, the idea of unquestioning support of public transit in the current environment is anathema.
The status quo of SEPTA management and operations must be modified before there is a complete withdrawl of confidence in public transit in Philadelphia to carry out it's basic mission: transporting people in a safe, attractive and timely fashion.
