"R" You Kidding?

More dumbing-down the dumbest transit system in the US?

Is the R designation too confusing?
SEPTA moving to drop rail-line initials

By Paul Nussbaum
Inquirer Staff Writer

Soon it may be time to say goodbye to SEPTA's R5 Regional Rail line. And the R3. And every other "R" line.

SEPTA won't get rid of the lines, just the R's.

The transit agency is making plans to replace the R designations with the ultimate destination names. So, the R8/Chestnut Hill West would become simply the Chestnut Hill West line, and the R8/Fox Chase would become just the Fox Chase line.

SEPTA says visitors and infrequent riders sometimes get on the wrong trains, confused by different lines with the same R designations.

If SEPTA follows through with the proposed name changes, they likely would be made in late July. Harry Garforth, SEPTA's manager of rail planning, described the changes at a meeting last week of the SEPTA Citizen Advisory Committee's Regional Rail subcommittee.

SEPTA spokesman Richard Maloney said no final decision had been made to remove the R designators.

"It's something we're leaning toward, but it's still under active discussion," he said.

Funny...True, but Funny

SEPTA not laughing over fake notices

By Peter Mucha
Inquirer Staff Writer

At least a half-dozen phony "Notice to the Public" signs were slipped into display cases on trains of the Frankford-Market El, SEPTA confirmed yesterday.

One or more hoaxsters - or jokesters - started posting the signs as early as last week, SEPTA spokesman Andrew Busch said. Soon, pictures of the official-looking posters were showing up on blogs, Twitter, and Facebook.

The messages broadly lampooned the transit system and its riders, so SEPTA had the notices removed.

"We do find the message very offensive in general," not just the anti-SEPTA parts, Busch said.

"The Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) is committed to providing non-discriminatory transportation services to all of its passengers, including schizophrenics, drug addicts, Irish Catholics, hipsters, . . . gentrifying transplants, raging maniacs, tourists, obnoxious Penn students, corner boys, pimps, drunk rich kids who still think Old City is cool, and terrified suburbanites who tremble with unease at the sight of everyone.

"Any person who is or seeks to be a patron of any SEPTA public vehicle shall be entitled to the same depressing experience of loud cell phones, obese people eating McDonalds, parents telling their toddlers to "Shut the . . . Up!", and a constant inch-deep layer of urine-soaked trash and debris.

"No person or group of persons shall be discriminated against on any grounds with regard to routing, scheduling, or quality of transportation service furnished by SEPTA, with the following exceptions - race, color, socioeconomic status, and proximity to the suburbs.

"Any person who has experienced a cleaner, more efficient, more extensive, and better managed public transportation system in the U.S. (e.g. most if not all) can feel free to notify SEPTA about potential improvements, which shall promptly be ignored."