PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — With service through the Center City trolley tunnel restored, SEPTA’s general manager Tuesday thanked riders for their patience during the nearly two-month closure.
Trolley commuters at SEPTA’s 15th Street station told GM Scott Sauer of enduring detours and longer commutes during the nearly two months that the tunnel was closed for overhead wire maintenance.
“I told him I was late practically every day. And the commute was too long,” said Arlene Berry of East Germantown.
Commuters were diverted to ride shuttle buses or the L while the tunnel between 40th and 13th streets was closed to repair catenary wires damaged by a replacement part.
“It was about a four or five block walk from the 40th Street station, in addition to the commute already,” said a rider named Ashley, who declined to give her last name. “I said that I was excited that the trolleys are back up and running and that I’m a regular rider of them and it’s nice to have them back and not have to connect on the L.”
Riders expressed to Sauer that SEPTA could have done a better job of informing the public of disruptions in service through the tunnel. “In the early stages of this, we were communicating kind of week to week and it didn’t give customers that sense of surety that they knew what they were going to be faced with each coming day,” Sauer told reporters.
“They say what’s on their mind and they know what they want. And that’s actually good for us. Because the more direct they can be the better off we are.”
The tunnel reopened on Monday, restoring trolley service for 60,000 daily riders. Sauer cautioned, though, that nightly tunnel closures would continue.
“For the foreseeable future we’re going to shut down at 10 p.m. And we’re going to use that seven-hour window from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. to do inspections to make sure we’re not seeing anything that we don’t expect,” he said, explaining that while technicians replaced much of the wire in the tunnel, areas around City Hall still need work.
Sauer said SEPTA was targeting a week in February and two additional weekends for tunnel shutdowns to accommodate the work.