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Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,688,469 times
Reputation: 10256
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Becca8377
If voicing our opinions make us negative, then so be it
I completely agree with everything FBR has detailed in these posts. The fact that weekend ridership is less or people walked is not a moot point. The point is that SEPTA deals with this amount of people on Regional Rail on a completely regular basis (i.e. every single weekday). SEPTA CAN and DOES handle those amounts of people on RR. Closing all but a few stations was completely overkill. They could've run trains as usual with extra time slots during the busier times (just like every single weekday rush hour). They completely cut off lots of people. Like I said, had my Manayunk station been open, I definitely would've wandered down to CC. But it was a complete inconvenience the way they set it up - I would have to pay extra money and drive all the way up to Norristown just to wait in a several hour time slot and then be stuck in CC all day until the hours long time slots were returning.
I read several articles yesterday that talked to pilgrims who stayed in hotels well outside Philly because the hotels in CC were charging super high prices. It wasn't until nothing was booked a month beforehand that the hotels panicked and dropped their prices.
I also loved Nutter's press conference where he blamed the media for scaring people. He was the one that was freaking out way early on. And there were many reports that he specifically said this would be a huge economic boost the local businesses. Now he's saying he never said any of those things. Hindsight is 20/20. There was no full way to predict what this event would be like but I definitely think Nutter/City are to blame for the fear that was instilled in residents. I think it would've been much better if they outlined their plan ahead of time and released it with full details once it was ironed out. Instead, they figured it out as they went along. And they saw how the public reacted and then changed their plans accordingly. Like I said before, papal event tickets were not even going to be available to the general public - who the heck thought that was a good idea?
I am a huge supporter of local businesses, so I definitely feel for them for losing out on so much money this weekend. Some people in this thread have acted ignorantly dismissive because it's the service industry. As someone with a lot of service industry experience and who has family members that solely work in the service industry as their profession, I absolutely understand how detrimental something like that can be. Yes, Philly was highlighted on an international stage and the Pope coming here was a wonderful thing for the city. But what about the little guys? The small businesses, the local restaurants, etc - they certainly suffered a loss this weekend because of it.
I'm very glad that there are so many reports of pilgrims speaking highly of our city. But my honest opinion is that they didn't see the REAL Philadelphia. This is NOT how Philly is on a daily basis. And the pilgrims weren't here to see Philly anyway - they were here to see the Pope. I hope that some will come back to experience Philly for what it's actually like.
Again, read the DNC thread on the Charlotte board. You'll see every last one of your complaints. That's because the common thread is the feds running security. The feds don't wait for an invitation. They just come in. They want to shut everything down. City officials have to dial it back. They only have limited success with opening things to the residents.
I like the idea. They could promote it like "Come and enjoy the car-less city!".
But I believe this is the very first time ever happened so I hope SEPTA learns.
I read that it seems that everybody loves it so much that next year we will have another car-less day sans the Pope.
Not saying this applies to you in particular, and I'm not usually a Septa apologist. But, I'm curious to know if anyone who liked to complain here about what Septa did, or did not do over this past weekend or any other time, has ever applied for managerial employment at Septa? Come on....all of the posters who behave like you are transit logistics experts tell us about how you often you have actually tried to offer all of your expertise, first hand, to Septa.
Location: NYC based - Used to Live in Philly - Transplant from Miami
2,307 posts, read 2,767,881 times
Reputation: 2610
Quote:
Originally Posted by kyb01
Not saying this applies to you in particular, and I'm not usually a Septa apologist. But, I'm curious to know if anyone who liked to complain here about what Septa did, or did not do over this past weekend or any other time, has ever applied for managerial employment at Septa? Come on....all of the posters who behave like you are transit logistics experts tell us about how you often you have actually tried to offer all of your expertise, first hand, to Septa.
I know the comment is not addressed to me in particular.
Personally per my recollection, I never complained about SEPTA.
If anything, I gave them a credit per my post; that the car-less city never happened before. That they probably; like most of us, had no idea that this can be potentially a marketable advertisement directed toward suburbanites promoting riding SEPTA to center city during the car-less days next year.
In addition, this is a nature of forum. To discuss things. Let it be their likes or dislikes of SEPTA, complaints on what SEPTA should do or should not do, and in the particular post you just made which is a brilliant suggestion, encouragement to voice our ideas and give our input to SEPTA.
I know the comment is not addressed to me in particular.
Personally per my recollection, I never complained about SEPTA.
If anything, I gave them a credit per my post; that the car-less city never happened before. That they probably; like most of us, had no idea that this can be potentially a marketable advertisement directed toward suburbanites promoting riding SEPTA to center city during the car-less days next year.
In addition, this is a nature of forum. To discuss things. Let it be their likes or dislikes of SEPTA, complaints on what SEPTA should do or should not do, and in the particular post you just made which is a brilliant suggestion, encouragement to voice our ideas and give our input to SEPTA.
FWIW, Septa General Manager, Joe Casey, is retiring, effective, today. So there will be new leadership.
FWIW, Septa General Manager, Joe Casey, is retiring, effective, today. So there will be new leadership.
I know that SEPTA is one of Philadelphians' favorite target for criticism, but at the end of the day, Casey is to be commended for his service and really putting the agency on the right track during his tenure. I think people often forget that, while certainly not perfect, SEPTA has come a long way.
Over the past several years alone, there has been remarkable progress in station/infrastructure repairs and renovations, a new payment system (while delayed) is imminent, and SEPTA successfully made its case to have the state significantly increase public transit funding via Act 89.
Add to these facts that the agency has been very active in procuring new vehicles, is active in planning some important expansions, and there have been successive ridership records--I think it's easy to take SEPTA for granted and all-too-often it's downfalls are emphasized over positives.
Yes, the system can do more to improve, and yes, leadership probably could have made better decisions surrounding an essentially unprecedented public event, but SEPTA, like Philadelphia, is absolutely in better shape than it has been in decades. I only hope that Casey's successor continues this momentum.
I know that SEPTA is one of Philadelphians' favorite target for criticism, but at the end of the day, Casey is to be commended for his service and really putting the agency on the right track during his tenure. I think people often forget that, while certainly not perfect, SEPTA has come a long way.
Over the past several years alone, there has been remarkable progress in station/infrastructure repairs and renovations, a new payment system (while delayed) is imminent, and SEPTA successfully made its case to have the state significantly increase public transit funding via Act 89.
Add to these facts that the agency has been very active in procuring new vehicles, is active in planning some important expansions, and there have been successive ridership records--I think it's easy to take SEPTA for granted and all-too-often it's downfalls are emphasized over positives.
Yes, the system can do more to improve, and yes, leadership probably could have made better decisions surrounding an essentially unprecedented public event, but SEPTA, like Philadelphia, is absolutely in better shape than it has been in decades. I only hope that Casey's successor continues this momentum.
I'm not among those on this thread who casually find fault with septa. And I agree with everything you've said.
Given that I've been riding local transit for a really long time it's easier for me, perhaps, to understand how much better septa is today compared to its predecessor companies.
Not saying this applies to you in particular, and I'm not usually a Septa apologist. But, I'm curious to know if anyone who liked to complain here about what Septa did, or did not do over this past weekend or any other time, has ever applied for managerial employment at Septa? Come on....all of the posters who behave like you are transit logistics experts tell us about how you often you have actually tried to offer all of your expertise, first hand, to Septa.
I usually am a SEPTA apologist. I think they get shortchanged, they got underfunded by the state for a long time, they're a victim of Negadelphianism, and they're part of a region and city that isn't particularly interested in being transit dependent to begin with.
I'd never be qualified to be someone who runs the show at 1234, so no, I wouldn't waste my time with that - don't have the qualifications at all. I just like riding and reading about trains as a hobby, and you pick up some stuff after enough years.
I e-mail SEPTA frequently, a couple times per year, and frequently get thoughtful responses. I emailed them on this silly plan as well. I'm sure a lot of people did - and I'm sure it's part of why so much of the BSL and MFL was open for business.
You know why it obviously makes no sense that having about a dozen stations open to serve 175k people? Because if that was a great idea, then it would be a great idea to have only a dozen stations open on a weekday when they serve over 100k people.
There are several lines with extensive express service, particularly the Paoli/Thorndale and Lansdale/Doylestown - but you're not going to see any of those trains make only one stop.
Because it makes no sense - railroads have been around quite some time, it's been proven you need stations to have ridership.
There was plenty of criticism on local transit blogs - and fierce debate on transit-focused forums. No reason an engaged citizenry shouldn't share their thoughts about a radical idea.
That also doesn't mean the weekend was a disaster. It was obviously a bad strategy to attract ridership - and the weekend came and it didn't attract ridership. A lot of people knew that wold happen before, we had the experiment anyway, a few peoples lives were negatively affected, most people's weren't, and hopefully we never have to do that experiment again.
Quote:
Again, read the DNC thread on the Charlotte board. You'll see every last one of your complaints. That's because the common thread is the feds running security. The feds don't wait for an invitation. They just come in. They want to shut everything down. City officials have to dial it back. They only have limited success with opening things to the residents.
I kinda thought it was the secret service calling the shots at first too - I may have been the first one who suggested it on here back when people were saying what a brilliant plan SEPTA came up with. Yet there was no obvious extra security in North Philadelphia along the BSL - was there any along the railroad? Does make me wonder what was going on behind the scenes a little more.
Last edited by FamousBlueRaincoat; 09-30-2015 at 04:22 PM..
Might be as close as we get - it includes average weekday and weekend boardings per station, although it doesn't have average line ridership on a normal saturday when all stations would be open.
Might be as close as we get - it includes average weekday and weekend boardings per station, although it doesn't have average line ridership on a normal saturday when all stations would be open.
Ha much appreciated. I wonder what the average weekend numbers are for them.. I just tried looked everywhere and couldn't. Though I did find that they run 30-40% less roundtrips on the weekends overall.
Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
23,814 posts, read 34,688,469 times
Reputation: 10256
Quote:
Originally Posted by FamousBlueRaincoat
I usually am a SEPTA apologist. I think they get shortchanged, they got underfunded by the state for a long time, they're a victim of Negadelphianism, and they're part of a region and city that isn't particularly interested in being transit dependent to begin with.
I'd never be qualified to be someone who runs the show at 1234, so no, I wouldn't waste my time with that - don't have the qualifications at all. I just like riding and reading about trains as a hobby, and you pick up some stuff after enough years.
I e-mail SEPTA frequently, a couple times per year, and frequently get thoughtful responses. I emailed them on this silly plan as well. I'm sure a lot of people did - and I'm sure it's part of why so much of the BSL and MFL was open for business.
You know why it obviously makes no sense that having about a dozen stations open to serve 175k people? Because if that was a great idea, then it would be a great idea to have only a dozen stations open on a weekday when they serve over 100k people.
There are several lines with extensive express service, particularly the Paoli/Thorndale and Lansdale/Doylestown - but you're not going to see any of those trains make only one stop.
Because it makes no sense - railroads have been around quite some time, it's been proven you need stations to have ridership.
There was plenty of criticism on local transit blogs - and fierce debate on transit-focused forums. No reason an engaged citizenry shouldn't share their thoughts about a radical idea.
That also doesn't mean the weekend was a disaster. It was obviously a bad strategy to attract ridership - and the weekend came and it didn't attract ridership. A lot of people knew that wold happen before, we had the experiment anyway, a few peoples lives were negatively affected, most people's weren't, and hopefully we never have to do that experiment again.
I kinda thought it was the secret service calling the shots at first too - I may have been the first one who suggested it on here back when people were saying what a brilliant plan SEPTA came up with. Yet there was no obvious extra security in North Philadelphia along the BSL - was there any along the railroad? Does make me wonder what was going on behind the scenes a little more.
Their idea of security is to keep the general public out of the area, to whatever extent they can get away with it. Nutter probably consulted with Anthony Foxx to dial the feds back. They shut down roads, public transportation, etc., etc. In Charlotte they imported local & state police from multiple states.
blaming SEPTA for last weekend just isn't right.
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