Question For You SEPTA Bus Riding People

Submitted by wyueprouqi t3_zb098u in philadelphia

How many of you have seen advertising for the Bus Revolution on actual buses? Everyone I talk to about it during my commute has no idea it's happening or that the bus we're commuting on will no longer exist at some point in 2023. I'm not saying it's intentional, but it seems sort of weird that there's barely any signage on the buses....

(I apologize in advance for any weird formatting below, I'm on mobile)

Edit: For those who have no idea what is going on:

Visit https://septabusrevolution.com to see how you may potentially be affected. The actual draft proposal/slider is not mobile friendly.

Also SEPTA will be holding Open Houses at the following locations. Also weird to me that there was barely any signage about this as well.

12/5 Mon West Chester Borough Hall (401 E Gay St) 3:30PM-6:30PM

12/6 Tues Wolcoff Auditorium, Roxborough Memorial Hospital (5800 Ridge Ave) 5:30PM-7:30PM

12/7 Wed 69th Street Transportation Center (6901 Market St, Upper Darby) 3:30PM-6:30PM

12/8 Thurs SEPTA, 1234 Market Street, 3rd Floor (1234 Market Street 3rd Floor) 5:30PM-7:30PM

Second Edit: For mobile users, the Transit app will allow you to see how your route will change. (Thanks mobileagnes!)

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Comments

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mobileagnes t1_iyor4cz wrote

Transit App allows you to check how your journeys will change with the new routings. Switch the app the display Bus Revolution and you'll see the new routes. You can program start and end locations and it'll show the journey. My commute for instance will now have a transfer when before it was a 1-seat ride. Other people may experience the opposite.

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choppedrice t1_iyp4hfv wrote

And for those of us on the slower side where do we switch the display?

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mobileagnes t1_iyph22l wrote

  1. Open Transit App.
  2. Click the gear icon.
  3. Click the icon that appears to have 2 lines: one with a circle on the left and the other with a circle on the right.
  4. Scroll down to 'My transit modes' then click Bus.
  5. Tick 'SEPTA Bus Revolution' and untick 'SEPTA'.
  6. Go back and the new routes will now show up.
  7. To revert to current routings, repeat these steps but instead tick 'SEPTA' and untick 'SEPTA Bus Revolution'.
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spiffypanda t1_iyso48h wrote

Wow thanks for this post. Looks like my work commute is about to get worse. RIP the 17

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wyueprouqi OP t1_iyt06og wrote

Amusingly enough, the signage I have seen was at a bus shelter on one of those LED billboards and it said "Your commute is about to get easier." Someone oughta launch a campaign and post a couple hundred fliers and actual information for people who use the bus network. Maybe something like "Your commute is about to get easier worse."

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EnemyOfEloquence t1_izatmhp wrote

I'm going from 30 to 70 minutes. Rox/Manayunk getting fucked. Might just bike ride year round.

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Wu-Tang_Killa_Bees t1_iyooa6m wrote

Never even heard of it until this post. Also, it seems like there aren't enough buses going East/West in South Philly. Just Washington, Tasker/Morris, and Snyder

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wyueprouqi OP t1_iyop7fv wrote

Check out https://septabusrevolution.com to see how you will be affected. You can post feedback there as well. Just FYI, the site is impossible on mobile (also weird because they have QR codes for you to scan on your phone on what few advertisements I have seen).

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gia_is_a_penguin t1_iypgtdv wrote

Yep, the 17 was a great route to Penn's Landing but now it looks like they're going to kill it and make everyone transfer. It was nice to have something that wasn't completely N/S from South Philly.

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aintjoan t1_iyqu3h9 wrote

Personally I feel like SEPTA's been doing what they can to get the word out there. They have been talking about the bus revolution work since they first started the process (which was quite some time ago).

I do think they should have been putting the signs up at bus stops and on the buses earlier than they did, though. I've been seeing them recently, but many of the open house discussions have already happened.

That said, having attended one of the open house discussions -- people are not listening to anything SEPTA is saying or spending even half a second listening to the reasoning behind the redesign. Nothing is final, but I have to say that what's been proposed lines up quite well with good transit design principles, especially given the budget constraints that SEPTA has. But all anyone on the calls wants to do is scream about how their much-too-long, 87-turn-having, never-on-time route is being removed. Well, yeah, it is, because you can't run a reliable bus network that way. And there is simply no way SEPTA can sustain the (already unreliable) bus network it has with the ridership it's got.

It also amazes me how many people don't know that the first transfer has been free on SEPTA for two years already. OMG I WILL HAVE TO TRANSFER IT'S GOING TO COST MORE -- well, yes, you may have to transfer, but no it won't cost more, and the whole point of the new approach is guaranteed regular reliability on the main lines. So overall it should be a much more reliable system.

There are reasonable accessibility concerns about having to increase transfers, and that requires more attention IMO.

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jpstanton93 t1_iyoo7wo wrote

I've seen one ad at a bus shelter in University City, but that's it.

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haberdashley t1_iyp6km4 wrote

I consider myself to be pretty plugged in with things like this and I ride 3 different bus lines, and the only place I’ve heard about it is this sub.

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stfuvoicesinmyhead t1_iyqqfnu wrote

You make a good point. You'd think they would try to reach people who... I don't know... ride the bus? I've seen ads on the BSL, but not my bus route.

I'm frustrated that they are taking away routes in my part of the city. That said, I don't think they can do much improving since the "Bus Revolution" did not include any actual investment. From my understanding, budget constraints remain the same.

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wyueprouqi OP t1_iyt0p2y wrote

Whoever came up with these drafts may "take" the bus network but they definitely don't rely on the bus network.

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Iamdead7 t1_iyollf9 wrote

I finally saw a wrap on the outside of a bus a week ago and a sign at an actual bus stop today

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yojo988 t1_iypurrx wrote

Ironically one of the only places I ever see it advertised in an actual station is the 13th street trolley station which obviously... isn't a ... bus stop

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wyueprouqi OP t1_iyt0zj1 wrote

I've seen one at a bus shelter and one on the 5 on the advertising about the lights. The posters clearly exist, why aren't they being used?

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wheelfoot t1_iyqwfei wrote

I'm not surprised SEPTA is giving shitty notice about this shitty plan.

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B3n222 t1_iyrcq1z wrote

I can't tell if the "bus revolution" is definitely going to happen or if septa is just trying to put the fear of God in commuters and politicians.

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CathedralEngine t1_iysosvc wrote

OMG I WILL HAVE TO TRANSFER, IT’S GOING TO COST MORE.

So, my current commute is bus->subway. After the “revolution” it turns into bus->regional rail. Adds $10 per day, easily.

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wyueprouqi OP t1_iyt0cjo wrote

"But the first transfer is free!"

  • SEPTA probably
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EnemyOfEloquence t1_izaul1r wrote

And they said they're not coordinating with regional rail at all on this...RR is a fortune for daily commuting compared to a bus

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