When SEPTA brought back late night subway service

Amtrak7 wrote:http://septa.org/service/all-night.html

I don't think paying the train operator will go smoothly.

I couldn't agree more. If I was an operator on the El/BSS I would not be happy about having to collect fares late at night. We've seen some of the issues, even recently with the trolley/bus/P&W operators being assaulted just for trying to collect fares, and surely this puts the EL/BSS operators in that same boat too. Plus this has to slow down the trains and increase dwell times especially when people are getting a transfer, don't have the right amount of change, etc.

And I like the warning: "PLEASE REMEMBER TO STAY BEHIND THE YELLOW LINE & DON'T CROWD THE FARE COLLECTION LINE". I can imagine some people will stand right on the yellow line waiting to be first to pay the fare and then getting shoved or falling off the platfrom in front of the oncoming train.

I can't help but think that SEPTA is planning as limited an operation as possible to make this "intentionally" fail. I can only imagine that the consists for these late-night/early-morning runs might only be limited to maybe two or at most four cars as the total length.

JeffersonLeeEng wrote:I can't help but think that SEPTA is planning as limited an operation as possible to make this "intentionally" fail. I can only imagine that the consists for these late-night/early-morning runs might only be limited to maybe two or at most four cars as the total length.

that's my thought as well.

34thStreet wrote:

Amtrak7 wrote:http://septa.org/service/all-night.html

I don't think paying the train operator will go smoothly.

I couldn't agree more. If I was an operator on the El/BSS I would not be happy about having to collect fares late at night. We've seen some of the issues, even recently with the trolley/bus/P&W operators being assaulted just for trying to collect fares, and surely this puts the EL/BSS operators in that same boat too. Plus this has to slow down the trains and increase dwell times especially when people are getting a transfer, don't have the right amount of change, etc.

And I like the warning: "PLEASE REMEMBER TO STAY BEHIND THE YELLOW LINE & DON'T CROWD THE FARE COLLECTION LINE". I can imagine some people will stand right on the yellow line waiting to be first to pay the fare and then getting shoved or falling off the platfrom in front of the oncoming train.

Hopefully Septa is planning to have police officers at the most dangerous stations or the busiest stations. If not, I worry about the safety of the operators on the trains.

Looks like the first weekend was a success! Each train had officers aboard. No crime or problems.

Brian X. McCrone, PHILLY.COM wrote: SEPTA said 5,792 riders took the subway, a 35 percent increase over the average Nite Owl ridership of 4,301.

Fern Rock had 5 officers on the platform. There was more of a police presence than there usually is during the daytime! I'm sure levels may be adjusted as time goes on.

Push/Pull Master wrote:Hopefully Septa is planning to have police officers at the most dangerous stations or the busiest stations. If not, I worry about the safety of the operators on the trains.

I believe the busiest stations were to have nighttime staffing, so no operator collection would be necessary.

A news photo of the fare collection process:

http://media.philly.com/images/061614_subway_600.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Amtrak7 wrote:

Push/Pull Master wrote:Hopefully Septa is planning to have police officers at the most dangerous stations or the busiest stations. If not, I worry about the safety of the operators on the trains.

I believe the busiest stations were to have nighttime staffing, so no operator collection would be necessary.

A news photo of the fare collection process:

http://media.philly.com/images/061614_subway_600.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I thought the plan was for riders to pay the driver through the cab window? Does this mean drivers are getting out of the cab and walking back to the car door?

There were long delays due to revenue collection.

deathtopumpkins wrote:

Amtrak7 wrote:

Push/Pull Master wrote:Hopefully Septa is planning to have police officers at the most dangerous stations or the busiest stations. If not, I worry about the safety of the operators on the trains.

I believe the busiest stations were to have nighttime staffing, so no operator collection would be necessary.

A news photo of the fare collection process:

http://media.philly.com/images/061614_subway_600.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I thought the plan was for riders to pay the driver through the cab window? Does this mean drivers are getting out of the cab and walking back to the car door?

Thanks to half-cabs, that's not possible at 34th Street Station, where I believe this photo was taken. Similar at Spring Garden on the MFL.

CComMack wrote:
I thought the plan was for riders to pay the driver through the cab window? Does this mean drivers are getting out of the cab and walking back to the car door?

Thanks to half-cabs, that's not possible at 34th Street Station, where I believe this photo was taken. Similar at Spring Garden on the MFL.

That does indeed appear to be 34th, and thus with the center platform, the driver is forced to leave the cab for the fare collection. I'm curious as to why they did not have at least one cashier upstairs at the fare collection booth, given 34th street's proximity to Penn and Drexel, where I'm sure many students would take advantage of the late night service (Penn is off now, so maybe that's why there might not've been enough passengers to warrant having the booth open).

SCB2525 wrote:There were long delays due to revenue collection.

That doesn't surprise me. This method of paying the driver does not increase speed. Just ask the NHSL & trolley operators how long they have to dwell sometimes when people are confused about the overly-complicated fare structure or they don't have the correct change.

No, I apologize for the confusion but I meant due to the money train collecting revenue.

Fern Rock BSL has overhead platform signs now showing where to pay the fare to the operator after hours.. Nice sign actually!

Despite all the saying of nays, it seems to be a great success so far, including a huge increase for July 4th

http://www.philly.com/philly/business/t ... rvice.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

SEPTA's trial run with 24-hour subway service on weekends has been a success so far, with ridership up nearly 50 percent over all-night bus service.

And holiday revelers took to the subways in even greater numbers over the Fourth of July weekend, with ridership up 150 percent over normal weekend bus ridership.

...

With a visible police presence on trains and in stations, there have been few complaints about safety, said Ronald Hopkins, assistant general manager of operations.

"The only thing we're seeing is some quality-of-life issues, like open containers, and we're issuing citations to those people and keeping the trains moving," Hopkins said.

Through the first three weekends, only one robbery was reported, and that was a stolen cellphone, Hopkins said. SEPTA police made an arrest in that incident, he added.

"With two officers on each train, we're sending a very strong message," he said.

The early returns show greater ridership gains on the Market-Frankford Line (up 66 percent over buses) than on the Broad Street Line (up 30 percent).

mods please change the title of this thread to... When SEPTA brought back late night subway service