SEPTA reliablility

I've lucked out in my SEPTA riding over the past few years as everything I've been waiting for has been on or very close to schedule (some bunching on the MFL during rush hour being ignored). I only take SEPTA about 1 day a week so that must help my odds. I've seen the complaints about waiting an hour for a buses that never show, etc but never experienced it. Well, today I got a taste of it.

I catch the 102 at Oakview and the closest time point is Baltimore Pike. I was running late today and as I was walking down the hill to the station the trolley rumbled across the bridge at about 11:07 (couldn't see it due to the trees). That's a little earlier than scheduled but I accepted that it was my fault for missing it. I had a thought that it was the work car as I saw that on the line several days before doing wire work just below Baltimore Pike. I hedged my bets, walked down to Oakview and figured I would wait a few minutes to see if the trolley was still coming. After 5 minutes (at about 11:15) I decided it wasn't the work car I heard and cursed a bit under my breath. I thought of walking to Baltimore Pike to catch the next bus (107/109) but it would be an almost 10 minute walk in hot sticky weather and the buses run every 20 minutes. It would be possible that I would not catch a bus for almost 30 minutes and the best case scenario would have me catching a bus only 10 minutes before the next trolley. I decided to wait at Oakview for the 11:38 trolley. Surprise, surprise, it was late. It didn't show up until 11:55.

Missing the first trolley was my own fault but the second one being late really screwed up my chances for being on time for work. Next time I'll walk right to the bus and not take my chances waiting for the next trolley. Half hour headways stink.

Bob

Its the same story all over the system Bob, which is why I gave up riding SEPTA to go places. Most trains aren't too bad, but they're still slower than dirt. The R8 CHW is always late going outbound.

Despite the fact that the 15 is going back to trolley in September (I have yet to hear SEPTA confirm this), I don't think I will ride it except for "railfanning" even though it goes right by my house. It simply takes too long and the headways are too infrequent.

Maybe one of you old timers could confirm this, but were the headways much better back in the PTC days? A retired PTC operator told me back in the day it was absurd to wait 10 minutes for a trolley. Now its the norm. Ride after 8 or 9 pm and its even worse with 20-30 minute headways.

I even timed it today, by the 15 and BSL it takes me 35 minutes door-to-door to get from Richmond-Allegheny to Broad-Spring Garden, by car---a whopping 14 minutes (including time to park). I'm dissapointed that the 15 as a trolley is slower than the bus, despite the "transit first" and reduced stops concept. Hopefully that will change.

I could tell you a few stories about the times I've waited for a train or bus that was annulled or been on a train or bus that terminated at some intermediate stop, and the passengers had to find some other means of getting home. But these things happened over a period of some 12 years and on the balance have been pretty rare.

I don't have old schedules but I have looked at SEPTA's ridership numbers, which today are nowhere near what they were in the 1970s and earlier, so as a result they reduce the frequencies and increase the headways to save money. That means missing a train or having one annulled becomes a larger delay, and also further reduces ridership. Increasing ridership and frequencies would make a lot of problems go away, as it would also increase the operating revenue to cover what is mostly fixed costs, and allow for things like "protect" crews and trains to cover late and cancelled trains.

Do you think that ridership is now increasing as a result of higher gas prices and higher parking expenses?

I know most of my questions are hypothetics, so forgive me if I annoy anyone, but what do you think would happen to SEPTA's mindset if ridership steeply increased in the coming years? Less feet dragging? More logical service?

I know most of my questions are hypothetics, so forgive me if I annoy anyone, but what do you think would happen to SEPTA's mindset if ridership steeply increased in the coming years? Less feet dragging? More logical service?

More crowded vehicles, probably. Later vehicles, too. Until we get some regional (or state) leadership with both vision and power, SEPTA won't change at all. Look how quickly the re-bidding of the Silverliner V is coming...

Not to mention looks like we're stuck with it on the MFL if they are already running at capacity during rush hour.

Here's a what-if....ridership mushrooms on the 15 requiring greater headways, where are they going to get cars to increase capacity? From Kawasaki's or buses? That whole area is growing and just the segment from Richmond-Westmoreland to Girard Station is sometimes standing room only during rush hour. The 15 definitely needs better service. A big help would be for operators to first start following the schedule.

I don't think the effect of higher gas prices will be very large. Much of SEPTA's ridership is already captive. Consider the relatively small impact of fare increases on ridership--this is effectively a fare decrease compared to driving. A net increase of 3% or so would be significant.

As for the impact on service, I doubt you'll see any significant changes in service from a ridership increase of that scale.

It would take something like gas rationing or a major highway disruption to make a significant dent in travel choices.

From what I observed, there has been no significant increase in ridership. In fact, it was reported that across the country, the past July 4th weekend was one of the busiest holidays for motorist in years.

Also, it was reported in the news a few weeks ago that people will not change their lifestyle or commuting / driving patterns until gas reaches over $3.00 a gallon.

On another note, the gasoline dealers (Gas stations not the oil companies) around the Philadelphia area reported that their profits are much lower compared to last year. The reason is the heavy use of credit cards (Which costs the gas stations) and not using cash. So it appears that either check /debit cards are getting very popular or that people are basically buying gas on credit. I guess by the time they pay off the balance, the gas would end up costing them $10 a gallon.

No matter how much I complain about SEPTA, at least with them in operation, I fill my cars gas tank once every month. Compared to the cash my friends are sepnding twice weekly on gas, my monthly transpass pays for itself by the power of 3.

Those gas cards offer discounts, too, which also cuts into profit, I imagine.