UPDATED: 2/8/24, 10:15 p.m.
PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — For the second time this year, the SEPTA board postponed a vote on a comprehensive overhaul of its bus routes. A special meeting set for 1 p.m. Thursday was canceled.
The transit agency agreed to hold additional meetings on its bus route redesign over the next two weeks, after a request from elected officials including Council Majority Leader Katherine Gilmore Richardson. At Thursday's Council meeting, she said Black and brown communities were left out of the process to change bus routes.
“To many residents, the current version of the bus plan is just another example of the tale of two cities: a place where changes benefit more affluent communities and leaves those who have lived here and held this city on their shoulders the longest behind,” she said.
“For years, I’ve been watching as experts and specialists show up in our neighborhoods to tell us what we need and what will make our lives better without ever really listening to what we want.”
SEPTA said it’s had 200 public meetings over the last two years to gather feedback and answer questions about its massive bus route redesign. The plan, dubbed Bus Revolution, would reduce the total number of bus routes from 125 to 106, but more of those routes would run at least every 15 minutes.
SEPTA spokesperson Andrew Busch said there are still sectors with lingering issues about the changes.
“We’re continuing to have a dialogue with people who have brought some questions up, and this includes riders, members of the public and also some elected officials,” he said.
Busch said it’s unclear as to whether the issue will come up for a vote at the board’s regular meeting on Feb. 22.
If the board is able to vote on the overhaul this month, the new routes would be able to begin on schedule this fall. Otherwise, he said, the launch may have to be delayed until later this year, or 2025.
“This is the first time this plan will be changed — all of our bus routes — in 70 years,” Richardson said, “so if it takes a few more days or a few more weeks, folks have to be okay with that.”