queenlnr8 wrote:Looks as SEPTA has posted a handy dandy guide to 'help you get around during service stoppage' on their website.
... What it really ought to do is point people in the direction of the nearest car dealer, because this is going to kill the riders support for SEPTA.
Also, wouldn't this be DVARPs best wish in terms of getting a 'more rail' thought into Faye Moore's head?
No! Absolutely not! Transit strikes are bad for SEPTA and bad for the passengers on _all_ divisions.
And all the transit strikes we've had in the past haven't overcome the institutional (*) unwillingness to run the railroad as a railroad and expand the network.
Now as far as ridership, the CTD has been bled down pretty close to its captive ridership base, so recent strikes haven't reduced ridership as much as earlier ones. They still hurt ridership though--you might lose two or three percentage points, and a year or two of progress in trying to rebuild ridership.
Strikes do significantly hurt public support for SEPTA (riders and non-riders), and political support (one goes with the other). To the extent that they make legislators think any additional funding they give SEPTA is just going into TWU pockets instead of improving service, they hurt our efforts to increase SEPTA funding. TWU and its leadership are not sympathetic figures, especially the way they've conducted themselves in some past strikes.
The contingency plans offered by SEPTA are pretty much as they were the past three go-rounds. They've worked pretty well--better than anticipated in most respects. The main thing is controlling access to the RRD platforms in Center City so they do not become overcrowded, passengers aren't getting on the wrong train, and fares are collected.
*--Faye Moore is an accountant, and has little if anything to do with SEPTA's railroad phobia. That phobia has been around much longer than Moore has been GM.