The lastest news about public transportation in the Delware Vallery Area http://your_home_page_url/ Your copyright information On top of the eleven (11) New Flyer Xcelsior which were already delivered. CATA is slated to received 17 more Xcelsior during the course of the summer months. This units will replaced the remaining Orion Vs left and some New Flyers. In hindsight, it has been reported that the few Orion Vs which are still service, will be retired within the next couple of weeks. The New Flyer Xcelsior, also designated as the XN40 are the first CNG powered Xcelsiors to ever be purchased and delivered. Once all said and done, their fleet numbers will be #1-#28. The powertain which these buses will have is a Cummins Westport ISL-G 280 with a Voith 4 speed transmission.   Photo taken by SEPTA3371CSX1 http://www.philadelphiatransitvehicles.info/Articles/611 Mon, 23 Apr 2012 18:34:40 MDT http://www.dartfirststate.com/dtc.ejs?command=PublicDTCPressReleaseDisplay&id=4297Apparently DART is plans to reroute ALL buses away from Rodney Square, starting June 17th, 2012. They all won't serve the same new stops, so it seems like pedestrians may have some serious walking transfers to make.Among other changes, the 32 Wilmington Trolley will no longer serve the Riverfront; this will be replaced by extended route 12 service. On the flip side, the 32 will return to the Amtrak Station with increased frequencies. The 31 Newark Trolley will be discontinued due to historically low ridership.Changes are also in store for Sussex County routes for May. One notable change is that the 305 will no longer serve Rodney Square, but start at the Amtrak Station instead. More details here: http://www.dartfirststate.com/dtc.ejs?command=PublicDTCPressReleaseDisplay&id=4284 http://www.philadelphiatransitvehicles.info/Articles/610 Wed, 21 Mar 2012 22:42:27 MDT Today was the first day CATA's brand new 2012 New Flyer Xcelsior 40 foot CNG (XN40) buses were placed into service.  There are 11 total in this order.  These are the first new buses for the central PA transit agency since 2002.   http://www.philadelphiatransitvehicles.info/Articles/609 Thu, 08 Mar 2012 14:59:58 MST The Philadelphia Chapter of the National Railway Historical Society will be sponsoring a farewell trip for the Silverliner IIs and IIIs on Sunday, May 6, 2012.  The itinerary shows that the trip will cover portions of the Chestnut Hill West, Cynwyd, Fox Chase, and Norristown Lines.  They hope to have a 3 car train: one ex-Pennsylvania RR Budd, one ex-Reading RR Budd, and a St. Louis car in the middle if they are still available at the time. Tickets cost $50 each. Please visit the Philadelphia Chapter NRHS website for more details and the order form: http://www.trainweb.org/phillynrhs/ http://www.philadelphiatransitvehicles.info/Articles/608 Mon, 13 Feb 2012 07:00:04 MST Mark in the PTV forums reported seeing 6001 on the 452, 6002 on the 413, and 6006 on the 419.  This may mean that some (if not all) of the remaining RTSs in the Camden area will be leaving the area, either being sent up North or to be retired. http://www.philadelphiatransitvehicles.info/Articles/607 Mon, 06 Feb 2012 07:05:36 MST The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission released a plan late last month on how SEPTA can improve Fern Rock Transportation Center.  Fern Rock was rebuilt to handle thousands of Regional Rail passengers transfering to the Broad Street Line when service to Center City was suspended due to Railworks Construction.  However, these days there's a lot of excess space, making transfers between buses, trains, and the subway quite a hike. Some suggestions include separating car and bus traffic (with a bus only driveway), better connecting the station to surrounding neighborhoods (as there is no access to the neighborhood on the east side of the station), improving parking and drop off areas, and more!  Plan Philly has more details about the project, and Jayayess1190 started a thread about it in the forums. http://www.philadelphiatransitvehicles.info/Articles/606 Mon, 06 Feb 2012 06:58:12 MST Starting today, the ALP-45DP dual mode locomotives will start service on four trains in Northern Jersey: 1006 (Lake Hopatcong to Hoboken via Montclair State University), 808 (Lake Hopatcong to Hoboken via Summit), 1009 (Hoboken to Lake Hopatcong via MSU EXPRESS Newark Broad Street to MSU), and 855 (Hoboken to Mount Olive via Summit EXPRESS Newark Broad Street to Summit. Many thanks to redarrow5591 for this information.  Hopefully the engines will do well in revenue service. Check out the "ALP-45DP in test run" thread for more details! http://www.philadelphiatransitvehicles.info/Articles/605 Mon, 06 Feb 2012 06:51:27 MST Finally SEPTA has awarded a contract for its New Payment Technology (NPT) system, which will upgrade SEPTA's fare collection system to allow payment of fares with SmartCards and tap-and-go credit/debit cards.  ACS Transportation Solutions Group is the lucky winner. SEPTA anticipates rolling the system out in 3 years, in 3 phases.  It will start off by upgrading the buses and trolleys, then the Subway-Elevated Lines, and finally the Regional Rail system.  For more details about NPT, check out SEPTA's NPT website: http://www.septa.org/fares/npt/news-events-3.html http://www.philadelphiatransitvehicles.info/Articles/604 Sun, 20 Nov 2011 18:47:31 MST On Sunday, October 30th, SEPTA will be discontinuing most of the aspects of the Route 47 Service Enhancement program that started last spring.  Unfortunately, they weren't able to receive the enhanced travel times that they desired and customers were still getting passed up.  They will keep the following things, though: SEPTA Loader during PM Rush at 8th and Market, allowing Center Door boarding. Far side stop (on the other side of the intersection) at 8th and Walnut Adjusting trash collection schedules to avoid 8th and 7th Streets during rush hour. The regular September 4th schedule will still be in effect until February, though. For SEPTA's Press Release: http://www.septa.org/service/bus/47pilot/index.html http://www.philadelphiatransitvehicles.info/Articles/603 Fri, 28 Oct 2011 07:08:15 MDT SEPTA has posted proposed changes to the C that would make the Nedro Division Route 4 and the Ogontz Division Route 16.  In addition making permanant some minor routing changes to routes 12, 99, 110, 150, the 400 series routes, and making Route 78 permanant are also on the agenda for hearing scheduled for November 29th, 2011.  More info at http://septa.org/notice/asp/hearings.html.  http://www.philadelphiatransitvehicles.info/Articles/602 Tue, 25 Oct 2011 16:12:24 MDT PATCO is visiting several stations this week to get feedback from passengers on what the interior of the rehabilitated PATCO cars should look like.  PATCO staff will be stopping by the following stations during the PM rush hour: Woodcrest- Monday, 10/17, 4pm-6pmHaddonfield- Tuesday, 10/18, 4pm-6pmBroadway West- Wednesday, 10/19, 4pm-6pmAshland- Thursday, 10/20, 4-pm- 6pm PATCO is also soliciting feedback on the new interiors via a survey on its site.  Visit www.ridepatco.org for a link to the online survey and choose your favorite interior! http://www.philadelphiatransitvehicles.info/Articles/601 Mon, 17 Oct 2011 23:01:53 MDT This morning, NHSL trains had to single track between West Overbrook - I mean, "Township Line Road" - and Radnor because an N5 hit a car that was parked on the tracks, resulting in at 25 passengers being injured.  At 4:25 this morning, Brian Manning of Haverford, while intoxicated, accidentally turned into the substation access road near Beechwood-Brookling Station with his Toyota off of Karakung Drive and got stuck on the tracks. While calling his wife and AAA, the first Norristown-bound train of the day slammed into the car.  Fortunately, the driver was not in the car and therefore wasn't injured. It's not yet clear which railcar was affected. For more details and photos: http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=8390062   http://www.philadelphiatransitvehicles.info/Articles/600 Thu, 13 Oct 2011 11:32:32 MDT The merger between these two agencies is complete with the appointment of the new board of directors, so now rabbittransit covers both York and Adams Counties.  The new organization will officially be called York Adams Transportation Authority, but the rabbittransit branding will remain in place.  Also, Gettysburg's Freedom Transit will retain its name as well. Since November of 2009, the agencies worked together to create one unified regional system.  Rabbittransit was already contracted to operate Gettysburg's "Freedom Transit" System as well as its paratransit service.  Additionally, the new rt 15N Rabbit Express connects Gettysburg commuters with our state capital of Harrisburg. Hopefully other areas of the state will work together to create "regional systems" (we're looking at you, Wilkes Barre and Scranton!).  Click the link for more details: http://www.rabbittransit.org/pressreleases/2011/pr_merger.html http://www.philadelphiatransitvehicles.info/Articles/599 Wed, 28 Sep 2011 10:40:42 MDT With the opening of Penn Park, the University of Pennsylvania has expanded its "Penn Transit" shuttle service to operate during the daytimes (previously, the buses only ran in the evenings).  The buses will run on a "Campus Loop" serving all of the current stops in addition to the Levy Tennis Pavilion every 20 minutes. For more details, check out this Press Release from the University of Pennsylvania: http://www.upenn.edu/pennnews/current/2011-09-22/latest-news/penn-transit-adds-daytime-service-campus-loop-bus http://www.philadelphiatransitvehicles.info/Articles/598 Mon, 26 Sep 2011 12:06:46 MDT As you already know, SEPTA has suffered a lot with this very rainy August, even after Hurricane Irene passed through.  With the latest rainstorm, a portion of the SEPTA Main Line was "washed out", shutting down service North of Fern Rock.  There was a mud slide by Trevose Station.  A portion of the tracks on the Norristown High Speed Line, on the high ROW where it crosses over Conestoga Road near Rosemont (excuse me, "Robert's Road) Station, is quite warped. What a headache for the 6th largest transit agency in the nation! SEPTA has a great photo gallery of the work being undertaken to bring the system back to normal.  At this time, there is a slow zone south of Jenkintown until the ballast under the track can support normal travel speeds again, and the NHSL (P&W) is single tracking between Bryn Mawr and Radnor Stations, with crowded trains and nice delays. For the photo gallery: http://www.septa.org/service/weather-damage.html http://www.philadelphiatransitvehicles.info/Articles/597 Wed, 14 Sep 2011 18:38:45 MDT As part of a pilot program, SEPTA and the City of Philadelphia are setting up a program where three city bus routes and one trolley route will be fitted with traffic prioritization technology.  This will enable the vehicle to "hold the light" until it makes it through the intersection, hopefully speeding up the travel time significantly. The routes selected are the 6, 13, 52, and 60.  The Federal Highway Administration has contributed $3.3 million to the program.  SEPTA hopes to put this program into action in the next two years. For more details, check out this article from Flying Kit Media: http://www.flyingkitemedia.com/devnews/stober0913.aspx http://www.philadelphiatransitvehicles.info/Articles/596 Wed, 14 Sep 2011 18:28:53 MDT Yesterday afternoon at around 2 PM, NABI 5386, heading towards Olney Terminal on the 55, caught on fire.  Fortunately, none of the 26 riders on board the bus were injured; everyone was able to make it off the bus safely. The bus was towed back to Midvale, but while the fire system worked correctly, it is in bad shape.  Since it's due to be replaced in a year or so, it would likely be cannibalized for parts and scrapped. More details here: http://articles.philly.com/2011-09-13/news/30149814_1_septa-bus-engine-fires-passengers http://www.philadelphiatransitvehicles.info/Articles/595 Wed, 14 Sep 2011 18:23:41 MDT Hurricane Irene raised the level a lot of rivers and streams in the area, flooding areas like Conshohocken.  It also caused Assunpink Creek, which is right next to the tracks at Trenton Transit Center, to flood the tracks almost to platform level. Unfortunately, SEPTA never moved its Push-Pull train, which is usually parked at the station during the weekends, as well as at least 4 Silverliner IV trains when the creek flooded well over its flood stage. The Times of Trenton grabbed this picture of the trains still parked in the water: NJ.com has more pictures of the flooded station: http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2011/08/trenton_transit_center_floods.html.  To this day, train service has not returned to Trenton, although NJT is running between New York and New Brunswick and the Trenton Line is running to Levittown Station from Philadelphia. http://www.philadelphiatransitvehicles.info/Articles/594 Wed, 31 Aug 2011 12:02:23 MDT For the first time in history, SEPTA is shutting down all services due to a hurricane.  All service will be suspended at 12:30 AM Sunday, August 28th, 2011.  Anything out on the street after midnight will finish its run and that will be it.  No nightliners will pull out.  Regional Rail lines that operate over Amtrak trackage will cease operations at 5 PM tonight when Amtrak shuts down.  Trains on these lines at 5 PM will continue to their destination and that will be it.  SEPTA will evaluate each line for service restoration after 12 noon on Sunday.   DART First State has suspended all operations until at least Monday morning.   NJ Transit Rail service ceased operating at 12 noon today.  Trains in service will continue to their destination.  NJ Transit Bus, Light Rail, and Paratransit will cease operations at 6 PM today.   http://www.philadelphiatransitvehicles.info/Articles/593 Sat, 27 Aug 2011 11:11:23 MDT This past Saturday, August 20th, 2011, Centre Area Transportation Authority (CATA) had a new schedule go into effect.  With this new schedule came several changes.  Among them are changes to the Red Link, consolidation of the Z into the G, merging of the H and P into the HP, and discontinuation of the AP.  For more info see http://catabus.com/ServiceSchedules/CATABUS/fall11changes.html. Red Rose Transit in Lancaster County has a schedule change on August 29th.  New schedules can be viewed here - http://www.redrosetransit.com/transit-schedules-and-fares.html. Capitol Area Transit of Harrisburg has new schedules for select routse coming out August 29th as well.  Those routes can be viewed here. http://www.cattransit.com/2011/08/labor-day-service-upcoming-schedule-changes/  http://www.philadelphiatransitvehicles.info/Articles/592 Wed, 24 Aug 2011 20:08:03 MDT Starting this Monday, August 29th, 2011, Lehigh and Northampton Transportation Authority (LANTA) will implement a new route structure.  Gone will be the current system of letters and numbers along with seperate evening service.  A new system using three digit numbered routes will go into effect.  The new route structure also includes several changes to the existing routes other than a redesignation.   The new route structure will be as follows. 100 series - core routes operating Monday through Saturday with evening and Sunday service. 200 series - routes operating during the day six days a week. 300 series - routes that operate Monday through Friday. 400 series - Allentown School District routes (school trippers) 500 series - FLEX routes 600 series - Loops, circulators, crosstown routes, etc.  For information on what routes will become what, see http://www.lantabus.com/conversionguide.html.   http://www.philadelphiatransitvehicles.info/Articles/591 Wed, 24 Aug 2011 19:49:04 MDT SEPTA has provided preview schedules of the new Regional Rail and Red Arrow (Victory division) schedules. This will include changes to bus routes 112, 115, and new route 126.  Additionally, there will be some great changes to the Lansdale/Doylestown Line thanks to a new siding that will open at this time.  Colmar station will now be served every 30 minutes during weekdays, and travel from Doylestown to Center City will be 6% faster than it is today. Frontier schedules will change on October 31st, the City Transit schedules will change on September 4th. http://www.philadelphiatransitvehicles.info/Articles/590 Thu, 11 Aug 2011 09:14:36 MDT The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) has launched a study looking at the feasibility of opening a new SEPTA station by the Chester Waterfront, near the new PPL park.  This station would replace Highland Ave Station, which is only expected to last another 3 to 5 years and would cost $26 million to rebuild.  The new station, if SEPTA agrees to build it, would cost the same amount of money to build. More information here: http://www.metro.us/philadelphia/local/article/940214--chester-could-get-new-septa-station-along-waterfront http://www.philadelphiatransitvehicles.info/Articles/589 Thu, 11 Aug 2011 08:37:35 MDT Richard J. Hanratty Jr., chief of rail transportation, suddenly retired on Monday.  We do not know why he retired, but rumor has it that he was "encouraged" to retire with a deal that was too good to refuse.  A person from the Paratransit division of SEPTA apparently has replaced him. Article: http://articles.philly.com/2011-08-10/news/29872435_1_septa-retirement-rail-transportation Discussion on Railroad.net with information that is not in the news article: http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=72&t=85072&start=15 http://www.philadelphiatransitvehicles.info/Articles/588 Thu, 11 Aug 2011 08:27:39 MDT Thank goodness for cameras on buses! On June 18th, Penny Chapman decided to discipline her child, who was running up and down the bus, by giving him a spanking.  A fellow passenger didn't like that, and even threatened to turn her in for child abuse.  Therefore, Chapman made a phone call, and exited the bus at the next stop.  Her son's uncle and his brother then fired at the bus with an assault rifle and a handgun, thankfully missing everyone on board! The trial will be held later this month.  For video and more details, please visit Fox: http://www.myfoxphilly.com/dpp/news/local_news/video-shows-dramatic-septa-bus-shooting and Action News: http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/crime&id=8291787 http://www.philadelphiatransitvehicles.info/Articles/587 Fri, 05 Aug 2011 07:28:30 MDT