No award for transit basics

By Andrew Dalzell

The American Public Transportation Association recently named SEPTA the best large transit system in North America, an honor that is certainly worth applauding. But try telling that to Delores Jackson.

A retired schoolteacher, Jackson regularly takes the Route 12 bus from her home on South Street to the Pathmark on Grays Ferry Avenue. Although buses enter the parking lots of some city shopping centers to drop off and pick up passengers, the Route 12 bus doesn't go into the Pathmark lot. So, laden with groceries after a shopping trip earlier this year, Jackson walked across the vast parking lot and Grays Ferry Avenue - a four-lane highway at this point - to the bus stop at 30th Street. There she stood for half an hour in a thunderstorm, with only a tree for shelter and nowhere to sit, but the bus didn't come. Soaking, she recrossed Grays Ferry and the lot to have a Pathmark employee call her a cab.

SEPTA's "consolidated control center, environmentally friendly construction programs, large fleet of hybrid buses, and financial management" earned special mention in its award citation, The Inquirer noted last month. While such back-office accomplishments are praiseworthy, Jackson and thousands of others like her need basic customer-service improvements. As long as the situation for the passenger on the corner doesn't improve, such awards will mean little.

When he first ran for mayor, Michael Nutter vowed to "improve the customer service orientation of the SEPTA system" and alter the structure of SEPTA's board to "revolutionize" its governance. The mayor has been a terrific advocate for Philadelphia and for cities in general on the national stage, and he has appointed innovative transit leaders. But for Jackson and other SEPTA users, little has changed since 2007.

It's odd that Nutter would campaign on reform of the SEPTA board, over which he has little control, and not curbside improvements, over which he has direct control. Curbside comforts are the city's jurisdiction, not SEPTA's.

Baseline service

Patricia Ellis, transit adviser at the Mayor's Office of Transportation and Utilities, maintains a database of requests for new bus shelters that has topped 120, some made as long as five years ago. But as both she and office chief of staff Andrew Stober told me, the city contract for shelters, which is funded by ad revenue, allows for the construction of only two a year, at $21,000 each - two shelters, including replacements, in a city of 1.5 million at a time when ridership is at its highest level since 1989.

We need a public transportation system that provides baseline customer service for every rider, in every neighborhood. Wait for the Route 21 bus on Walnut Street in Center City, and you at least get shelter, if not a place to sit. Wait for the 17 at 20th and Christian, and a newspaper box or a stoop are the closest things to a bench.

Basic service should include not only a place to sit and maybe a roof, but also answers to simple questions that riders - locals and tourists alike - tend to have every day: When is the next bus coming? Where is it going? How much does it cost? Where can I buy a fare? At most bus stops throughout the Philadelphia area, those questions go unanswered. Smartphone apps and other recent high-tech improvements certainly help. But low-tech - and low-cost - improvements can be high-visibility and high-value.

Have a seat

Let's start a program to establish a baseline in Philadelphia now. Call it "Have a Seat, Philly." Make sure there is:

A schedule in a plastic case at every bus stop.

A bench and information on the nearest place to buy a fare at every fifth stop.

A bus shelter with all of the above at every stop listed on printed bus schedules and at important additional intersections along the route.

The city could also harness local creativity and innovation. Artists and designers like Mike Avery at Draft Works are reimagining the bus shelter. Philadelphia is a bus city, and our bus shelters could be to SEPTA as Hector Guimard's entrances are to the Paris Metro. (Of course, important questions of durability and maintenance would require careful consideration; shelters can attract vandalism, graffiti, and litter.)

Fortunately, our transit leaders are starting to change the way we look at transportation and public spaces. The Office of Transportation and Utilities and the Streets Department have issued a request for proposals to bring more parklets, bike corrals, and pedestrian plazas to the city. Such progress should continue with better bus stops. Pilot programs, design competitions, and other measures to improve bus stops could empower communities, tap into the talent of neighborhood artisans, establish templates for other neighborhoods and departments, and, most importantly, properly serve the citizens who depend on public transportation.