The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Paul Nussbaum reports on the local trend that’s following the national trend: drivers are fleeing rising gas prices by taking mass transit.

So far this fiscal year, SEPTA ridership is up 5 percent, or 13 million trips, from last fiscal year. The increase on Regional Rail trains is even greater proportionately - 2.8 million more trips, an 11 percent increase.

…

The increases in the Philadelphia region are part of a national trend.

Americans took 10.3 billion trips on public transportation in 2007, the most in 50 years and a 2 percent increase over 2006, according to the American Public Transportation Association.

Another interesting factoid from yesterday on CNN, which reported motorists curtailing their driving miles in “the sharpest yearly drop for any month in Federal Highway Administration history.“

Since this site started, I’d had a rant planned about SEPTA’s lack of support for web-based tools like Google’s Transit site. Today, SEPTA Watch made those plans moot by announcing a site created by a group called SEPTA Made Better that lets you get train schedule information organized in a colorful, easy-to-navigate interface:

Of course, not only does the site (which can be reached now at iSepta.org) kick the shit out of SEPTA’s own Trip Planner application, it’s even better than Google’s tool because it knows you’re using SEPTA Regional Rail, and it doesn’t involve typing. While using iSepta for the first time, I was able to click three times and get times for my usual Saturday afternoon return trip to Malvern from 30th St. No cluttered PDF schedule to sift through here.

At first glance, the app has some shortcomings - albeit small ones, and ones that I am confident will be addressed in short order. (update: reading their Twitter, and now even more confident they’ll be fixed)

• First, it contains only regional rail information - no bus schedules, no subways, etc. It’s clear by the way they designed the app that this will change eventually.
• Secondly, the site has no train status information to inform users about late trips. I imagine that this information can be skimmed right off of SEPTA’s Trainview site and integrated into iSepta quite easily.
• Thirdly, this app is begging for some Google Maps integration of some kind. I don’t know how possible it would be to have this site detect, using the Maps tool on your phone (or the GPS, if you’ve got it) to figure out where you are and how to get to your closest station stop on the regional rail system.
• Finally, this tool is too damn good to be just for SEPTA. Guys, if you’re reading this: when you’re at a point where you’re comfortable with the app, please release it as an open-source project for other mass transit fans to use.

Again, I imagine that some if not all of those features are currently in the works. This is a very exciting tool, and one I will be using to plan my trips whenever possible from now on. SEPTA and a lot of other transit agencies should be falling over each other to hire these guys to replace their sites with ones like this.

I can’t remember specifically when my interest with abandoned infrastructure took root, but I do know that it has led me all over - from Asbury Park, NJ, to Chester, PA, and now to the other end of my own hometown. I find it fascinating not only to see how these communities used to look and work, but how they might be able to recover and reinvent these lost boardwalks, ghettoes, streets and train tracks into new glory days for the town. As you might’ve guessed, I take pictures of these urban blights to share with others, and I really dig it when other people open my eyes to such places I didn’t know about before.

Here, Dragonballeye, a Philly blogger, takes a trip across the Reading Viaduct between Fairmount Ave. and Vine St. (via SEPTA Watch) The photos are amazing, and so are the stories behind the tracks. It’s a much more striking image than our R3 lines, specifically because they are elevated and situated against the backdrop of a very modern city, and because (I assume) they’ve been out of commission longer than the R3.

What might happen with this land? Well, there was the Reading Viaduct Project, which seems to be defunct itself, which was dedicated to either restoring it to use as an El-line, or as an elevated park (perhaps like the High Line in NYC?) Either way, it would be very exciting to see people using and enjoying the structure again.

Defunct or not, looks like we’ve got some kindred spirits among us here in the Delaware Valley. Hopefully we can find a modicum of success where the Reading Viaduct appears to have stalled out.

[ Dragonballeye via SEPTA Watch ]

As mentioned earlier this week, the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) held a public hearing on the 2009 Transportation Initiative Project for PA (TIP), and although I got there a bit late, I got to speak to the group about this new effort to bring rail service back to West Chester. The introduction I gave in Philly on Wednesday, coupled with this little article by WC Jim, officially means that the cat is out of the bag with this site. Welcome, WCJim.com and DVRPC visitors!

A few brief notes about the meeting:

• I wasn’t sure what to expect upon walking into this hearing, but it was a little bit of a letdown to see that there were only a handful of visitors there from PA and NJ to comment on how these federal funds are being distributed. I’m sure the DVRPC does an excellent job of prioritizing and allocating money according to need, but the decision about whether or not a project gets done has implications for thousands of communities in the area. I guess I expected a tiny bit more interest than what I found there.
• This year, the items in the TIP documents were mashed up with Google Maps to create a pretty interesting visual aid for what projects are being initiated, and where. Click here and scroll down until you see the buttons for PA and NJ TIP Online Mapping. Exciting to see the Commission using open-source tools like Google Maps to help inform the public. Thumbs up.
• Also as previously noted, there exists the initiative to get the R3 to come back to Wawa. For us, this seems to be nothing but a good thing.
• Afterwards, I met Natasha Goguts, the Transportation Services Director for the Chester County Planning Commission. She pointed me in the direction of some valuable information, including this 2004 memo on potential Chesco passenger rail options. Fascinating stuff, even if it is a bit outdated and a bummer to read. (R3 Expansion to W.C. ranked a LOW priority in the 2K4 - booo.) I will analyze this and a few other official-looking documents soon.

This well-timed post from SEPTA Watch came through my blog reader this morning:

The Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) is the Philadelphia area organization that is deputized to prioritize federal transit funding. It’s now writing up its list of 2009 priorities.

Interested in having a say in the matter? DVRPC is having a public meeting this Wednesday, May 14, between 4 and 6pm to talk about the proposal. It will be held at the DVRPC Conference Center at 190 North Independence Mall West (near the National Constitution Center) on the 8th Floor.

SEPTA Watch also directed me to a Philadelphia City Council hearing a few weeks ago about a prospective bike sharing program that was very educational. Now that I’ve had a chance to witness that public hearing, I’m compelled to represent our new R3 group for the first time. I’ve got two days to gather all the information I need to make a persuasive argument for getting the R3 West Chester line into their plans somewhere. My initial plan is to stand up in front of the DVRPC and whine for 20 minutes or so about the price of gas, but I suspect that plan might need to be refined a little bit. (Fouuuuur dollars! UGGHH)

The current draft of the Transportation Improvement Project (TIP) for PA has rail service being extended to Wawa, which we knew was going down anyway:

This project will provide for the restoration of rail service approximately 3 miles between the existing R3 Media/Elwyn Regional Rail Line terminus at Elwyn, Delaware County, to a proposed terminus at Wawa, Delaware County. Service restoration will require new track, catenary, signals, communications and structures between Elwyn and Wawa, as well as the construction of a new station and parking facility at Wawa, Delaware County. The project is in close proximity to US Route 1, a major highway artery serving this area. Route 1 would provide excellent highway access to the large park and ride facility proposed at Wawa.

It would be great to get an extension to West Chester at least mentioned briefly in this document, which I will approach as our main goal tomorrow. It would be even better if it were to immediately warrant it’s own priority item. I will provide updates as we go along, as I expect to learn a lot in a short amount of time over the next few days.

Coming out of a recent strategic direction meeting, our new group has two immediate goals in mind: 1.) developing this site, and 2.) drumming up support from local government officials. After the jump, the letter that’s been sent out to a number of Chesco / Delco pols.

If you’re down with it, help us out. Email these reps and let them know you support the initiative to bring rail service back to West Chester.

Chester County Commissioners:

Carol Aichele / Kathi Cozzone / Terence Farrell

7th District, U.S. House of Representatives

Joe Sestak

9th District, Pennsylvania State Senate

Dominic Pileggi

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As promised, here are some shots of WCU Station, located just a few blocks from Market Street Station at Nields Street. Check out the entire set after the jump.

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The evening I got set to put this site together, I had been planning on a detour home from Exton station to take a few pictures of the mostly-abandoned R3 stations. Imagine my surprise when, while driving down Gay Street, the gentleman whose site I’d been absorbed in all day (WCJim) happened to walk by. I pulled over for a quick chat, and the seeds for R3WestChester.org took root when he invited me to a planning committee meeting later that week.

Before this, Market Street Station was just a rusty relic I never gave a second thought about as I sped by on my way to 202. After saying goodbye to Jim, I continued through town and parked at Lorenzo’s to get a closer look. Check out the entire set after the jump.

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It’s been nearly 22 years since an R3 train made a stop in my town, West Chester, PA.

I didn’t know this until about two months ago, when I read this article by Shane Madden in my old school’s student newspaper, the Quad. Fascinated by the abandoned rail line right down the street from me, I started digging for more information. I found some awesome accounts on the site of an old professor and friend of mine, 6th Ward Councilmember Dr. Jim Jones (a.k.a. WCJim). I got so worked up that I started a damn blog about it.

My name is TJ, and I’ve been an R5 passenger since 2006, close to the 20th anniversary of the end of R3 service in West Chester. I live near Everhart Park and I take the Great Valley Flyer from Exton in to work at Center City every day. Having never been a regular train passenger before, the daily commute has certainly piqued an interest in railroads and local history for me. Looking out the window of the R5 as it whizzes by Paoli, Wayne, Villanova, and Overbrook is like looking at a cross-section of the Delaware Valley.

R3WestChester.org is here for two reasons: the first is to serve as a collection of historical links and resources about railroads and the borough of West Chester. Hopefully this site can serve as a sort of community blog as well as a jumping-off point for anyone curious to know more about the old R3 West Chester Line. If you’ve got any cool stories or photos from the history of the West Chester railroad, we’d love to see them here.

The second reason is a little more ambitious than the first. Lots of people in and around the borough would love to see R3 service return to Market Street, where riders would be able to hop on and enjoy the scenery of Chester and Delaware Counties on their way to work and school in Philadelphia. Its my hope that this site can serve as a place where those people can discuss and organize a grassroots effort to bring SEPTA Regional Rail back to the seat of Chester County government. In the coming days and weeks, we’ll be at work finding ways to help convince SEPTA, Chesco and borough officials of the need for rail transit here.

Want to act now? There are two things you can do to revive the West Chester Line. First, if you haven’t already, sign this petition that’s been circulated by Westtown’s John McKinstry. Secondly, keep checking back here for updates. You can also click the RSS icon in the upper-right to subscribe for updates via email or RSS reader. Keep checking back, get involved, and sooner or later we’ll see those SEPTA trains pulling in to Market Street Station once again.

R3WestChester.org - a site about the past (and future!) of SEPTA Regional Rail in West Chester, PA.