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May
19
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Since SEPTA hates its customers — a great Philadelphia tradition, I must add — a couple enterprising chaps got together and created iSepta, a little tool for planning trips on one’s iPhone or iPod touch.
The tool seems pretty neat — my iPod touch is on the fritz and needs to be sent to Apple to be fixed, shockingly — and should work pretty easily on any phone or similar browser which could use a pretty simple interface.
In the meantime, SEPTA will continue to tout its “happiness czar” as a sign of real progress.
iSepta
SEPTA riders to the rescue {SEPTA Watch]
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dmac | 9:46 AM | 1 Comment
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Apr
30
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Hey, it’s almost May, and we haven’t had a drummed-up pointless controversy in a while. Hmm, hmm… ahh, here we go: It seems some transit agencies took down ads for Grand Theft Auto IV, already hailed as the greatest video game of all time. (I can’t believe I don’t have a system to play it on. I feel like crying.)
The supposed awesomeness of the game aside, SEPTA decided to accept ads for GTA IV; now SEPTA is defending its decision to keep the ads up. Not that anyone has complained or anything.
Septa officials would not be interviewed, but they issued a statement saying while some might consider the game offensive, “the advertisement is not.” The ad campaign is slated to run for six weeks, with 350 posters on buses and other locations, generating $83,000 in revenue for Septa.
Septa last year was criticized for accepting ads for the movie “Hitman,” ads featuring images of guns. The “Grand Theft Auto IV” ads show only the faces of three characters in the game and “Grand Theft Auto” logo.
Six weeks? Puh-leeze. SEPTA had an advertisement at Bridge Street for How Stella Got Her Groove Back (released in 1998) well into this decade. As a friend (okay, Chrissmari said to me online: “It’s supposed to last 6 weeks but it’ll be up for ages along with posters for Big Momma’s House and last year’s Jewish Career Fair.” Exactly.
On the other hand, there was a noticeable drop in gun violence last year after SEPTA took down its ads for Hitman. Okay, maybe not.
Septa Defends “Grand Theft Auto IV” Bus Ads [KYW 1060]
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dmac | 12:54 PM | 3 Comments
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Apr
16
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Earlier this week, AT&T announced it had secured an exclusive deal with SEPTA to allow its customers to use their cell phones while riding the underground portion of the El. Now when John Street rides on the subway, he can use his iPhone!
The deal is what it says, exclusive, so Verizon, T-Mobile and other customers are out of luck. As usual, SEPTA hates its customers. But that’s okay; its hatred has served a higher purpose this time. Think about it: Do you really want people talking on cell phones on the El? It can only lead to bad things.
I salute SEPTA for only allowing customers of a certain cell phone carrier to talk on the El, and I further thank them for choosing AT&T, so we know which people have iPhones. We can then steal them. Awwright!
El riders can now use their cell phones underground {SEPTA Watch]
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dmac | 12:26 PM | 1 Comment
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Apr
10
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The Guardian Angels have been patrolling SEPTA ever since a man was killed in the concourse a few weeks ago. And what a bang-up job they’ve been doing, with a two more attacks since the Angels started patrolling. (But not every attack was real!)
Of course, that’s being unfair to the Angels; they might not even be patrolling at all. Daily News reporter Damon C. Williams writes Angels founder Curtis Silwa is nowhere to be found now that he’s made his presence felt initially: “Curtis Sliwa seems to have disappeared during this recent crime wave, and commuters, interviewed live on various 5-and-11 p.m. newscasts, say they have yet to see any Angels really working in the subways, on the trains and platforms.”
Yesterday, the Angels met with Police Commissioner Charles Ramsay and asked for free rides on SEPTA. Whoops: No dice. Ramsay said, “That’s not my bailiwick.” Bailiwick! Really? Anyway, SEPTA says they’re not allowed to give free tokens to the Angels — which, honestly, seems weird — so I suppose they will have to disappear into the darkness. Until another dust-up in the city, when the Angels can announce they will be patrolling soon and everyone can report on it as if they haven’t announced they’d be patrolling areas many times before.
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dmac | 10:08 AM | 4 Comments
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Apr
7
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We receive positive letters at a 10 to one ratio, which is great.
That’s a quote from the new president/CEO of SEPTA, Joe Casey. Yes, he says SEPTA — SEPTA! — receives 10 times more complimentary mail than it does hate mail.
Feel free to heap praise in a 10:1 ratio in the comments. Or, you know, however.
Joe Casey: SEPTA’s New Master Conductor [The Bulletin]
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dmac | 1:24 PM | 7 Comments
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Mar
26
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PHILADELPHIA — Police said a man was beaten to death during a fight on a SEPTA concourse in Center City Philadelphia.
The fight occurred Wednesday afternoon on the concourse, before the turnstiles, at 13th and Market streets, police said. One adult male was taken to Jefferson University Hospital but has been pronounced dead.
Police said homicide investigators have been summoned to the scene.
Cue the outcry and anger and people saying things need to change. I’ll be over here.
Police: Man Dies After Fight On SEPTA Concourse [NBC 10]
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dmac | 4:55 PM | 12 Comments
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Mar
21
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A reader sends in a scan of SEPTA’s April TransPass. You will note SEPTA not only has “green” buses, but they are so green they needed a few extra modifying words to distinguish them from other trans agencies.
Thanks, RJ!
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dmac | 9:58 AM | 3 Comments
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Jan
18
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Amtrak announced today it had reached an agreement with nine unions, averting a strike that would have angered way too many people in the suburbs.
Amtrak will apparently grant back wages to its workers worth $150 million, which the government will probably pay since Amtrak is run almost entirely on federal subsidies. However, $150 million for the government is absolutely nothing, so hooray, everybody wins!
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dmac | 1:58 PM | 0 Comments
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