Photo courtesy University City District
The University City District is continuing experimenting with new “social seating” structures in the area. Last year, they introduced the Looped In structures in various locations, and earlier this week, a custom public transit stop seat was installed at 36th and Lancaster Avenue.
The new seats are designed to “provide seating and information to passengers waiting for public transit… the latest in a series of social seats designed to be functional, versatile, and unique to University City.”
The 3600 block of Lancaster Avenue was selected as a high-volume transit area where there is a strong need for seating. The location is a popular stop on the Route 10 SEPTA line; it serves mostly Drexel students and patrons of local businesses. UCD plans to install two more in other similar areas in University City and is currently evaluating additional locations.
The idea of these new seats was conceived by UCD’s Policy and Research Manager Seth Budick, and Capital Projects Manager Nate Hommel designed them and oversaw their production.
March 13th, 2015 at 7:09 pm
Wasn’t there a UCD contest a year or so ago to get community ideas for this type of bench? I wonder what happened to that concept. Probably another example of UCD knowing better then all the rest of us about what, when, and where things should take place.
March 14th, 2015 at 6:40 pm
does it also come with splinters?
March 17th, 2015 at 2:26 pm
Nice! Bus stops/benches are common in most cities. SEPTA doesn’t care that it’s seniors, women and children have to stand while waiting for public transportation.
March 18th, 2015 at 11:55 am
I always assumed that the no-bench situation had to do with unwittingly providing sleeping places for homeless people. It’s not hard to imagine that most SEPTA benches would probably be used for that if they’re not currently being used by SEPTA patrons. And vandalism (things being broken–which causes liability issues and makes everything ugly) too.