This update was sent to Transit Forward Philadelphia (TFP) supporters via our newsletter. Want to sign up and receive these updates? Get involved!
Through November, SEPTA haltingly rolled out the indefinite postponement of its New Bus Network - formerly Bus Revolution - further delaying the first system redesign in nearly 60 years and leaving riders stuck with the same, often slow and unreliable routes.
Transit Forward Philadelphia's founding campaign was for a Better Bus. We knew that riders deserved better than buses with declining average speeds and reliability, so we called for change. We even executed a Rider-Driven Bus Network survey of thousands of bus riders across the region, illustrating that above all else, they desire frequent, reliable service.
Starting in 2021, SEPTA worked through its own version of this better bus, terming it "Bus Revolution." Its cost-neutral limitations fundamentally meant cuts for some, to provide gains for others. But it signaled the agency's first-ever wholesale look at how people travel via bus and why, throughout Philly and its suburbs.
At multiple instances, late-breaking political games from city council added years of delays to the process, rather than engaging with their constituents to improve the plan along the way. But happily by the end, SEPTA meaningfully responded to most of the most pressing concerns of riders, with their board approving Bus Revolution in May.
By November, we had attended SEPTA's first Implementation Advisory Committee meeting for what it was now dubbing the "New Bus Network," just as the agency's fiscal cliff was becoming most acute.
The project was first paused at the end of legislative session with the failure of the House and Senate to do anything meaningful to support transit across the Commonwealth. Though Governor Shapiro arrived to the scene to flex federal highway dollars to stave off service cuts and fare increases, SEPTA has maintained its pause of the New Bus Network due to the lack of a permanent operations funding solution.
Route redesigns and "efficiencies" are precisely what state legislators purport to want from SEPTA, but now their lack of action has stymied even these incremental improvements.
Under the tenure of Leslie Richards, SEPTA for nearly the first time in its history presented a(n imperfect) vision for the future. But now, it's struggling to even keep the buses, trains, and trolleys running.
The New Bus Network was never perfect, particularly because of its cost neutrality. But we can't pretend the status quo is working, with ridership on the bus in decline from 2012-2019 prior to all transit across the country being upended by the pandemic.
