PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — SEPTA riders are beginning to see real-time countdown clocks indicating when the next Market-Frankford Line train will arrive. Officials say, however, that the service isn't ready for prime time yet.
Real-time platform clocks counting down until the next train arrives are a fixture of the Regional Rails and something SEPTA subway riders have awaited for years. This week, some commuters noticed the function was up and running along the El.
"What people are seeing on the Market-Frankford Line now is still part of the testing phase," said SEPTA spokesman Andrew Busch. "We are pretty confident that the information that they're seeing is accurate. The problem that we're having right now is being able to keep it up consistently."
For the last several years, SEPTA has been trying to coordinate signals from decades-old proprietary systems to provide reliable next-to-arrive information. Busch says a shortage of El cars also complicates the ability to transmit reliable data.
The transit agency has also been working out bugs in the system since a malware attack in 2020. According to Busch, SEPTA expects real-time clocks will be running on the El sometime this year.
"We're still going to need some time to have it fully operational. We don't have a hard date on it yet," he said.
Once the Market-Frankford Line clocks are running, Busch says, the Broad Street Line will follow.
