Center City Transit Operations Study

Overview

Timeline

• Develop Cohesive Vision: 2022 ✓
• Corridor-Based Operational Analyses: Summer 2022 – Winter 2023 ✓
• Identify Project Locations & Transit Issue Root Causes: Winter 2023 – Summer 2023 ✓
• Develop Final Report: Summer 2023 ✓

Background

Every year, slow and unreliable bus service caused by Center City congestion makes a typical bus rider spend 31 additional hours in travel and buses sitting in traffic cost SEPTA an extra $15.4 million in operating costs. Because the bus routes that serve Center City extend to all corners of our region, this congestion can make transit unreliable even for riders far outside downtown.

SEPTA, the City of Philadelphia’s Office of Transportation and Infrastructure Systems (OTIS) and the Philadelphia City Planning Commission (PCPC) partnered to develop the Center City Transit Operations Study. SEPTA and its partners analyzed existing bus operations throughout Center City to determine root causes of slow and unreliable buses, including congestion at critical intersections. The study identified six areas in Center City where transit priority improvements like bus lanes, queue jumps or transit-signal priority would result in the greatest immediate benefit to SEPTA’s riders and operations. These transit priority focus areas are in addition to previously studied downtown corridors, such as Market Street, Chestnut Street and JFK Boulevard. While congestion slows buses down on all Center City streets to some degree, these six areas saw the slowest travel times, the greatest variability in trip times, and the highest volume of bus trips with the New Bus Network. Design and implementation of transit priority improvements within these six areas may occur as future phases of work advances.