This Thursday, December 21st, four days before Christmas, at 3 PM at SEPTA’s office at 1234 Market Street, the SEPTA board is voting on the proposed bus network from the compressive bus network redesign, otherwise known as the “Bus Revolution.”
SEPTA’s consultants, throughout the entire “Bus Revolution process,” have made it exceedingly difficult for riders to know what, if anything, will happen to their bus routes. Notices were not placed on the bus routes scheduled to be eliminated, warning riders.
SEPTA’s public hearings were scheduled for 2-hour blocks, for example, from 7 to 9 pm. The hearing examiner refused to allow people who came after the hearing to sign up to speak. At the hearing in North Philadelphia, the doors were closed five minutes after the start time. Riders were turned away and told that because they were five minutes late, they could not ask questions or provide testimony. The Hearing Examiner refused to keep the hearing open during the advertised hours.
SEPTA was not forced to answer riders’ questions nor address legal issues raised by disabled riders. The question was: how is it legal to create a “micro-transit system” that is not handicap accessible?
The public was told the Hearing Examiner’s report would be emailed to everyone on the Bus Revolution email list. On Thursday, November 16th, an email from the Bus Revolution said the comment period was closed. When that email was sent, the Hearing Examiner’s report was in the hands of the Chairman of the SEPTA board and the SEPTA consultants. The email failed to mention that the Hearing Examiner’s report had been released. There was no email linking to the information.
The SEPTA web page should list or connect to the hearing examiner’s report. It should inform riders the Board will vote this Thursday. As of today, it is not on the website’s front page.
If one can discover how to find the hearing examiner’s report, one might be shocked to learn just how little it says. Fewer than 100 riders were allowed to speak, and few, if any, said what was in the report.
The hearing examiner ruled that the hearings were public outreach, not an opportunity for an independent person to weigh SEPTA’s proposals with the public comments. So, it should be no surprise that the report does not consider the rider’s critiques or criticisms. The Hearing Examiner’s conclusion: Upon consideration of the Bus Revolution process and resultant Recommended Network, SEPTA’s testimony and exhibits, and the input from the public, my recommendation is as follows: In the limited instances in which routes would be discontinued under the proposal without a corresponding alternative, I implore SEPTA to consider whether there are additional alternatives not yet considered. I otherwise recommend that the SEPTA Board adopt the proposed changes related to Bus Revolution.” The hearing examiner does not list the routes that don’t have alternatives. There is no way for anyone to understand her recommendation.
SEPTA’s consultants were given copies of the report weeks before it was released. SEPTA decided to make changes to what it is proposing once again. Now that the hearing process is over, no rider can comment on the most recent changes. What SEPTA did issue doesn’t mention how often the busses are scheduled to run under the new proposal.
The fact that SEPTA has changed the plans after the hearing process ended and public input closed makes it hard to understand precisely what is being decided. Can the plans continue to change?
Can wait times be increased? Frequency reduced?
What we do know is that nothing in the Bus Revolution helps SEPTA overcome its biggest obstacles.
Time and time again, SEPTA has said it will run out of money, despite its $450-million-dollar stabilization fund, if Harrisburg doesn’t provide more. The Bus Revolution can only be implemented if SEPTA has the funds to keep the system running. The Hearing Examiner’s report ignores the largest “elephant in the room.” The “smaller elephants in the room” that make SEPTA slower and less efficient than other systems are Philadelphia’s narrow streets, traffic congestion, lack of drivers, four-way stop signs and traffic lights, and the failure of the Delaware Valley to make public transit a priority, will not be affected by the bus revolution.
The Hearing Examiner’s report does not address any of the major challenges SEPTA says it faces.
So why schedule the vote before telling the riders the Hearing Examiner’s report and SEPTA’s responses are available? The major issues are not addressed. A new mayor and City Council will be sworn into office in 3 weeks. The State Legislature has not passed the bill SEPTA says it requires to continue operating and implementing the “Bus Revolution .” Riders have not received the promised email linking to the Hearing Examiners report or SEPTA’s responses. Perhaps the SEPTA board meeting this Thursday, December 22nd, will let us know.
It will be at 3 pm at 1234 Market St.
There is a little SEPTA gift shop in the back of the building for some last-minute holiday shopping.
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