How to Best Use New Capital Funding

[sammy2009]

I wanna know if he is for the transit bill and how he feels about transit. It's so funny I was coming from work one night and I work at the airport and he was on the airport line. I wanted to ask him but didn't want to invade his privacy. He seemed nice. Others was talking to him.

[BPP1999]

Trying to avoid talking politics here, but I'm a bit concerned about a Wolf TV ad. Wolf is the democratic candidate for Governor, and is from southeastern Pennsylvania (York).

The ad criticizes Corbett for having "raised your gas taxes through the roof", but as most people know, this was one of the provisions of the transportation bill that was passed by the legislature (and Wolf's running mate voted for the bill).

Is Wolf against the 2013 transportation bill, in particular is he against raising gas taxes to help fund transit?

I agree with you. However, supposedly Wolf met with a Chamber of Commerce somewhere in this state and told them the new gas tax is being utilized to fund many important projects, blah blah blah. Corbett supposedly put this clip on his re-election page.

[Suburban Station]

Now that SEPTA received [part] of the money they've been begging for, the question now becomes how to best use the influx of capital. I thought it would be interesting to list projects in terms of perceived priority and open a debate on how to best use the cash. It's a tough question, because SEPTA has many different needs.

Here's my (admittedly incomplete) list:

1) Crum Creek Bridge on the Media/Elwyn line
2) Bridgeport Viaduct replacement
3) New trolleys to replace the K-Cars
4) Down payment for City Hall station accessibility
5) new substations
6) Silverliner VI
7) other Media-Elywn bridges
8) Cynwyd line approach to replace the bridge over the Main Line

What does your list look like? Also, does SEPTA already have a plan on how they're going to use the money?

1. The Wawa station on Route 1. (I'd like the see the Media Elwyn go back to West Chester, but that'll never happen...that area has exploded in growth and 322 traffic makes me want to hurt myself ).
2. Roosevelt Blvd Subway Extension (It blows my mind that there's nothing but regional rail and bus service for huge segments of the City, particularly Northeast Philly.) That's something that should have been done 50 years ago. I can probably get to Baltimore faster than I can use public transit to get to parts of Northeast Philly.
3. Resume the "temporarily suspended" trolley service from South Philadelphia to Germantown.
3. Navy Yard Broad Street Line Extension (it should continue under the River to Gloucester County, NJ, but that'll happen when hell freezes over)
4. It will never happen in my lifetime, but I'd like to see service restored to Allentown and Reading.

As a philadelphia Resident I'd rather see west Chester than the 23 as a trolley. There's no reason it shouldn't be able to happen except poor leadership in Chester county

[sammy2009]

I dont have a list in front but from the sounds and looks. I think the crumbling bridges should be getting fixed first before anything else. Then the work on replacing old cars , new substations , upgrading stations. Then extending lines.

[JeffK]

... I think the crumbling bridges should be getting fixed first before anything else. Then the work on replacing old cars , new substations , upgrading stations. Then extending lines.

I have to agree in principle. What exists now has to be fixed before adding major new construction, or those shiny new lines will be attached to a rotting core.

However there are some parts of the system where expansion is as critical as upkeep. In today's world new starts take a lot longer to reach fruition than repairs and maintenance so the balls have to start rolling while money and support are available. E.g. extending the BSL to the Navy Yard and the P&W to King of Prussia have high ROIs because they would address existing passenger demand. Both are attainable goals and won't decimate the rest of the budget.

[sammy2009]

... I think the crumbling bridges should be getting fixed first before anything else. Then the work on replacing old cars , new substations , upgrading stations. Then extending lines.

I have to agree in principle. What exists now has to be fixed before adding major new construction, or those shiny new lines will be attached to a rotting core.

However there are some parts of the system where expansion is as critical as upkeep. In today's world new starts take a lot longer to reach fruition than repairs and maintenance so the balls have to start rolling while money and support are available. E.g. extending the BSL to the Navy Yard and the P&W to King of Prussia have high ROIs because they would address existing passenger demand. Both are attainable goals and won't decimate the rest of the budget.

I agree with you also on that. I think that expansion to Atglen is also a good thing along with KOP , WAWA , NAVY YARD.