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May 25, 2006"The Truth" about SEPTA and "The Reason" people don't like itTwo breaking stories from this morning highlight two of the major issues that have already been brought up in preparation for the mayor's race. If Beanie Sigel isn't safe from the gun violence that's ripping through this city then what hope do we have? Beanie (Mack B*****) becomes the latest face of the victims of gun crime. The guy might not be a choir boy, but it would be wrong not to be just as frustrated/infuriated by this incident as we have been for others. In fact, maybe we haven't been infuriated enough by any of these incidents. It's becoming more clear that the candidate who can convince people that they'll feel safer with him or her in office, will win in a walk. And please, please Mr. Jamie O'Neil of Malvern, don't give up on SEPTA just yet. I'll be the first one in line to blast what I've called the worst mass transit system in the world. In fact, many have heard me say "I hate you SEPTA, so very, very much" with my best Eric Cartman impersonation. But we can't really fault them for this one. Incidents like this show how tenuous the relationship is between SEPTA and its riders and how if someone doesn't step up and provide some real leadership for the one truly regional entity that we have here, we could be in for a world of Schuylkill Expressway hurt. First suggestion, keep the El and Subway running throughout the night and regional rail trains running until at least 3am. Feel free to sound off on either issue. Posted by Dan at May 25, 2006 10:48 AMComments
It's about leadership; change way the SEPTA Board is sized and configured. More board members should be from the City - who provides a plurality of the funding and an overwhelming majority of the ridership. Also, board member should be required to have some expertise in something related to SEPTA's mission, like transportation, public finance, etc. This new board can then hire a GM with some vision and flair. Posted by: Friedman at May 29, 2006 11:24 PMLet's hire Rehire David Gunn or Joseph Mack. That would be the quick fix... Since that won't happen- Septa's problems seem endemic- it seems the system just isn't set up to do what it does- Perhaps running regional rail is too much- (It's unique to Philadelphia that a local system runs a regional rail as well) It's pretty clear that internally Septa feels it's doing fine- there seems to be such a disconnect- Septa has an excuse for every mistake it makes. They are now clamoring for dedicated funding (again). As a Philadelphia rail and transit user, I'm clamoring for some dedication from Septa. Post a comment
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