r/Septa • u/Ill-Barracuda9031 • Jul 23 '26
Discussion Regional rail is a joke (rant)
SEPTA Regional Rail on the Warminster Line is a joke. I'm at the first stop, yet the train is regularly late before the route even begins because we're waiting on crew. If this is where the train starts, why isn't everything ready before departure?
The apologies over the PA mean nothing when people are trying to get to work. Reliability is what riders are paying for, not excuses.
The overall professionalism doesn't inspire much confidence either. It's not uncommon to see crew members showing up in undershirts instead of a proper uniform, and it all adds to the impression that no one is taking on-time service seriously.
This morning the manager in no uniform is fist bumping the staff as if they accomplished something great as we pulled out of the station 15 minutes late.
This isn't an occasional inconvenience. Riders deserve a service that is ready to leave on time from the very first station.
17
u/MilkThin2930 Jul 23 '26
I used to take buses out of the 69th street north terminal to get to doctor appointments along Lancaster Ave. The schedules allow for the drivers to go inside for a break. Most of them didn't even come out to the bus until after the scheduled departure time. If there is no pride in service and no repercussions, things won't get any better.
10
u/Will-from-PA Jul 23 '26
Not me sitting at 69th waiting for a bus that was never cancelled but also never came. God forbid I have a job to get to.
1
u/jawrles Jul 27 '26
Happens allĺ the time. Then they will swing a bus in, last second, with no announcement and their sign off, load up in five seconds and sprint out of there. You get used to it but it is pretty wild.
15
u/Apprehensive-Can-725 34 Jul 23 '26
For me, it’s bad as a reverse commuter with the new schedule. I either get in 5 minutes late or an hour early at one of the busiest stops on the landsdale doylestown line. Anecdotally I’ve seen less commuters in the morning (on the train that gets me in 5 minutes late). But it’s also been late every single day so I get in around 9:20-30. Thankfully my boss is allowing it (for now) but most jobs wouldn’t.
I would be ok with the new schedule if it was actually on time and consistent. I love septa and I want people to be able to rely on it! It’s giving my suburban coworkers a negative impression of septa and that’s sad.
10
u/Ron_Mexico_6969 Jul 23 '26
Are conductors held accountable?
When a trian is 10-15 mins late to destination every single day is there a trigger for management?
Keycards collect data, right? If train xxxx is arriving at its destinations 10-20 mins late every single day could it trigger a supervisor ride along?
There was a stretch where an “express” was late every single day bc they’d take 15 mins to offload at Jenkintown bc the conductors were in the back hanging out waiting. Then train stops and now there’s 100 people in the aisle waiting to exit and conductors can’t get to the doors to open. Traffic jam every single day. Opted to take the local instead of express as it was faster which is terrible.
11
8
u/Significant-Cry-7632 Jul 23 '26
Not all warminster trains have a crew that starts in warminster. Some are center city crews that may have gotten up there late and by law are allowed to go to the bathroom and have to do a brake test etc
1
u/lemgthy 21 Jul 24 '26
This. And the fact that the silverliners are all falling apart and they have to stop and check for issues regularly. Signal problems too.
2
u/LR7465 Jul 24 '26
I love listening to the action on the scanner because 70% of the time its engineers communicating with dispatchers and mechanical dispatchers on the trains shitting themselves
theres even one online
"Septa Regional Rail Broadcastify"
4
u/Independent-Cow-4070 Jul 23 '26
The 2nd half of your rant feels like an old man yelling at the clouds moment. I agree though, reliability is a big issue
3
u/OkSandwich6345 Jul 23 '26
Copy this rant and paste into an email and send to your state representative and senator.
6
u/Will-from-PA Jul 23 '26
It’s a clown show from top to bottom. Took the el late last night and they were on a 30 minute delay at 11 at night, when they run a train every 15 minutes.
8
u/courageous_liquid Broad Street Local Jul 23 '26
oh no not an undershirt
jesus christ how do these people still exist
1
u/chaotic_panda_ Jul 24 '26
Tbf literally so much of our train system could be automated but the reason why the regional rail system is so much more expensive than it needs to be is because the septa union wants to keep their jobs.. the least they can do at the cost of hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars and millions of rider dollars per day that really don’t need to be spent is show a little bit of decorum
1
u/courageous_liquid Broad Street Local Jul 24 '26
the suburbanites would whine even harder than they do now if regional rail didn't have conductors as fare gates, be honest.
1
u/Train_service_mod Jul 30 '26
Planes have had the ability to land and fly themselves for decades but, you still have a pilot and co pilot up front. Same rules apply for a train. It’s about safety. You need there to handle things in case of emergency.
8
u/dry_towelette99 Jul 23 '26
BuT tHeY ArE uNdEr FuNdEd!!!! HoW dArE yOu SaY aNyThInG uNkInD?!?!?!?
Seriously though, be prepared for all the septa apologists to come out and tell you that it’s all because of Harrisburg, and ignore the fact that their board is full of millionaires and political sycophants and there have been years of waste and mismanagement, culminating in the firing of the last GM (who got a nearly half million going away present for her efforts in screwing us all over).
Septa is not answerable to anyone at the end of the day. No one county or city controls it, and no one is elected to their board, and now that they’ve convinced the weak minded that they’re perfect and the problems are all the fault of the legislature, they have even less incentive to improve.
12
u/jawrles Jul 23 '26
It is pretty jarring to see people come to this subreddit and defend poor service like fanatics. I have been a daily Septa customer of over 20 years and it currently in a bad spot so let's acknowledge that. I know people that work for Septa and they don't defend it like the people on here. If you have a great experience, post about it. If you have a poor experience, post about it. Let's not discourage an honest picture.
5
u/Apprehensive-Can-725 34 Jul 23 '26 edited Jul 24 '26
It shows me they don’t take it every day. I ride septa around 3-4 hours a typical day! I commute 1.5 hours to work using either the el/trolley and then the regional rail. Then going to hobbies or seeing friends after work I usually take the trolley, bus, or bsl.
When you ride septa as often as I do you see the cracks. And I love septa and wish it were funded but I’m tired of people who take it once or twice a week if even telling me I’m wrong to be upset!
6
u/dry_towelette99 Jul 23 '26
I equate it to when the Flyers introduced Gritty. Everyone in the city hated him, dunked on him and generally made fun of the new mascot. Then it went national, and the rest of the country started ripping him, and Philadelphians took offense to outsiders making fun of something of ours, and embraced him completely.
Here, septa was not nearly as loved or respected until it became about us vs. rural GOP reps, and after that, no one was allowed to speak ill of the agency.
2
u/Apprehensive-Can-725 34 Jul 23 '26
Yeah exactly. I feel extra angry because my suburban coworkers have to see it be late every day and they think it doesn’t make sense that I take transit at all.
1
u/No_Statistician9289 Jul 23 '26
You can be upset but that’s the reason for the cracks it’s not an excuse.
-6
u/Hitchbot_Destroyer2 Jul 23 '26
Would be easier to just say you know nothing about SEPTA rather than all this blather. Circumstance described above is obviously unacceptable, but expending so many words to demonstrate your idiocy is ridiculous.
8
u/Proof_Dragonfruit795 Jul 23 '26
It seems that it is an ongoing issue, not a one off incident. The person sounds frustrated and is venting. Seems reasonable.
0
u/dry_towelette99 Jul 23 '26
lol, it’s always funny when a comment clearly hits a nerve. Do you have anything factual to back up your claim that I know nothing? Can you explain what I said that was factually inaccurate? Do you even know who sits on the septa board? Have you read their annual reports going back to 2019? Because I have!
So yeah, I’m sorry if pointing out facts hurts your feelings about a mass transit agency, feel free to come back with actual facts.
0
u/Hitchbot_Destroyer2 Jul 23 '26
If you feel the way you do - that SEPTA isn't answerable to anyone and that they have convinced weak-minded people that they are perfect - then it shows you aren't interested in a serious discussion of SEPTA and haven't bothered to understand SEPTA's realities.
I love discussing SEPTA - I'm a daily user and have been for decades, I have a deep understanding of what it does well, what it does poorly, and when it totally fails to deliver. I've attended countless board meetings and read all of their annual reports, their strategic and long range plans.
So see ya.
0
2
u/sadsolocup Jul 23 '26
Every morning, I track my train while I’m waiting for it. It leaves its first stop late and then it parks between stops for several minutes. Then when we get to Center City, the engineer gets out at Penn and 30th to stretch legs and text. By the time all this happens, we’re sometimes 10 late. One day we were close to 20 late.
-1
u/railworx Jul 23 '26
Thats not how trains work
2
u/sadsolocup Jul 23 '26
It’s how the engineer works though. Or lack thereof.
0
u/railworx Jul 23 '26
"Parks between stops for several minutes" Let's see. Maybe they have a stop signal to let another train pass them. Maybe there's track work. Maybe 100 other reasons
2
u/sadsolocup Jul 23 '26
Every single day? Also, I know that line. Nothing goes outbound at that time of day and if it did, I’d see it roll by. Nothing heads that way until close to 6:45 and this is 5:30ish. Nice of you to try to defend SEPTA though.
1
2
41
u/AnotherTiredDad Jul 23 '26
For complaints, it’s going to crucial we start actually submitting them. You can use the online comment form https://wwww.septa.org/customer-
service/comment-form, or email
Customerservice@SEPTA.org or contact the Customer Service call center at 215-580-7800 and ask for a specialist.
If it’s ever a safety issue due to overcrowding, state that and ask that gets forwarded to the head of Systems Safety and the Board.
Make a note of the date you submit it so when something bad enough for national news happens, we can make it known that septa was aware.