Both would provide downtown service, though not everyone who attended the presentation was happy with the revisions, the Inquirer reported. Residents in his district, particularly in Roxborough and Manayunk, had raised objections to the proposal to shorten routes 9 and 27 to terminate at 30th Street Station, meaning riders would have to transfer to get into Center City.Īt a packed meeting last week, SEPTA responded with changes to its plan, basically making the 9 a local route and the 27 an express.

Jones Jr., who represents parts of West and Northwest Philadelphia, p enned a letter to SEPTA General Manager Leslie Richards last month asking the authority to “start from scratch” on the redesign. “I want to make sure that this process is transparent, and that my constituents and colleagues have an opportunity to provide input on this plan,” Johnson said in an interview. The comments suggest the hearing will broaden to topics other than Bus Revolution, such as cleanliness and safety, that have been frequent concerns among riders.Ĭouncilmember Kenyatta Johnson, who introduced the resolution and chairs the body’s transportation committee, said the hearing will take place next month, but a date has not been set. If you kept SEPTA reliable, you would increase ridership.”īass asked SEPTA General Manager Leslie Richards to ride the Broad Street Line with her at different times of the day to witness the conditions of the subway system. “If you kept SEPTA safe, you would increase ridership. “If you kept SEPTA clean, you’d increase ridership,” Councilmember Curtis Jones Jr.

Overall ridership is more than 40% less than prior to the pandemic and even SEPTA’s most optimistic projections conclude that it will rise to 80% of pre-pandemic levels by 2024. “Our goal is to come out of this process with a network that is reliable and is also one that we can operate financially.” “We’re certainly not trying to have Bus Revolution mask the fact that we’re going to have to make service changes and it’s our goal not to make significant cuts,” Busch told Metro. However, he added, SEPTA planners are considering pandemic-related changes, including ridership declines, and the authority’s leaders are preparing for when federal COVID-19 relief money runs out at the end of 2024.

After the redesign is implemented, likely in late 2023 or early 2024, SEPTA will employ the same number of drivers and operate the same-sized fleet of buses, authority spokesman Andrew Busch said.

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