The annual trolley tunnel maintenance project, SEPTA Trolley Tunnel Blitz, is scheduled for next month and will take nine days to complete. The tunnel will close at 10 p.m. on Friday, July 8 and will re-open for trolley service at 4 a.m. on Monday, July 18, 2016.

During the blitz, trolley Routes 10, 11, 13, 34 and 36 will not operate through the tunnel. Trolley service will begin and end at 40th and Market Streets; trolleys will use their alternate diversion service routing to connect to SEPTA’s Market-Frankford Line at 40th and Market Streets.

This is the fourth year SEPTA has held the Trolley Tunnel Blitz. In 2015, the tunnel was closed for 16 days.

During this year’s blitz, more than 400 members of SEPTA’s in-house Engineering, Maintenance & Construction Division crews will work around-the-clock on key maintenance and construction tasks.  Continue Reading

Just a reminder that the SEPTA Key “Early Adopter” program is launching on Monday, June 13. Up to 10,000 contactless cards will be available for purchase and can be used for travel on subway and trolley lines and on city and suburban bus routes.

During the Early Adopter program, riders will be able to get an instant SEPTA Key card with their purchase of a weekly or monthly TransPass. For the Early Adopter program, SEPTA Key cards will be available at fare kiosks located at 12 stations on the Market-Frankford and Broad Street Lines, and the SEPTA Sales Office at 1234 Market Street.

All existing methods of fare payment will continue to be available to purchase and use throughout the Early Adopter program. SEPTA will give advanced public notice before any existing fare instruments – such as tokens, paper transfers, tickets and magnetic stripe passes – are phased out.

Early Adopters will be the first to experience some of the benefits of the SEPTA Key. For example, SEPTA Key card holders will not have to go out and get a new TransPass every week or month – the contactless card can be reloaded online, or at fare kiosks. Early Adopter participants can also register their cards to protect against loss or theft.

For more information about the SEPTA Key Early Adopter Program, visit www.septa.org/key.

61st and Pine Bus Loop Reconstruction project (Image courtesy SEPTA)

61st and Pine Bus Loop

Today, SEPTA along with local officials and neighborhood leaders broke ground on the reconstruction of the 61st and Pine Bus Loop, a key transit hub in West Philadelphia. The 61st and Pine Bus Loop is a terminus point for the Route 42 bus, one of SEPTA’s busiest with an average daily ridership of nearly 13,000. The $1.8 million capital improvement project is expected to be completed in Spring 2017.

The project will result in a number of improvements, including:

• A new driveway, new curbs and a new passenger boarding platform that are accessible and compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)
• Installation of energy efficient lighting and improved security features
• Construction of an open-air passenger waiting shelter
• Installation of site amenities including trash cans, bike racks and fencing
• Landscaping of the site; new signage throughout the facility

During construction, the Route 42 will continue to serve passengers at 61st and Pine. Buses will utilize portions of 61st Street and Pine Street when necessary to accommodate the work.

The 61st and Pine Bus Loop project is part of the overall “Rebuilding the SEPTA System” capital improvement plan.

Shuttle buses will substitute all Route 11 and Route 36 trolleys west of 40th Street on Sunday, May 22 through 4 a.m. Monday, May 23 and Sunday, June 5 through 4 a.m. Monday, June 6. Route 11 bus substitution will be between Darby Transportation Center and 40th St. Portal, and Route 36 will have shuttle buses running between 80th St. and Eastwick Ave. and 40th St. Portal.

Passengers should transfer to Bus/Trolley at 40th St. Portal for service to/from Center City during this time.

The reason for this temporary trolley service interruption, which began last weekend, is an overhead wire maintenance and renewal project at 49th St. & Woodland Ave, according to SEPTA.

UPDATE (Fri, Apr. 22): Beginning Friday, Apr. 22 at 11:00 p.m., Routes 10, 11, 13, 34, and 36 Trolleys will operate on a temporary diversion to allow for repairs and inspection to the Trolley Tunnel. Regularly scheduled trolley service will resume at the start of the service day Monday, Apr. 25, 2016.

Many people were wondering why trolleys were running above ground over Spruce to 40th Street today (Thursday). It turns out SEPTA had to divert Routes 11, 13, 34 and 36 to 40th and Market Streets due to continuous repairs of overhead wires in the tunnel. Wire repair work in the tunnel will continue overnight and possibly on Friday. Here’s more information from SEPTA:

“Service disruptions on the Trolley network (Routes 10, 11, 13, 34 and 36) have been occurring with increasing frequency in recent weeks. Despite the best efforts of our maintenance forces in the limited work windows afforded to them, overhead wire conditions in the Trolley Tunnel continue to worsen and have created this reliability issue.  Continue Reading

                      Photo via Septa.org

SEPTA will soon be looking for 10,000 people to test out their new fare payment system – SEPTA Key Card – starting in June.

We know what you’re thinking … you’ve heard this before. But this time SEPTA appears to be almost ready to go. The 10,000 early adopters will be issued a Key card on June 13 and will be able to purchase monthly or weekly passes (just passes for now) on buses, trolleys, the El, the Broad Street Line and the Norristown High Speed Line.

SEPTA recently announced that every bus and trolley now has a card reader on board. There are also 175 fare kiosks around the city and so far 187 turnstiles have been set up for the subway lines.

So stay tuned for more information on how to become an early adopter. Meanwhile, here is a little video SEPTA put together about the Key Card.