Since I have intermittent use of a car, I typically ride my bicycle everywhere I can.
With the unstable spring weather, the question which arises is how to get back home when it is raining so much that my best rain gear does not protect me from being totally drenched. This is not such a big deal for humans but more for the electronic gear – i.e.: IPhone & Droids – that many people (including me) carry with them at all times.
Solution: take the SEPTA Regional Rail home. Yes – well that got me to look at how our Regional Transit System is doing in terms of helping people who want to ride the public transit system and what I found is… a mixed record.
The Sublime
The Philadelphia metropolitan area is lucky to have a Regional Public Transit System that survived the onslaught of car supremacy decades of the 1960s and 70s. Just imagine what Philadelphia traffic jams would be like if we had no public transit system??
Septa by the Numbers:
SEPTA is the sixth largest public transportation system in the country. It is a huge logistics operation that:
- Employs 9,000 people and serves a population of 3.8 million.
- Operated 143 bus, rail and subway routes in 2010,
- Is carrying approximately 321 million (unlinked) passenger trips (2.6% less unlinked passenger trips in Fiscal Year 2010 compared to FY 2009),
- Used 15.478 million gallons of diesel fuel (-4% less diesel than during the previous fiscal year) ,
- And used 376.5 Megawatt of electricity (3.5% less electricity consumption)
- Has an operating budget of $1.150 Billion and $418 million in capital funding for 2010.
Septa enabled the creation of one of Philadelphia most dynamic urban farm.
The Walnut Hill Farm in West Philadelphia used to be a plot of land that had been previously used by Septa for the El construction in West Philadelphia.
Septa agreed to lease the land to “Philly Rooted” which manages The Walnut Hill Community Farm in partnership with the West Philadelphia Enterprise Center Community Development Corporation.
This vacant plot of mud and idle machinery is now a striving community urban farm/community garden/mini-park combination. The farm is run by a collective of West Philadelphia youth who cooperatively farm and sell their produce at the Clark Park Farmer’s Market and at Milk and Honey Market.
I am wondering how many more community gardens/urban farms might be possible on other vacant plots owned by Septa?
A fleet of 440 Hybrid Diesel/Electric buses
Septa has been replacing its Diesel powered buses with hybrid Diesel/Electric buses that reduce engine exhaust
emissions, greater gas mileage, superior brake lining life and faster acceleration.
And new passengers rail cars are being introduced on the Regional Rail Lines.
The Perplexing
Environment/Sustainability Training anyone?
Great, we have Hybrid buses that are more energy efficient and do less harm to our lungs and to the environment.
I am wondering whether Septa has considered training its 9,000 employees to what the consequences of its employees small daily actions are?
I think that if such training had taken place, I would see many less Septa bus drivers letting their bus run on idle while on break and Septa would see its expense for Diesel fuel drop more significantly.
See the Mindless Ignorance Awards story I wrote on the subject. Training its employees would enable Septa to tap into its employee ingenuity and see what the benefits of employee engagement really look like.
Septa’s modus operandi: Cars to Trains to City.
How about bikes?
Septa is mired in concepts that are 15 or 20 years old.
Septa is operating 138 parking lots representing 22,612 parking spaces for cars. The Septa Operating Facts document for 2010 does not contain ONE word about bicycles. Nothing.
I can tell you that, on average, at Septa rail stations I have found one or two bike racks, each meant to accommodate one single bike. That is it.
In 2010, Septa spent $2.3 million on parking lot expansion and plans to spend $58 million on parking lots expansion by FY 2013. Not a penny for bike racks. Nothing, nada, zilch.
Please notice that I am referring to the cheap variety of Outdoor Bike Racks that cost from $100 to $400 a piece and serve a couple to a dozen bicycles.
Of course, it would be nice to be able to lock your bike for the day in a plastic container that would totally protect your bike from theft, vandalism and rain. Is there such a thing?
Sure, the customers of the Boston area MBTA can, for a fee, lock their bike in such contraption. Here 
is <– what it looks like.
Riding Septa’s Regional Rail Lines with a bike
Have you tried to ride Septa Regional Rail with your bike?
You are in for a treat:
First never at rush hour.
Why? Because Septa will not let you on a Regional Rail train at rush hour.
And, just imagine: you need to climb on board of the train with your bike and walk your bike in the narrow alley in the middle of the railroad car all the way to the back of the train. So, imagine doing this while the train is moving.
Now, imagine walking your bike through the middle of the car alley, while the train is moving AND the railroad car is packed with people. Not a good idea.
I think Septa needs to be sued by a cyclist who will loose his or her balance and fall on an old lady while the train is moving. Maybe if Septa looses a few spectacular lawsuits, maybe they will get it!!??
What is irritating to me is that Septa and other Regional Transit Systems are struggling with issues that have been resolved by other public transit systems in other parts of the country and the world.
New Passenger Rail Cars:
As you may know, Septa bought a first set of 120 new “Silverliner V” rail cars from Hyundai Rotem. The new rail car shells are being shipped around the world from South Korea to the Philadelphia harbor and are then assembled in a South Philadelphia Septa facility. See a short video that Septa produced of the new passenger rail cars here
The new rail cars have larger windows, wider aisles, better seating arrangement, functioning climate control and video monitors. Great!
And yes, near the doors you will find on each side of the car a set of foldable lateral benches that will accommodate people on wheelchairs and… bicycles!! This is progress.
And still, the underlying assumption that the Septa Management is making is that each train will accommodate a couple of cyclists with their bikes at the most.
Let’s see, the life expectancy of the prior generation of rail cars was 40 years. My guess is that in much less than 40 years the price of oil will be such that many more people are going to want to take their bikes to the train.
So how about configurating the old or the new passenger rail cars so that one area of the car can be accessed from the outside (no need to walk your bike through the car and fall on people) and have ceiling hooks to secure a whole bunch of bikes safely. Or how about having a small car attached to the train just to store bikes, motorbikes and maybe carry mail or fret?? That would be a novel idea.
The Big Picture
According to a recent study by the Brookings Institution, the Philadelphia metro area was ranked 49th among the 100 largest metro areas in its ability to connect workers and jobs by transit.
This first of its kind study essentially ranks the largest public transit systems in terms of how efficient they are in connecting people to the location of their job via public transit.
Here are the conclusions of this study I find most interesting:
- In neighborhoods covered by transit, morning rush hour service occurs about once every
10 minutes for the typical metropolitan commuter.
- The typical metropolitan resident can reach about 30 percent of jobs in their metropolitan area via transit in 90 minutes.
- For Philadelphia, 24% of jobs in the metropolitan area are accessible via transit within 90 mn. On average 30% of jobs for the largest 100 metropolitan areas are accessible via transit within 90 mn.
- Nationwide, 22% of low- and middle-skill industries are accessible via transit within 90 minutes for the typical metropolitan commuter, compared to one-third of jobs in high-skill industries
- For Philadelphia, one third of low income jobs are accessible via public transit.
Here is the summary graph for Philadelphia: Brookings_Study_PhiladelphiaPA
The part that I find disturbing is that only 24% of the jobs in the Philadelphia metropolitan area are accessible via public transit within 90 minutes or less of travel time.
At the time of continuously increasing gas prices and a declining job market, Septa covers only 24% of the jobs available in the Philadelphia metropolitan area…???????????!!!!!!!!
Suppose that SEPTA would be more efficient at connecting the locations where people work and where people live, how would that translate in the lives of the thousands of people who commute 1.5 hours to their job in the suburbs using 2 buses, a rail line?
So let’s recap: Philadelphia has the sixth largest Metropolitan public transit system which is ranked 49th among the 100 largest metropolitan areas by its ability to connect workers and jobs via public transit.
I suggest that we can do better.
Breaking new grounds would suppose that the Septa leadership would be willing to address major trends and accepts that engaging and training its 9,000 employees might result in increased fuel and energy savings and improved customer satisfaction.
Breaking new grounds also means thinking outside the box. The classical public transportation paradigm that Septa seems to be boxed in, goes something like this:
“Providing public transportation to suburban dwellers using their car to pick up a train or a bus to get to their city job.”
- Some of the high skills jobs are not downtown but in specific suburban centers.
- A lot of the low and medium skills jobs are located outside the city center and require 1.5h transit time each way.
- Increasingly people want to avoid using their car or simply get rid of their car but want to go from A to B conveniently and fast.
- Think “Bike to Train to Job” in addition to the old “Car to Train to Job”.
- How about widening the definition what “Providing Public Transportation” is to include making better use of existing transportation assets?
In recent years I noticed the emergence of car sharing rental services such as Zipcar or PhillyCarShare. There is a new 
variation on car sharing that recently launched with GetAround.com. Getaround allows you to rent a car by the hour or by the day from people in your neighborhood. Hell, 92% of cars are just sitting there in a parking lot, slowly rusting away. For me the future is full of interesting tradeoffs and new and renewed modes of transportation that do a better job at meeting our collective mobility needs than a mostly unused and polluting car.
The challenge for a public transit agency like Septa is to keep reinventing itself to keep up with the changing needs of the population it serves.
