by Matthew Mitchell
[switching the topic over to its own thread]
SEPTA has handled the station closures pretty well. They have an objective and clearly-disclosed process for deciding when a station should be closed, and a set of alternatives to run through before actually closing the station.
Stations with fewer than 75 boards per day (threshold raised from 50 this year) will be reviewed in this process. There are various extenuating circumstances that may mitigate against closing, such as high proportion of walk-up riders or poor access to adjacent stations.
Before a station is closed, SEPTA verifies the ridership and then does a station-specific marketing campaign tailored to the service and neighborhood involved. It's not a perfunctory effort--there've been free ride coupons given out, door-to-door distribution of flyers about the service, etc. I know this has been done in Angora for example.
Finally, if external funding is put up to cover operating costs, SEPTA will continue to serve the station.
All of this process takes at least a year, during which time there are gonna be two Annual Service Plan hearings specifically dealing with the closure (with one usually held in the immediate neighborhood of the station) and a Board vote on the closure. So there is ample public disclosure and an opportunity for the public and its representatives to testify in favor of retaining the station (as far as the possibility that people may not be able to attend a hearing during working hours, that's what politicians' aides are for). I've been to some of these hearings and turnout has been pretty low.
[plug]
There was an article on the topic (with more complete details) in last month's DVARP newsletter--you should join DVARP if you haven't done so already.
[/plug]
SEPTA has handled the station closures pretty well. They have an objective and clearly-disclosed process for deciding when a station should be closed, and a set of alternatives to run through before actually closing the station.
Stations with fewer than 75 boards per day (threshold raised from 50 this year) will be reviewed in this process. There are various extenuating circumstances that may mitigate against closing, such as high proportion of walk-up riders or poor access to adjacent stations.
Before a station is closed, SEPTA verifies the ridership and then does a station-specific marketing campaign tailored to the service and neighborhood involved. It's not a perfunctory effort--there've been free ride coupons given out, door-to-door distribution of flyers about the service, etc. I know this has been done in Angora for example.
Finally, if external funding is put up to cover operating costs, SEPTA will continue to serve the station.
All of this process takes at least a year, during which time there are gonna be two Annual Service Plan hearings specifically dealing with the closure (with one usually held in the immediate neighborhood of the station) and a Board vote on the closure. So there is ample public disclosure and an opportunity for the public and its representatives to testify in favor of retaining the station (as far as the possibility that people may not be able to attend a hearing during working hours, that's what politicians' aides are for). I've been to some of these hearings and turnout has been pretty low.
[plug]
There was an article on the topic (with more complete details) in last month's DVARP newsletter--you should join DVARP if you haven't done so already.
[/plug]
