[PRCo] SEPTA ROUTE 15 RAIL SERVICE RESUMPTION

[Fred Schneider]

For those on Derrick's list --- sorry that this isn't Pittsburgh.  If  
Philly doesn't interest, kindly push delete key.

I did not make the initial first day of rail service on SEPTA Route  
15, which was yesterday.  However, I was told that it was a mixed bag  
of cars and buses.

However, I did have the opportunity to see how SEPTA managed to  
handle the second day of revived rail service today.   We met our  
first car laying over at 63rd and Girard.  I asked the motorwoman if  
there were any buses out ... she said 2 buses and 6 cars.  By  
afternoon I think it was 3 and 6 or 3 and 5.  A supervisor explained  
that they did not have enough qualified rail operators to handle the  
service.   Note that the service had been planned for several years  
and the start date had been postponed for more than a year not  
because of a lack of crews but because of political friction between  
SEPTA, the city, and the neighbors over parking interfering with cars  
entering Callowhill Carhouse.    The parking issue still has not been  
resolved.

Schedule maintenance today was dreadful ... the banana system of  
dispatching appeared to be used (they come in bunches).   I  
encountered one man on the street up in Fishtown squawking about how  
poorly they kept schedules, and I guessed it was a supervisory  
issue.  He remarked that the street supervisors were hiding in the  
shade under I–95.  I didn't try to confirm.   The scheduled headway  
this afternoon was 15 minutes.  The actual interval between vehicles  
varied from 5 to 25 minutes.  I witnessed buses driving around rail  
cars on Girard Avenue, which must have made a real headache for  
supervisors, i.e. the lead man is 10 minutes late but the follower  
comes in on-time.   I'm not going to speculate why.  I was told that  
it takes 6 minutes to use the wheel chair lift but I never saw anyone  
in a wheelchair at any car stop.  I also didn't ride any car.   The  
only supervisor I encountered was at Richmond an Westmoreland loop,  
the east end of the line.

I also met a woman who asked if this was permanent?  Would anyone  
spend $90 million and not make it permanent?  Please, don't answer that.

Two bays at Callowhill are again rail, one for route 10 and the other  
for route 15.  The Kawasaki cars on route 10 pulled out of Elmhwood  
on Saturday morning and pulled in at Callowhill that evening.   
Operators for route 10 were transferred from Elmwood to Callowhill.