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Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority

Encyclopedia : S : SO : SOU : Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority

"SEPTA" redirects here. For other uses, see SEPTA (disambiguation).
The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is a regional quasi-public state agency that serves 3.8 million people in five counties in the Philadelphia, Pennsylvania region. It operates and maintains bus, subway and elevated rail, commuter rail, trolley (streetcar), and trackless trolley service (temporarily suspended as of 2006), and manages construction projects that repair, replace, and expand the existing system.

The five Pennsylvania counties that SEPTA serves are: the combined city and county of Philadelphia, Delaware County, Montgomery County, Bucks County, and Chester County. SEPTA also serves New Castle County in Delaware, and Mercer County in New Jersey

SEPTA has the fifth largest transit system in the US, with 280 active stations, over 450 miles of track, 2,295 revenue vehicles, 196 routes, and about 306.9 million annual unlinked trips. Average weekday ridership across the system is about 1,000,000 passengers. SEPTA also operates Shared-Ride services in Philadelphia and ADA services across the region. SEPTA has a workforce of over 9,000.

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SEPTA's headquarters is at 1234 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19107.

Contents

Routes

Subway and elevated

Trolley and light rail

There are around 120 bus routes in the five-county SEPTA region, not including the school trips which amount to over 50, with most routes in the City of Philadelphia. Currently, SEPTA generally employs lettered, one and two-digit route numbering for its City Division routes, 100-series routes for its Victory ("Red Arrow") Division (Chester, Delaware, and Montgomery Counties) and it's Frontier Division (Montgomery and Bucks Counties), 200-series routes for its Regional Rail connector routes (Routes 201 and 206 in Montgomery & Bucks Counties), 300-series routes for other routes (Routes 304 and 305), and 400-series routes for limited service buses to schools.

Called Regional Rail, this is run by the SEPTA Regional Rail division. This division operates 13 Lines serving more than 150 stations covering most of the 5 county southeastern Pennsylvania region. It also runs trains to Wilmington, DE and Trenton, NJ.

SEPTA Divisions

SEPTA has three major operating divisions: City Transit, Suburban, and Regional Rail. These divisions reflect the different transit and railroad operations that SEPTA has assumed.

City Transit Division

The City Transit Division operates routes mostly within the City of Philadelphia, including buses, subway-surface trolleys, the Market-Frankford Line, and the Broad Street Line. Some of its routes extend into Montgomery and Bucks counties. This division is the descendant of the Philadelphia Transit Company (PTC). There are six depots in this division.

Suburban Divison

Victory Division

The Victory Division operates suburban bus and trolley (or light rail) routes that are based at 69th Street Terminal in Upper Darby in Delaware County. Its routes include the Norristown High Speed Line (Route 100) light rail line that runs from 69th Street Terminal to Norristown and the SEPTA Surface Media and Sharon Hill Trolley Lines (Routes 101 and 102). This division is the descendant of the Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company, also known as the Red Arrow Lines. Most residents of the Victory Division operating area still refers this division as the "Red Arrow Division."

Frontier Division

The Frontier Division operates suburban bus routes that are based at the Norristown Transportation Center in Montgomery County and bus lines that serve eastern Bucks County. This division is the descendant of the Schuylkill Valley Lines.

In addition, the 204 route emanating from the Paoli station is contracted to Krapf's Coaches.

Regional Rail Division

A SEPTA platform at 30th Street Station
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A SEPTA platform at 30th Street Station

The Regional Rail Division (RRD) operates commuter railroad routes that all, except for the R6 Cynwyd line, go through the Center City Commuter Connection Tunnel, stopping at 30th Street Station, Suburban Station, and Market East Station. There are 13 branches that extend as far as Newark, Delaware and Trenton, New Jersey, where one can take NJ Transit or Amtrak to New York City. This division is the descendant of the 6 commuter lines of the Reading Company (RDG) and the 7 commuter lines of Pennsylvania Railroad (PRR, later Penn Central: PC) railroads.

SEPTA's railroad reporting mark SPAX can be see on non-revenue work equipment including boxcars, diesel locomotives, and other rolling stock.

History

Pennsylvania state charter created SEPTA on formed on August 17, 1963. On November 1, 1965, SEPTA absorbed two predecessor agencies. The first predecessor agency, the Passenger Service Improvement Corporation (PSIC), had been created on January 20, 1960 to work with the Reading Company and Pennsylvania Railroad to improve commuter rail service and help the railroads maintain otherwise unprofitable passenger rail service. The city of Philadelphia and Montgomery, Bucks, and Chester counties created the other predecessor agency, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Compact (SEPACT), on September 8, 1961 to coordinate regional transport issues.

SEPTA was chartered to coordinate government subsidies to various transit and railroad companies in southeastern Pennsylvania. This included the Reading Company and Pennsylvania Railroad commuter railroad lines, and by 1966, all of these commuter railroad lines were operated under contract to SEPTA. On February 1, 1968, the Pennsylvania Railroad merged with the New York Central railroad to become Penn Central, only to file for bankruptcy on June 21, 1970. Penn Central continued to operate in bankruptcy until 1976 when Conrail took over its assets along with several other bankrupt railroads, including the Reading Company. Conrail continued to operate commuter services under contract to SEPTA until January 1, 1983, when SEPTA officially took over operations and acquired track, rolling stock, and other assets to form the Railroad Division.

SEPTA acquired the Philadelphia Transportation Company (PTC) on September 30, 1968, which included bus, trolley, and trackless trolley routes, and the Market-Frankford Line and the Broad Street Line in the City of Philadelphia. This became the City Transit Division.

On January 30, 1970, SEPTA acquired the Philadelphia Suburban Transportation Company, also known as the Red Arrow Lines, which included the Philadelphia and Western Railroad (P&W) route now called the Norristown High Speed Line (Route 100), the Media and Sharon Hill Lines (Routes 101 and 102), and several suburban bus routes in Delaware County. Today, this is the Victory Division, though it is sometimes referred to as the Red Arrow Division.

In 1976, SEPTA acquired the Schuylkill Valley Lines, which is today the Frontier Division.

2005 Strike

SEPTA's contracts with its transit operators expired in April and May, 2005. In October 2005, the Transport Workers Union Local 234 and the United Transportation Union Local 1594 set a strike deadline effective Halloween morning, October 31st, 2005 at 12:01 am. The reason the strike occurred was due to disagreement between SEPTA management and union leadership regarding employees' contributions to healthcare. Before the strike, SEPTA tried to negotiate with the union, offering them a new deal whereby SEPTA union employees would pay 5 percent of their salary towards healthcare costs. The SEPTA union refused the offer, arguing that when cost of living increases and inflation are factored in, its members would actually make less money than before. Negotiators walked out of contract negotiations minutes before that deadline when they failed to come to a conclusion. All operators, conductors, and engineers on the City, Victory, and Frontier Divisions walked off the job. SEPTA services on the regional rail division continued according to contingency plans, and all bus, trolley, and subway lines were suspended. This work stoppage stranded approximately 400,000 riders daily, impacting around 1,000,000 rides daily, forcing commuters to car-pool, walk, or arrange other alternative methods of transportation. In addition, over 27,000 public school students who receive free or subsidized transit tokens were forced to miss school completely or have their days cut short due to transportation issues.

In the early morning of November 7, 2005, a preliminary agreement had been reached between SEPTA management and union leadership. Service on all affected transit lines was fully restored by the late afternoon. This agreement was due in large part to the intervention by former Philadelphia mayor, and current Pennsylvania governor, Ed Rendell.

Fleet

Buses

One of SEPTA's articulated NEOPLAN AN460 buses.
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One of SEPTA's articulated NEOPLAN AN460 buses.

The new face of SEPTA's bus fleet which is the New Flyer D40LF.
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The new face of SEPTA's bus fleet which is the New Flyer D40LF.

All buses currently in service are wheelchair accessible.

Subway Cars

the door passage in a "Blue LIne" subway car.
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the door passage in a "Blue LIne" subway car.

Light Rail Vehicles

Streetcars

Regional rail trains

Maintenance of way vehicles

Maintenance facilities

Governance

SEPTA is governed by a fifteen member board of directors. The five counties (Philadelphia, Delaware County, Montgomery County, Bucks County, and Chester County) appoint two members each, the leaders of the Pennsylvania State Legislature appoints four members, and the Governor of Pennsylvania appoints one.

Other agencies in the Philadelphia region

See also

External links

50px Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority
City Division Market-Frankford Line - Broad Street Line - Subway-Surface Lines - Bus Lines - Girard Avenue Trolley
Suburban Divisions Norristown High Speed Line - Trolley Routes 101 & 102
Regional Rail
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