PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — SEPTA riders should begin seeing new bus stop signs next month, as the transit agency prepares big changes to its bus routes.
SEPTA is set to install new signs at more than 13,000 area bus stops to help introduce riders to upcoming changes to its bus network.
SEPTA’s New Bus Network plan reduces the number of bus routes from 124 to 106, with the same size fleet. It eliminates 18 routes but establishes two new ones, creating 29 routes with service every 15 minutes or better. The first phase launches on Aug. 23.
Lex Powers, SEPTA’s chief of customer experience, said the transit agency isn’t just upgrading old and faded signage.
“Not just replacing the signs that we have now, but also adding bus stops in new locations,” he said, “because there are routes that are going to be going on new corridors or new places.”
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Powers said the signs will be reflective and easier to see in the dark.
“Those signs are going to be different from what riders are used to,” he said. “They will be larger and more conspicuous.”
And, they will use the color red to indicate routes that run frequently.
Powers said SEPTA is overdue to replace the signs; they are supposed to last about five years, and most of them currently on the system have been up since 2011.
The SEPTA Board has approved spending $6.7 million for the signs. Powers said riders should begin to see them starting in July.
The new signs will help introduce riders to upcoming route changes
The new signs will help introduce riders to upcoming route changes
