SEPTA’s revised bus network redesign keeps some routes that had been slated to disappear

Riders had loud complaints about the proposed plan to remake the Philadelphia region’s bus network from scratch. And SEPTA listened.

Transit agency planners have changed the proposal in response to some of the public feedback they received, and released a new version — “Bus Revolution 2.0″ — Monday evening.

“We reconsidered everything that we had done with the initial draft,” said Dan Nemiroff, SEPTA’s project manager for the comprehensive redesign.

For instance, many people who attended community meetings over the last few months opposed having to transfer to more frequent bus routes or to the Broad Street Line or Market-Frankford El to complete their trips, he said.

Overall, that might have made many trips faster, but SEPTA added back direct service to some destinations in the updated plan.

“A lot of people use the bus network to make very short trips, and forcing people to transfer in the middle of a very short trip is extremely frustrating,” Nemiroff said. “We really paid attention to that.”

The original plan would have cut the number of SEPTA bus routes from the current 125 to 99. The second draft has 105 routes, officials said.

SEPTA began studying bus redesign efforts after ridership declined about 20% between 2011 and 2019, a drop attributed to slow speeds, problems with reliability, and competition from ride-sharing companies. And that was before COVID-19. This redesign is the first overhaul of the system since 1964.

The transit agency has been working in earnest for about two years on a complete redesign of its regional bus network built around more frequent service, with buses coming every 15 minutes or less from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., including on weekends.

Routes were drawn to reduce duplication with other routes, use fewer streets, and keep buses on arterial roads as much as possible. Many routes were straightened to reduce turns and potential blockages.

Released in October, the first draft promised 44 high-frequency routes, meaning buses would come every 15 minutes or less. SEPTA now operates 33 such routes.

The public weighed in with 26 public meetings online and in person and with more than 5,000 written comments through December.

» READ MORE: SEPTA bus riders want faster service, but many hate how their routes could change

Some routes may drop down a notch in frequency, scheduled to arrive at intervals of 30 minutes or less, because in a tightly connected bus network, changes create ripple effects that require further changes, Nemiroff said. But the updated network still has 44 routes that are “15 max,” the fastest in SEPTA’s plan.

And SEPTA officials believe that the second draft network would still offer better, faster service compared with the current system.

Buses will come more frequently outside of traditional peak commuting times, and that level of service will continue until later in the evening and on weekends, said Jody Holton, SEPTA’s chief planning and strategy officer.

“There are good changes in this network that benefit riders, and I think that sometimes that might have gotten lost,” Holton said.

Planners originally wanted to combine Route 17 and Route 33, which travel through Center City via Market Street from South and North Philadelphia, respectively.

Riders blasted that idea in meetings. They did not want to wait at an unsheltered bus stop to transfer to another bus to travel west-to-east through Center City. Bus operators, who have been consulted during preparation of the two drafts, also disliked it.

“The operators really corroborated everything we heard from the public, and we went back to the current routing,” said Brandon Miller, senior operations planner for SEPTA. “They have been great advocates for our customers.”

Route 12, which runs from Kingsessing through Grays Ferry to Columbus Avenue in Old City and was on the chopping block, was restored in the new draft, Nemiroff said.

Roxborough and Manayunk had been hotbeds of resistance to the first draft of the plan. In the end, SEPTA decided to keep Routes 9 and 27 as they are, express services that use I-76 to get to Center City — to address the concerns of older residents who use them to get to doctor’s offices and cultural events and of parents whose children use them to get to schools.

“They’re not high-ridership routes, but they certainly have really important connections built into them,” Nemiroff said.

Though there were a number of public meetings in the last round, SEPTA officials said they’re improving the way they present the second draft to the public over the next several months.

That will mean larger meeting halls with chairs, with different formats and in more neighborhoods — at least one in each City Council district.

“We want to really do our best to anticipate what our customers’ needs are and the ability to go out to different communities, specifically Black and brown communities, who are riding the bus is crucial to understanding that,” said Emmanuella Myrthil, SEPTA’s chief equity and inclusion officer.

Another change: The first draft used unfamiliar triple-digit numbers for the proposed new bus routes, and it was difficult for many riders to determine the impact on their own routes. Now SEPTA will refer to the current route numbers in printed and online documents, Nemiroff said.

Holton said many people found the intricate maps SEPTA used in public presentations “overwhelming” and hard to decipher.

“We heard about everything down to the font size,” she said.

The maps for the second draft will be simpler — and in bigger fonts, Holton said.

This story has been updated to reflect the number of bus routes in the updated plan.