I’m trying to make a habit of noting my observations when using the SEPTA system, in the hopes of translating it into some sort of action. I am reading “Hack your Bureaucracy”, and one chapter is on “Be Your Own Customer”. I am already a frequent customer of SEPTA services, but I want to get better about sharing my observations.
Today, I took the 47 (technically the 47M) from Bella Vista to Whitman Plaza to get a new driver’s license. Here are some things I noticed:
- The real-time arrival for the 47M was off – it got stuck at Market Street, and I ended up getting to my stop a few minutes earlier than I needed to. I’m not really sure what the issue was, but it was probably traffic
- The bus stop at 8th and Fitzwater didn’t have shade or a bench, so I ended up waiting across the street in the park. There was a car parked in the bus zone, so I needed to move into the street to flag down the bus. Luckily, this section of 7th and 8th Streets are getting bus bump-outs, which should help with this.
- The 47 was packed, and stopped at every single stop (except for one) from Fitzwater to Whitman Plaza. It felt so incredibly, painfully slow to go a block, stop, and then go another block.
- Philadelphia has the closest bus stop spacing in the nation. While most of these are 4 way stops, it seems like there’s room for marginal savings via stop consolidation. The traversal time through a stop sign with no stop is about 3 seconds. The traversal time with a stop is about 9 seconds (excluding dwell time). So you could see anywhere from 6-7 seconds of time savings per stop. While it may not be that much time in terms of seconds – it did feel like the bus was going slow because of how often we were stopping.
- Approaching Whitman Plaza, there’s a stop on street at Oregon Av at the entrance of the plaza, and another stop within the plaza itself. It was confusing (as a first time Whitman Plaza bus rider) which one was the final stop
- The bus also stopped at stop sign that was unsigned. It was unclear if this was a proper stop, or if operators just let people out. I wasn’t sure if the bus was stopping or was just stopping for the stop sign. It would probably be helpful for this to be signed.
I walked along the corridor to do some field work (checking to see if new no parking signs had been installed in bus zones). On the way back, I caught the 47 at 7th and Oregon. Here are my observations:
- There was a lot of traffic on WB Oregon Ave. It looked like the bus got stuck coming out of Whitman Plaza, and was slowed down by traffic. The new red bus lanes on Oregon Av did not extend to 7th Street
- The bus was packed, again. This route really needs to be articulated, like the 17. It felt like it got full by the time we hit Snyder. It was 3pm in the afternoon.
- We got delayed by 2-5 minutes because of a car that was parked (illegally) on the left side of the street over the line, and a box truck unloading on the right. There wasn’t enough clearance for the operator to get through. It was really frustrating. This part of the City really needs more loading zones, or painted white lines to let people know that they can’t park over the line.