Three potential options for a long-term vision for Regional Rail were released by the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA).
This marks phase two of Reimagining Regional Rail – SEPTA’s project to make its rail system more useful for more people.
Reimagining Regional Rail is a key initiative of SEPTA Forward, the authority’s strategic plan, to create a “lifestyle transit network” of all-day, all-week frequent service to destinations across the region.
“SEPTA has one of the best rail systems in the country,” said SEPTA General Manager and CEO Leslie S. Richards. “The options released today will create a vision for better integration between Regional Rail and other SEPTA modes.”
The three options are based on extensive public feedback, which includes thousands of survey responses, pop-up events at locations across the rail system, a virtual public meeting and a comprehensive report on the state of the system and similar networks:
- Scenario 1: Focuses on consistent service throughout the network, providing service every 30 minutes.
- Scenario 2: Focuses on more frequent service (every 15 minutes) in some areas of the system where demand supports it.
- Scenario 3: Focuses on faster and integrated service across agencies, providing express services across the system all day.
“This project was a great opportunity to learn why people use the system – and why they don’t,” said SEPTA Chief Officer of Planning and Strategic Initiatives Jody Holton. “We engaged bus riders and non-riders near Regional Rail stations to understand why they chose the bus or other services over Regional Rail.”
SEPTA will collect feedback on phase two scenarios through a virtual tool that asks riders a series of questions and suggests a scenario that best fits their responses. Phase three will set the vision for the future of the system and develop a plan to implement short, medium, and long-term solutions later this year.
Along with Reimagining Regional Rail, SEPTA is advancing several transformative initiatives to achieve the goals set in SEPTA Forward, including Bus Revolution, which released two network options earlier this spring.
