Join the discussion on the following article:
SEPTA sets new record for regional rail ridership
Congratulations SEPTA! I will bet that if you included the trolleys, buses, subways and Route 100, we’ll see that more people are leaving their cars at home and using SEPTA!
Jim,
More people may be using SEPTA, a happy turn of events, but it appears that there are more cars on the highways now (US-1, I-476, I-276, I-76, I-95, 309, 422, etc.) than ever before. One can always hope for more equipment, more routes, more scheduled trips, etc.
Was it just recently about a year or so ago that draconian cuts were being proposed for SEPTA? The traffic on those highways that Pete would be far worse if those cuts had gone through. The appearance of more traffic is also related to much needed highway repairs that are overdue. I recently drove through there last month, and also rode through on Amtrak, too. NEC runs next to I-76 just outside 30th Street Station.
The cuts didn’t go through because the state legislature had the ovaries to pass an increase to the gas tax (indirectly - phasing out excise tax at the pump, shifting it to wholesale, but removing a cap on that franchise tax) and dedicating more money to transit from other sources.
Everyone wants quilted two-ply, but only wants to pay for one-ply like you find in a gas station bathroom.