DelDOT, DART, and Operation Lifesaver Delaware are going to sponsor the "Rail to the Fair" Saturday, July 21st, 2007.  This train will take passengers from Philadelphia to the Delaware State Fair in Harrington.  There will even be an excursion trip along the Indian River Secondary towards Georgetown.  For more details, please visit the following website: http://www.dartfirststate.com/events/rail/

In an effort to gain more ridership in the Manayunk and Roxborough areas, SEPTA is advertising "neighborhood" routes.  These routes include the 65, 27, 61, 9, and even the R6!

SEPTA has been using things such as drink coasters, pins, magnets, and pocket maps to advertise the services in this area.  You may also see these ads on the outside and inside of various buses, particularly buses out of the Midvale and Allegheny districts.

This advertising campaign only costs $45,000, and is being used as a tool to not only gain new riders, but to alert them to changes in routes as well (such as the rerouting of the 35 over the past few years).  This campaign will be used in the future for other areas as well.

For more information, please visit this webpage: http://philly.metro.us/metro/local/article/SEPTA_hopes_to_pick_up_riders_with_bar_campaign/9140.html

Today the SEPTA board approved plan A of the fare increase proposal, which will take effect July 9th.  Although the base fare and price of tokens are the same, a lot of other things are changing and/or being elminated.  This includes:

1. The elimation of transfers (July 31)
2. Replacing the Daypass with a One Day Convenience Pass for 8 rides in one day on the transit division
3. A new Zone 1 Trailpass (starting July 30, monthlies starting in Aug)
4. Charging the on board surcharge on Regional Rail regardless of whether or not the station is open

And a lot more.  Please visit the following webpage for more grim details: http://www.septa.org/fares/July2007/index.htm

With the 60 million federal dollars it received previously, PATCO is getting ready to put its first 12 cars into its rehabilitation program in the next 8 to 10 months.  Although the total cost of this project will be about 180 million dollars, PATCO states it doesn't need all the money at once, since they will only be taking 12 cars out of service at a time.  These cars are being rehabbed to modernize the fleet, as well as for the fact that since Budd and Canadian Vickers are out of business, parts for the fleet are hard to come by.  In many cases, they have to build the parts themselves!

On the outside, the cars will be essentially the same, but the inside will be completely different, with a new blue/grey interior and individual high backed seats.  Also, the traction motors will be different - perhaps AC traction!

More information about the rehabilitation program (including a copy of the article from the Gloucester Times) can be found here: http://www.railroad.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=41201&sid=48c329375ffdd6832673ceb821e26ba6

Finally, late last night, the legislature agreed on a new budget for the state, ending the shutdown.  Among all the other points with this agreement, transit and our roadways are receiving an additional 946 million dollars a year.  Money for this is being paid by bonds, an increase in tolls in 2009, and the implementation of tolls on Interstate 80.  Rendell feels that this additional money will satisfy the needs of transportation in the state for the next 10 to 15 years.

More information on this budget agreement can be found here: http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_top/20070710_Deal_Ends_Shutdown.html

With the legislature coming to a budget deal on Monday, SEPTA may receive 150 million dollars for this fiscal year.  This would be more than enough to cover the decifit of 100 million dollars, and Rendell hopes that SEPTA will even keep transfers with this extra money.  Nothing has been signed yet, but things are looking good for SEPTA riders everywhere (at least those who use the transit division).

Full story here:

$150 million for SEPTA will avert fall fare hikes, service cuts

Philly CarShare is having a promotion where members will be reimbursed for the cost of the train trip to their facilities.  This includes Regional Rail (up to 7 dollars round trip), subway, and subway surface (up to 2.60 for the last two).  Interestingly enough, they mention nothing about buses.  This is the first CarSharing promotion of its kind.

On Monday, NJT added another Bombardier-built multilevel 6 car trainset to the Northeast Corridor Line.  They also plan to add a third trainset in September.

At this time, you can find the original 11 car trainset, as well as the new 6 car trainset, on these specific train runs:

TO NEW YORK

Train 3914
Depart Trenton 6:03 a.m.
Arrive New York 7:11 a.m.

Train 3924
Depart Trenton 7:10 a.m.
Arrive New York 8:20 a.m.

Train 3952
Depart Trenton 2:17 p.m.
Arrive New York 3:31 p.m.

TO TRENTON

Train 3835
Depart New York 10:28 a.m.
Arrive Trenton 11:59 a.m.

Train 3965
Depart New York 5:16 p.m.
Arrive Trenton 6:24 p.m.

Train 3967
Depart New York 5:30 p.m.
Arrive Trenton 6:36 p.m.

More information can be found here: http://www.njtransit.com/tm/tm_servlet.srv?hdnPageAction=PressReleaseTo&PRESS_RELEASE_ID=2345

It's official: Governor Ed Rendell signed the Pennsylvania Transportation Act on Wednesday at 69th Street Terminal.  This new act created a trust fund with dedicated funding for SEPTA and other state transportation agencies.  In 2010, PA state transit agencies will receive even more money - 2.5% of the Pennsylvania Turnpike fees.

Faye Moore comments on this landmark action by the state legislature on her message page: http://www.septa.org/inside/gm_message.html