Spruce Street traffic is being diverted between 40th Street to 34th Street as Penn students pack up for the summer. That section of Spruce Street will be closed from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. today and tomorrow.

The eastbound 42 bus is turning down 42nd Street to Baltimore Avenue. Even bicycle traffic is being diverted on parts of Spruce.

The upside of the traffic diversion is that it’s almost “Penn Christmas” – the curbside rummaging that accompanies the student move out at the end of every school year. To lighten the load on the landfill, Penn is once again organizing donations from students – everything from clothes to microwaves to television – that will be sold to the public on June 2. For more information on that, visit the PennMoves website.

SEPTA is planning a Trolley Route 34 Track Renewal Project in West Philadelphia this spring and summer, according to their Community Update distributed in the neighborhood. The project is scheduled between May 19 and September 1, 2012 and includes a pre-reconstruction and four reconstruction phases.

Pre-reconstruction is scheduled for May 19-June 15 and includes rail welding in advance of construction. Rails will be welded and stored along Baltimore Avenue at four locations – between 41st and 42nd streets, between 50th and 51st streets, between 54th and 55th streets, and between 58th and 59th streets. Trolley service will not be affected during this phase, but parking will not be permitted in the area where rails are stored, with a few exceptions.

Phase I will take place from June 17 through July 7 and will include the reconstruction of both tracks between 40th and 42nd streets, beginning at 40th and progressing westward through completion of 42nd Street. During this phase, the entire two-block area on Baltimore Avenue will be closed.

Phase II is scheduled from July 1 through August 4 and includes the reconstruction of both tracks between 49th and 52nd streets. Phase III is scheduled from July 29 through August 18 and includes the reconstruction of both tracks between 54th and 55th streets. Phase IV includes the reconstruction of both tracks through the intersection of 58th Street and is scheduled from August 11 through September 1.

Throughout all phases, buses will replace trolley service from the 40th Street portal to the end of the line at the 61st Street Loop. All traffic, including buses, will be detoured around the active construction sites. All side streets in the affected construction areas will be closed to through traffic.

Some of the existing tracks were installed as far back as the early 1980s. The street structure supporting the tracks has deteriorated due to water leaks, traffic and the overall age of the street surface, which requires increased maintenance, SEPTA said. During the reconstruction, SEPTA will excavate, renew and pave approximately 7,500 track feet in both directions.

If you have any questions about this project, please call SEPTA Community Relations office at 215-580-7013.
 

Since the summer of 2009, members of Riders Against Gender Exclusion (RAGE) have been organizing against SEPTA’s use of gender marking stickers on their weekly and monthly TransPasses that were designed to prevent heterosexual spouses from sharing passes. The stickers, they argue, make commuting difficult and dangerous for riders whose gender identifications don’t match the stickers on their passes, and have produced countless incidents of gender-presentation based harassment and unjust confiscation of passes.

On Thursday April 12, SEPTA General Manager Joe Casey announced that SEPTA plans to remove the gender stickers from all monthly transit passes by 2013. “A fare policy proposal will be submitted to SEPTA’s board of directors that includes this change beginning in the second half of 2013,” reported Max Ray, founding member of RAGE and West Philadelphia resident. “We thank SEPTA for doing the right thing,” continued Ray. “New fare system delays may be unavoidable, but SEPTA realized that human rights can’t wait. I’m proud of the tremendous amount of work that the transgender community has put into this project and all we’ve accomplished during this campaign.” West Philadelphians have been heavily involved in the organizing work that produced this groundbreaking victory – Robin Markle, Wren Warner, Victoria White, Ray Murphy, and Nico Armador to name just a few.

“On a personal level, the victory is meaningful to me because I think there are so few examples of trans people who are doing grassroots organizing and direct action on trans issues,” said founding member Nico Amador.  “I think that the success of this campaign isn’t just about getting the gender stickers removed, but also about sending a message that trans people don’t have to wait for the legal system or social workers to change things for us, we can do it ourselves.”

– Emma Eisenberg

 
A car traveling eastbound entered the trolley tunnel at 40th and Baltimore on Thursday morning at 11:30 a.m. and caused a temporary disruption of service when routes 10, 11, 13, 34 and 36 were put on diversion, according to SEPTA spokesman Andrew Busch. SEPTA riders using those routes could take the trolleys as far as 40th Street, then transfer to the Market-Frankford Line to continue their trip, which is customary when there is a disruption to service in the tunnel.

The fire department, police and SEPTA personnel were called to the scene. The vehicle was removed, and the tracks and other infrastructure were inspected for any potential damage. No problems were found, and service was restored at approximately 12:15 p.m.

The police didn’t identify the driver since there was no collision involving the vehicle and SEPTA trolleys and there were no injuries reported.

The crazy thing is that this happens kind of frequently.

“It’s not that uncommon,” said police spokesperson Tanya Little.

 
Several heavily damaged vehicles remained along the eastbound lane of the 4700 block of Spruce Street this afternoon after an early morning accident that sent a SEPTA bus careening out of control and into a row of parked cars.

A westbound Route 42 bus collided with an SUV that ran a red light at 47th and Spruce at about 4 a.m., according to 6ABC. The driver, who along with four others was taken to the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania for “non-life threatening” injuries, lost control of the bus. The collision pushed the bus into a tree and nearby parked cars. About a dozen cars in all were damaged.

The accident is under investigation.

chinwag (noun) – Light informal conversation for social occasions.

The idea of this site has always been conversation – about the news and about the neighborhood. “West Philly chinwag” is a conversation starter. Drop a rant, a rave or a well-reasoned comment below.

Today’s topic:

SEPTA ridership is at its highest level since 1989. Gas prices probably have something to do with it, but SEPTA officials surmise that the increase has much more to do with the increase of young professionals in the city. Folks took some 13 million more trips on SEPTA this year over last year. The overwhelming majority of those trips, 12 million, were on SEPTA’s “City Division” – city buses, subways and trolleys.

Are you using SEPTA more? What do they need to do to lure you aboard more?