Glennwood Road Ent. Posted June 5 Report Share Posted June 5 New Topic Here One of their 2017 Proterras caught on fire at SEPTA yard. https://www.wpxi.com/news/local/multiple-septa-buses-fire-philadelphia-maintenance-facility/LZYRSW6FUZG7PDEBPBICSUVYBA/?fbclid=IwQ0xDSwKucqtleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHmoN-uBwj1gSi_5WgPHZB-EeIwLQm8uzNpylusROWQtxBrFVp1svTJcbvpZA_aem_vtQjhdHJpPXsbhZT2mOC3g Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted June 5 Report Share Posted June 5 51 minutes ago, Glennwood Road Ent. said: One of their 2017 Proterras caught on fire at SEPTA yard. The way it looked on TV news, a whole bunch of "decommissioned buses" went up in flames. The headline you cited said"Multiple SEPTA buses catch fire at Philadelphia.". 6ABC says 40 buses were destroyed, including 15 Proterras, which were on litigation hold and "the batteries were disconnected, the coolant was drained and the buses continued to be inspected in accordance with manufacturer recommendations." Any lesson here is that maybe CTA shouldn't be stashing maybe 500 "decomissioned buses" in its boneyards. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sam92 Posted June 5 Report Share Posted June 5 2 hours ago, Busjack said: The way it looked on TV news, a whole bunch of "decommissioned buses" went up in flames. The headline you cited said"Multiple SEPTA buses catch fire at Philadelphia.". 6ABC says 40 buses were destroyed, including 15 Proterras, which were on litigation hold and "the batteries were disconnected, the coolant was drained and the buses continued to be inspected in accordance with manufacturer recommendations." Any lesson here is that maybe CTA shouldn't be stashing maybe 500 "decomissioned buses" in its boneyards. Kinda curious... I know contracts have to be rewarded along with draining fluids before scrap will accept anything, but is scrap that long or tedious of a task that they only do enough to not clog up the yard? Or do they keep them for spare parts for the current fleet (which outside of fareboxes and maybe using 5800/5900 parts for the 1000's, I'm not too sure of anything from retired stuff that could be salvaged for current use) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted June 6 Report Share Posted June 6 16 hours ago, Sam92 said: Kinda curious... I know contracts have to be rewarded along with draining fluids before scrap will accept anything, but is scrap that long or tedious of a task that they only do enough to not clog up the yard? Or do they keep them for spare parts for the current fleet (which outside of fareboxes and maybe using 5800/5900 parts for the 1000's, I'm not too sure of anything from retired stuff that could be salvaged for current use) On your last point, since CTA at least historically drained the oil and coolant and ran the engines until they seized, I don't think so. Thinking about the NABIs, once CTA negotiated that they could be scrapped, they were hauled off the property pretty quickly. In Phillly, I can see the litigation hold on the proterras, but not why they were stockpiling the diesels. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted June 13 Report Share Posted June 13 On 6/5/2025 at 1:05 PM, Glennwood Road Ent. said: One of their 2017 Proterras caught on fire at SEPTA yard. Various Philadelphia sources (e.g. Fox 29) confirm that a battery on an electric bus caused the fire. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glennwood Road Ent. Posted June 27 Author Report Share Posted June 27 On 6/13/2025 at 4:16 PM, Busjack said: Various Philadelphia sources (e.g. Fox 29) confirm that a battery on an electric bus caused the fire. That's sad, Wikipedia user Dough4872 and other persons from now defunct Hank's Truck Pictures website confirmed me that one of the retired 2010-11 DE40LFR and retired 2005 D40LF were burned down as well. In other news, SEPTA has new XHE40 Hydrogen busses in service now. Photo credit belongs to the original owners, used with permission. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strictures Posted June 28 Report Share Posted June 28 SEPTA may cut service by 45% https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-06-26/philly-transit-system-votes-to-cut-service-by-45-hike-fares 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted June 29 Report Share Posted June 29 17 hours ago, strictures said: SEPTA may cut service by 45% https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-06-26/philly-transit-system-votes-to-cut-service-by-45-hike-fares SEPTA has a July 1 fiscal year and the board was up against it. Bloomberg was wrong that CTA also had a July 1 fiscal year. The article doesn't mention Pittsburgh, but it has similiar problems. I'm not going to play a high school student in a Brooklyn attic making a YouTube video telling other cities what to do, but there seems a lot that could be cut, such as 3 modes in the Market Street corridor, a suburban trolley and interurban system with light flag stop boardings, and rebuilding 73 year old PCC cars. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glennwood Road Ent. Posted July 12 Author Report Share Posted July 12 On 6/28/2025 at 4:11 PM, strictures said: SEPTA may cut service by 45% https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-06-26/philly-transit-system-votes-to-cut-service-by-45-hike-fares Is this due to political bullcrap by dumb Republicans in Pennsylvania 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted July 12 Report Share Posted July 12 1 hour ago, Glennwood Road Ent. said: Is this due to political bullcrap by dumb Republicans in Pennsylvania What if it is due to something else? Maybe you should read some reliable Pa news sources. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MetroShadow Posted July 13 Report Share Posted July 13 The Inquirer basically called it. The difference (now) is that the popular regional rail lines are cut due to funds owed to Amtrak ($65mil). This alone might pressure Shapiro to move the needle. Source (2) WHYY 1 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted July 13 Report Share Posted July 13 10 hours ago, MetroShadow said: The Inquirer basically called it. The difference (now) is that the popular regional rail lines are cut due to funds owed to Amtrak ($65mil). This alone might pressure Shapiro to move the needle. Source Maybe despite or spurred by my snide reply to "astute political analyst" @Glennwood Road Ent., 😁, the first Philadelphia Inquirer article does explain the situation. As I suspected, the situation is similar to that in Illinois, in that the transit advocates think "the Commonwealth has the money," but it doesn't, as indicated by the references to the state's structural deficit, and the scramble is about what to tax next. The article said one idea was to tax and regulate video gaming machines, which Illinois already does. The Pa difference is that July 1 was a hard deadline. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted July 18 Report Share Posted July 18 A SEPTA item of more interest to Chicagoans: the following YouTube video showing former CTA 6001-6200 series cars on the Nprristown High Speed Line, also Liberty Liners (former North Shore Electroliners). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
strictures Posted July 19 Report Share Posted July 19 9 hours ago, Busjack said: A SEPTA item of more interest to Chicagoans: the following YouTube video showing former CTA 6001-6200 series cars on the Nprristown High Speed Line, also Liberty Liners (former North Shore Electroliners). Was SEPTA so poor that they were reduced to buying CTA retired castoffs? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted July 19 Report Share Posted July 19 22 minutes ago, strictures said: Was SEPTA so poor that they were reduced to buying CTA retired castoffs? Apparently it was discussed here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted August 6 Report Share Posted August 6 If anyone here cares (seen on Bloomberg, but here from Philly Voice), SEPTA says that if it "a deal is not reached by Aug. 14, .. plans will move forward for a 20% reduction" on the 24th, with regional rail cuts starting Sept. 2. SEPTA announcement is here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MetroShadow Posted August 7 Report Share Posted August 7 7 hours ago, Busjack said: If anyone here cares (seen on Bloomberg, but here from Philly Voice), SEPTA says that if it "a deal is not reached by Aug. 14, .. plans will move forward for a 20% reduction" on the 24th, with regional rail cuts starting Sept. 2. SEPTA announcement is here. I know they need time to block schedules and the like, but 10 days is cutting it close. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glennwood Road Ent. Posted August 25 Author Report Share Posted August 25 Breaking News from Wikipedia Service reductions are now in effect as of yesterday. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted August 25 Report Share Posted August 25 3 hours ago, Glennwood Road Ent. said: Breaking News from Wikipedia Service reductions are now in effect as of yesterday. Wikipedia is not a source. septa.org or some reliable news outlet in Philly is. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MetroShadow Posted August 26 Report Share Posted August 26 23 hours ago, Busjack said: Wikipedia is not a source. septa.org or some reliable news outlet in Philly is. Case in point, WHYY has a good overview. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted September 3 Report Share Posted September 3 EvanstonNow said in an e-mail* "We’re following the transit fiscal cliff in Pennsylvania, because it may foreshadow what will happen here next year,"** but I don't know why they are spreading doom and gloom, especially such as school trips will be cut back (like CTA is really going to cancel 93 when it is packed with ETHS students), but the link was to a story that the city of Philadelphia was paying to restore school service. Also, there were stories elsewhere that SEPTA and NYCT were increasing fares to $3.00, and while transfer rules differ, expect CTA fares to go up from $2.25. You can also see that from the RTA making directives on paratransit fares. --------------- * I don't know how I got on that mailing list. ** Even though the article concludes, "The Illinois General Assembly is expected to take up the transit funding crisis when it returns to Springfield next month." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted Monday at 10:12 PM Report Share Posted Monday at 10:12 PM On 9/3/2025 at 12:52 PM, Busjack said: EvanstonNow said in an e-mail* "We’re following the transit fiscal cliff in Pennsylvania, because it may foreshadow what will happen here next year,"** but I don't know why they are spreading doom and gloom, especially such as school trips will be cut back (like CTA is really going to cancel 93 when it is packed with ETHS students), but the link was to a story that the city of Philadelphia was paying to restore school service. Also, there were stories elsewhere that SEPTA and NYCT were increasing fares to $3.00, and while transfer rules differ, expect CTA fares to go up from $2.25. You can also see that from the RTA making directives on paratransit fares. --------------- * I don't know how I got on that mailing list. ** Even though the article concludes, "The Illinois General Assembly is expected to take up the transit funding crisis when it returns to Springfield next month." Yeah I agree that it's weird for them to be spreading gloom and doom when legislators from both sides of the aisle in our General Assembly have consistently indicated they're willing to tackle the issue especially when Republicans and those Democrats who wanted governance reform as part of the equation will likely get what wanted on that front in reorganizing RTA into NITA and giving the new organization control over setting fares and the planning of capital projects. Plus we've seen that a group of Republican and Democratic state senators have been keeping discussions flowing behind the scenes on how to hammer down compromise text of a plan to move forward that will get support from both parties. So the gloom and doom at present really is unnecessary. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jajuan Posted Monday at 10:20 PM Report Share Posted Monday at 10:20 PM On topic, it looks like SEPTA is getting a temporary reprieve from the state to help pay for their compliance with a court order instructing them to reverse the cuts they already made two weeks ago and pause the cuts they were going to make this month and the first of next year. They're still going to raise fares though by the 21.5% that they had announced with cuts since the court order didn't cover fares. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Busjack Posted Tuesday at 05:29 PM Report Share Posted Tuesday at 05:29 PM 19 hours ago, jajuan said: On topic, it looks like SEPTA is getting a temporary reprieve from the state to help pay for their compliance with a court order instructing them to reverse the cuts they already made two weeks ago and pause the cuts they were going to make this month and the first of next year. They're still going to raise fares though by the 21.5% that they had announced with cuts since the court order didn't cover fares. WHYY story to that effect. Apparently there was a reserve fund and a Title VI issue. Since the claim was that cuts to bus compared to regional rail were discriminatory.maybe that's why RTA transferred money ftom Metra and Pace to CTA. Later WPVI story that the governor authorized shifting capital funds to allow complying with the court order, and Pittsburg requested the same, but it is only a stop gap. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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