The SEPTAcular District of the Year award was established in 2017 to recognize the district with the highest number of employee commendations relative to the number of operators.
Over the years the criteria to determine the District of the Year has evolved. The first major change occurred in 2020 when attendance became critical to service delivery and reliability. Today the criteria not only includes customer commendations and operator attendance but also emphasizes the safe delivery of service and on-time performance.
Southern District was the first district to be recognized for their outstanding achievements—setting a precedent for future honors.
The 2024 District of the Year winner is Allegheny District.
Allegheny District is one of SEPTA’s smallest districts with only 179 operators. (Elmwood District is the smallest with 142 operators.) Allegheny operators racked up 99 customer commendations despite its size and the fact that it operates a few of SEPTA’s most challenging routes including school trips. And of SEPTA’s nine districts—Allegheny’s on-time performance (78%) was fourth best and their safety record ranked second. These three critical criteria combined earned Allegheny District a top score and District of the Year.
The district celebrated on Thursday, April 3, 2025 with lunch and a trophy presentation.
Past winners:
2017 – Southern District
2018 – Southern District
2019 – Southern District
2020 – Callowhill District
2021 – Callowhill District
2022 – Callowhill District
2023 – Midvale District
2024 – Allegheny District
Allegheny District is located on Allegheny Avenue between 26th & 27th Streets in West Philadelphia. Routes operated from Allegheny District are 6, 9, 27, 33, 48, 49, 54, 60, 400-series, and the Mann Loop.