Philadelphia runners test the claim that you can out-run a SEPTA bus
Despite stopping to pick up passengers and obeying traffic rules, the bus held its own.
Sweaty, flushed, and amped from exertion, runners trickled into a Center City bar after a race that pitted human vs. machine.
For the most part, the machine won.
“It was challenging,” said John Swanson of Burlington County. “That bus was right on us.”
He was one of 15 people who beat the bus in an annual event, held on Thursday by the Clean Air Council, that challenged runners to test their legs against SEPTA’s Route 45 bus on its three-mile trip from Oregon Avenue and Broad Street to 11th and Market Streets. About 75 people participated, organizers said.
Runners were directed to stay on the sidewalks, but dodging pedestrians led some to take to the road.
“I almost got hit by a car four times,” said Sergiy Chepyshev, a 36-year-old West Philadelphian who was the first person to finish the race. “It’s my fault. I ran into traffic.”
He estimated that he ran the route in 18½ minutes. He didn’t hold it against the bus that he beat it to the finish line, though.
“I guess the bus is doing fine, because the bus needs to follow traffic rules,” said Chepyshev, a Temple University scientist.
The event is in its fifth year. It was started by West Philly Runners, but the Clean Air Council, an environmental advocacy group, adopted it as both a warm-up for its Run for Clean Air on April 20 and as a way to promote public transportation.
Bus travel is by far the most widely used mode of public transit in Philadelphia, with almost 100,000 commuters, about 15 percent of all the city’s workers, relying on them to get to work. Bus service has been losing ridership for four years straight, though, as congestion has slowed buses and ride-share services offer convenience at a cost not much higher than bus fare.
Thursday’s event was designed to highlight how convenient bus travel can be. "It creates awareness for how fast buses can actually move in the city,” said Katie Edwards, a spokesperson for the Clean Air Council.
SEPTA has no official role in the event but collaborates with organizers, she said.
She noted that runners had to run about a 7-minute mile to beat the bus.
Also, she said, “the bus makes all the regular stops and picks up passengers.”
At the end of the race, the runners trickled into the Iron Hill Brewery on Market to celebrate their success — or, more likely, soften the blow of the machine’s victory. The Clean Air Council bought the first round.
Chepyshev has been an annual participant in Race the Bus. He said he keeps coming back to support the tradition and the organizer’s environmental goals.
Also, he said, “free beer.”