As someone who is from the Philadelphia suburbs (the Main Line, specifically speaking), I, along with thousands of others, rely on SEPTA (South Eastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority) for my daily commute into Philadelphia for work (or for whatever other reason I need/want to be in Philly). SEPTA functions as a series of busses, subways, and what most people from the suburbs use, its regional rail lines.
As of July 5, 2016, SEPTA had to recall 120 of their regional rail line trains due to a series of damages of some sort found in all of those trains. This has caused SEPTA to run on its modified emergency Saturday schedule (recently updated to a somewhat better but not actually really interim schedule).
Now I realize that in the grand scheme of things, a moderated train schedule might not seem like such a big deal. That being said, 39% Philadelphia's working population is comprised of commuters, over 300,000 of which use the SEPTA regional rail services. As someone who uses regional rail services at least five days a week, I can tell you first hand that even with an adjusted schedule, SEPTA's situation is not being handled as best as it probably could be.
A result of the lack of trains is that SEPTA has begun to reuse older train models. However, these models do not function up to par given that they are about 40 years old and seemingly in need of repairs. On July 6, there was a train related brush fire at Overbrook station causing trains to be delayed indefinitely, and on July 7 morning trains on the Paoli/Thorndale line never came due to a break down with an 1 hour+ estimated waiting time. Along with this, trains have often found themselves becoming too full due to these condensed schedules, skipping over several stops and again, causing breakdowns.
Though this may seem like an issue with alternative solutions, it's not that simple. SEPTA does offer a bus service, but, having had to take it this week due to SEPTA train failures, it takes about twice as long to get in and out of the city, often more given rush hour traffic. Other rail lines such as Amtrak and NJ Transit have stepped in, yet their schedules are less predictable and often only stop at 30th Street Station (many of us work in Suburban or Jefferson Station vaccinates). And before you say "why don't you just drive or take an uber," I, like many other commuters, do not have a car, and taking uber that far of a distance is expensive. Along with that, if every commuter did start driving to work, it would significantly impact not only Philadelphia traffic, but also, and significantly so, the gas emissions to our environment.
This issue with SEPTA is not just some minor inconvenience, it affects people's abilities to work and do their jobs. For many of us who get paid by the hour, it can significantly impact our ability to actually make money. SEPTA's attitude so far has seemed to be unapologetic and nonchalant, which becomes incredibly frustrating.
While mechanical failures are not entirely in their control, how SEPTA handles this situation is. SEPTA needs to step up its game, and come up with actual valid solutions to this problem that is affecting so much of Philadelphia's working population.
