I’m a local girl living in the suburbs of bucks county. I live about a twenty.. maybe thirty minute walk at the most from the train station. It’s great, I can hop on the train and ride relatively easily to my college, to see my girlfriend, or even to go into center city for the day if I wanted. Thanks to my lovely girlfriend, I’m also in the process of mastering the SEPTA buses in NE philly. I’m getting better each time I’m there and find that it is a great way to get around the city. I don’t have a car that I can always take to get me where I need to go, so, when I can take SEPTA I will. Unless that is… It’s somewhere in the burbs.
The SEPTA routes closest to me are the 127,128, and 130. These buses, while a good idea, suck when it comes to the suburbs. Why? They run every hour and sometimes… they don’t even show up. The stops for the 127 and 128 leave from the Levittown train station but only run until about 6PM. This schedule sucks if you need to get home from the mall at a later time than say, 5:30PM. The 130 runs from Bucks County Community College to Frankford and Knights road. While it does run every hour, the commute on this bus sucks. The stops are infrequent and from a travel stand point, it would be faster to drive.
I really wish SEPTA ran better in the burbs, but, here’s why it won’t. It’s a catch 22. Septa won’t run more buses out here because they don’t have the money. People don’t take SEPTA because it doesn’t run enough. When I do see a SEPTA bus running, usually the 128, it’s empty. It saddens me really. When I’m on campus, or somewhere with my girlfriend in NE Philly, we either walk, or take SEPTA. I like taking SEPTA. When you take the bus, you have the chance to relax, listen to music, read a book or even write. When you’re driving, you really can’t do any of that. You also can’t beat the price. You can pay two dollars, three ( if you need a transfer to another bus) and you can take it as far as it goes or take it until your stop. You spend more than two dollars in gas just idling in traffic.
My main point to this post is to tell you, the reader, that SEPTA in the bubs is shit. Normally, I would just drive places, but not having a car, the cost of gas and insurance, and not having air conditioning in my car currently, make SEPTA very very attractive. It’s frustrating that SEPTA doesn’t run more frequently in the burbs. Given the chance, SEPTA… as broke as they are, could actually make some money and the people taking SEPTA in the burbs could have more in their pocket and less spent going into their tank.
SEPTA users, what do you think?
~Bridget
