Asking Philosophically: Why do people hate SEPTA so much? (Philadelphia: to buy, construction)

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by Lenses & Lights.

Did anyone see this in the other forum?


Philly transit has great bones but could offer better service, one expert says

Yes.

This "expert" came to the same conclusion others have though. I wonder if he actually road on all bus routes and all rail transit at various times for at least a couple of weeks or more.

[Flyers Girl]

Originally Posted by Lenses & Lights.

Did anyone see this in the other forum?


Philly transit has great bones but could offer better service, one expert says

Good article. It saddens me that surface-level trolleys will never come back in the suburbs. Yes, that's a bold statement, but I think it's absolutely true. I wrote about it in another thread recently (//www.city-data.com/forum/53306205-post9.html).


As to the OP, I don't hate SEPTA. But I would use it a heck of a lot more if there was more suburban coverage that 100% negated the use of a car (eg., having to drive to a RR station and park to take the train to Philly).

[Ohiogirl81]

My beef about SEPTA, beyond the frequency of Regional Rail, the cleanliness of the stations and the surliness of the employees, involves its dismissal of the casual rider.

I'm OK with paying full bus fare because I forgot to replenish my stash of tokens before that one morning when my car won't start.

I'm not OK with not being able to buy tokens and transfers at all anymore, because unlike SEPTA Key tokens, were available at my favorite grocery store and a kazillion other places, and transfers were given on demand.

I'm not OK with paying an increased train fare because SEPTA won't maintain ticket vending at every station.

I can't buy SEPTA Key at the Norristown Transportation Center? WTF?

Oh, yeah, and the bus schedules and train schedules at the Norristown Transportation Center don't mesh. On weekends it's especially ridiculous. I live within two blocks of four bus lines, so you'd think I wouldn't have to wait at the station for a bus after I get off the train. But ... the train is scheduled to arrive at the station at least 5 or 10 minutes after the buses all depart, and they all seem to depart at the same time. Plus, on weekends even the buses run only once an hour. I get off the train and have to wait another 45-50 minutes for a bus? Where's the logic in that?

[MB1562]

As a daily rider of the Broad Street Line, one thing I really appreciate about SEPTA is the fact that the train shows up when it says it's gonna show up 95% of the time. My morning train to work shows up right on time or within a minute every day. My boyfriend, who lives in New York and takes the 7 train into the city, constantly has to leave way earlier then he should have to in order to factor in cushion time because the train is so frequently late. SEPTA keeps the trains running on-time pretty well. Now they just need to install the count down clocks at every station so you can see when the next train is coming.

Now the buses are an entirely different story. Their timetables are totally useless. Luckily the SEPTA app has GPS location so you can check where the buses actually are along the route.

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by Flyers Girl

Good article. It saddens me that surface-level trolleys will never come back in the suburbs. Yes, that's a bold statement, but I think it's absolutely true. I wrote about it in another thread recently (//www.city-data.com/forum/53306205-post9.html).


As to the OP, I don't hate SEPTA. But I would use it a heck of a lot more if there was more suburban coverage that 100% negated the use of a car (eg., having to drive to a RR station and park to take the train to Philly).

Do you mean street cars in the suburbs, like the old Red Arrow line, that ran from Ardmore to 69th St ?

Routes 101/102 are still pretty heavily used but you're not talking about them, right?

[kyb01]

Originally Posted by MB1562

As a daily rider of the Broad Street Line, one thing I really appreciate about SEPTA is the fact that the train shows up when it says it's gonna show up 95% of the time. My morning train to work shows up right on time or within a minute every day. My boyfriend, who lives in New York and takes the 7 train into the city, constantly has to leave way earlier then he should have to in order to factor in cushion time because the train is so frequently late. SEPTA keeps the trains running on-time pretty well. Now they just need to install the count down clocks at every station so you can see when the next train is coming.

Now the buses are an entirely different story. Their timetables are totally useless. Luckily the SEPTA app has GPS location so you can check where the buses actually are along the route.

Thanks for saying this because my experiences, especially when I was working and had to get to work on time, matches yours.

I can count on one hand the times the BSL was late in the morning over a 20 year period. It's an accomplishment they don't get enough credit for.

Does the MTA in NY actually know anything about schedules?! lol

[MB1562]

Originally Posted by kyb01

Does the MTA in NY actually know anything about schedules?! lol

Nope. It's annoying because I am up there mostly on weekends, and every time before we go somewhere we have to check the app to see which lines are truncated or not even running. Talk about annoying...

The L train has been completely shut down every weekend for like two months. In April, it's getting shut down completely for 18 months so they can rebuild the tunnels. Brooklyn is screwed.

[KansastoSouthphilly]

Originally Posted by kyb01

Thanks for saying this because my experiences, especially when I was working and had to get to work on time, matches yours.

I can count on one hand the times the BSL was late in the morning over a 20 year period. It's an accomplishment they don't get enough credit for.

Does the MTA in NY actually know anything about schedules?! lol

I rode the BSL everyday for six years and never once consulted a scheduled. I would just go down and wait for the next train. I always assumed everybody did the same. Can't say that regional rail has the same reliability though when I switched from taking the chestnut hill west to the chestnut hill east and the service improved significantly.

[MB1562]

Originally Posted by KansastoSouthphilly

I rode the BSL everyday for six years and never once consulted a scheduled. I would just go down and wait for the next train. I always assumed everybody did the same.

I do the same for all other times outside of going to work in the morning. I catch the same train every morning just out of habit. If I missed it, it wouldn't be a big deal because the next one comes in 6-7 minutes.

[ki0eh]

I rode the city airport train in PHL and in WAW. 2/hr frequency is about the same. The cars were a bit newer in Warsaw. The fare of $6.75 in PHL does not compare well to the 4zl in Warsaw (a little more than a dollar). It was surprisingly difficult to find out how to pay the fare in WAW, they still have a lot of old biddies who don't speak English at the ticket counter, and we didn't know about any machines that would.