SEPTA proposal could affect these South Philly bus lines
SEPTA recently discussed proposals to change various bus routes throughout the city.
Some of those routes are frequently used by South Philadelphians, like Route 23, which is SEPTA’s busiest bus line.
Since Route 23 is so popularly used, with the route going from Chestnut Hill through South Philly, the possibility of splitting 23 into two separate routes is being discussed.
According to PlanPhilly, this is how the route would be split:
The proposal would split the 23 into two routes: a northern route (still known as Route 23) running from Chestnut Hill along Germantown Avenue and 12th Street into Center City, before turning around at Chestnut Street and heading back up along 11th; and a southern route (a new Route 45; no word on whether ‘45’ was picked because this route is the Michael Jordan of SEPTA lines) travelling along 11th and 12th Streets from Oregon Avenue in South Philly and Noble Street, a small, underused street between Callowhill and Spring Garden.
Another change that would affect South Philly is the proposal for an extension of Route 31 or 32 to provide more easily accessible public transportation options to Queen Village. Currently, it’s more difficult for those in Queen Village to move northwest into Center City with public transit.
Right now it seems more likely that the Route 31 line will be extended to service Queen Village.
Interested in seeing what other changes SEPTA is considering? You can see a full list of the proposals here.
My vote is to reroute the southern part of the 23 (45?) so it starts up 13th at Oregon then at Mifflin goes on Passyunk Ave up to Reed where it continues its current path up 11th.
This idea would route the bus right passed my house which is great, but the light(s) on 13th at Mifflin and Pyunk get so severely backed up I can’t imagine adding a bus stop to it.
There is already a bus route going up Broad st so it doesn’t really make sense to have another bus going up 13th. I like the idea of having transportation options further west of Broad.
Putting the loud and lumbering bus on Passyunk would really detract from the charm of the Ave. Bad enough the 23 & 29 rumble past the fountain every 15 minutes.
I guess what I’m getting at is taking the bus off that small leg of 11th that forms one side of the fountain triangle so we can explore possibly blocking that off and more than doubling the size of the fountain plaza. Can it make the turn from 11th onto Tasker then from Tasker onto Passyunk?
Why not just 23A and 23B, or something similar?
Since the 23 and 45 will have non-overlapping routes, it seems less confusing for everyone to give them completely separate numbers. Knowing that they were once one route does not help you plan your trip in the future.
new idea in 2015 resurrect 45 trolley on planet south philly
@ jay – that’s a nice idea!
I don’t understand why they don’t run the 47M (up 9th) with more frequency. The 23 and 47 are both incredibly congested in the morning. The 47M, because it only comes every 15-20 minutes, is not. If it ran on a normal rush hour schedule it would take a lot of congestion off of the 23 and 47.