SEPTA’s bus route overhaul is here. Ready?
Starting Sunday, seven routes will be scrapped, two will be added, and others will see changes in service.
SEPTA is eliminating seven bus routes, debuting two new ones, and adjusting more Sunday as the first phase of a bus network redesign gets underway.
In all, riders will find changes to 30 routes, including more frequent service on those with high ridership, and buses coming less often on some lower-performing routes.
Highlights include:
Routes 35, 47M, 62, 78, 80, 89, and 106 will disappear. SEPTA says they are less used or have nearby alternatives for passengers.
The new Route 72 will connect Frankford Transportation Center and Cedarbrook Plaza, running mostly along Cheltenham Avenue.
Route 76, the second new route, will travel between South Philadelphia’s Columbus Commons shopping center, anchored by Ikea and Lowe’s, and the intersection of Rising Sun and Olney Avenues.
This is the first comprehensive makeover of the bus network since 1968, when the authority took over bus service in the Philadelphia region from several private transit companies.
SEPTA launched its bus system redesign efforts in earnest after ridership declined 13% from 2013 to 2019, a drop attributed to slow speeds, reliability problems, and competition from rideshare companies. And that was before the COVID-19 pandemic.
Originally called Bus Revolution, SEPTA’s redesign was set to launch in 2025 but faced significant community pushback and coincided with the state funding crisis that halted many planned transit initiatives. It was officially shelved in November 2024.
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Along with the additions and subtractions, there are a few route extensions:
Route 45 will extend southward to serve the Navy Yard, the first time in a decade that a bus will serve the development seven days a week. There will be nine stops inside the Navy Yard for the 45. Currently, the route ends at Broad Street and Oregon Avenue. Route 17 will no longer stop at the Navy Yard on weekends.
Route 79, which ended at Snyder Avenue in South Philly, will cross the Schuylkill, go through Grays Ferry and University City, and end at 40th and Market Streets, where there is a stop on the L train, SEPTA’s new name for the Market-Frankford Line.
Route 53 is to be extended both east and west, to connect the Carpenter Regional Rail station on the Chestnut Hill West Line and the Richmond-Westmoreland Loop, via Aramingo Avenue. The 53 will no longer serve the Broad Street-Hunting Park Station on the B subway.
SEPTA says it is redesigning the bus network to modernize an outdated route structure and enable more efficient travel.
“We function as a network,” said Brandon Miller, manager of planning programs at the transit agency.
The changes will require riders to transfer to other bus routes, as well as metro trains, more often than they do now. And discontinuing low-ridership routes while beefing up popular ones is a needed trade-off to strengthen the overall system, Miller said.
Additional rounds of changes are scheduled for February and June 2027, with a fourth round in the fall.
