PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — SEPTA is reducing service somewhat with its new spring schedules, which take effect at the end of the month. As it deals with an ongoing driver shortage, SEPTA is cutting back the frequency of some bus, trolley and subway routes, in hopes that service will become more consistent.
"It is a slight reduction, but it should meet the current demands, and then through the rest of spring until June when we change the schedules again,” said Jody Holton, SEPTA's assistant general manager for planning.
The goal is to reduce the number of missed trips and improve reliability. SEPTA's assistant general manager for operations, Scott Sauer, says the agency is still 185 bus drivers short.
"Ideally, what this change will do for us is give us a little more flexibility with our operators, but give — more importantly — the customer a better sense of reliability for the service," Sauer said.
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There are 17 bus routes with low ridership that will run a little less frequently. Those are routes 2, 6, 19, 20, 24, 29, 33, 45, 46, 52, 53, 57, 79, 88, 124, 125 and L.
Bus routes G and 70 will actually increase in frequency because of higher demand.
"There were a number of routes that we went through, and we found that we could move it a minute or two,” says Maureen Lichtner, SEPTA's chief officer for service planning. “And even just by that little change, that decreases the number of operators we need at any time."
On the new schedule, the Market-Frankford Line will have a more consistent schedule all day, rather than service every five minutes during rush hours, says SEPTA's assistant general manager for operations Scott Sauer...
"It'll be, sort of like, six minutes across the board now, rather than a shorter headway in the morning and the evening and a longer headway in between."
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There will be no changes on the Broad Street Line. Service there was adjusted during the last schedule change.
The spring schedule takes effect Feb. 27.
The Norristown High Speed Line is unaffected by the new schedule, and Regional Rail schedules will not change until April 24.
Overall, SEPTA is providing 89% of its pre-COVID-19 service for about half of the pre-pandemic ridership.
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