Newly arrived 2014 is going to be a big year for
Philadelphia’s transportation scene. Multiple works-in-progress, each of which
have been a long time coming, will be completed. Each stands to have a big
impact on how Philadelphians and visitors alike traverse the city.
By this summer, SEPTA plans to have its new smartcard
payment system installed on all buses, trolleys and subways. Around that same
time, the city hopes to have the first phase of a bike share system up and
rolling, and that will include those new bikes.
Thanks to the Schuylkill River Boardwalk, scheduled to open
in September, bike share cyclists and others will be able to cruise further
south along the Schuylkill River Trail. If walking is more your speed, you may
be happy to know that the construction around City Hall’s Dilworth Plaza will
also be completed this coming fall. The new Dilworth Plaza will reopen the
shortcuts through City Hall and provide a completely transformed public space.
Unfortunately all of these projects are scheduled for
completion in the summer and fall, so we have to wait a few more months.
SEPTA smartcards
We have heard it before, but hopefully this time it is true.
SEPTA will begin replacing tokens with a smartcard payment system this year.
SEPTA is in the midst of building its New Payment Technology
(NPT) system. Instead of using tokens, passengers will be able to pay for bus,
subway and trolley rides with smartcards or phones equipped with NFC chips.
In October 2012, SEPTA said NPT would be in place on
subways, buses and trolleys in September 2013. This past summer, SEPTA gave an
adjusted timeline, which promises to have half of the NPT equipment installed
on buses, trolleys and subways in the spring of 2014. By the summer of 2014,
SEPTA expects to have NPT installed on all buses, trolleys and subways.
Installing NPT on regional rail will be a longer process, and the timeline for
that is still being determined.
Bike sharing
Just as Philly is one of the last cities in the country to
use tokens on its transit system, Philly is one of the last major cities in the
country without a bike share system. This is about to change too.
Bike sharing is on its way to Philly. When it's fully
implemented, the system will have between 150 and 200 stations where between
1,000 and 1,500 bicycles will be docked. The large, upright bicycles will be
available for short-term rental so that users may take short trips from station
to station. Bicycle stations will be installed in Philly's central core - from
Center City to West Philly and Temple University to the Navy Yard. If the city
has its way, a soon-to-be-selected firm will have a first phase of bike sharing
up and running by this fall. That initial phase will include between 50 and 70
stations.
Schuylkill River Boardwalk
Today the Schuylkill River Trail is an off-road bicycle and
pedestrian trail that runs along the Schuykill River until it dead ends just
south of Locust Street. In 2014 though, the Schuylkill River Trail will grow to
include an off-land portion that will carry the trail over the river from its
current terminus to the South Street Bridge. The boardwalk of sorts will
measure 2,000-feet-long and 15-feet-wide. It will stick out 50-feet from the
shore and connect to a 460-foot ramp up to the deck of the South Street Bridge.
The boardwalk is crucial to plans to extend the Schuylkill
River Trail south because in this section between Locust Street and South
Street, there is not enough room between the railroad tracks and river to build
the trail on land. To keep the trail moving south, the Schuylkill River
Development Corporation spearheaded this project to build the trail in the
river, bypassing the bottleneck problem.
Dilworth Plaza
Remember when you used to be able to walk through City Hall,
rather than around it? If all goes according to plan you'll be able to do that
again this fall.
Center City District has undertaken the feat of transforming
the outdated, multi-level concrete landscape that used to stand just to the
west of City Hall into a modern landscape that appeals to pedestrians passing
through and those who might want to linger in the space. The new, level plaza
will have a cafe, large lawn, tree groves, programmable water feature and space
for 400 benches or chairs. The $55 million project will also makeover the
gateways into the subway concourses below. While this work was originally
supposed to be complete in the summer of 2014, Center City District has pushed
the completion date back into fall 2014.
Source: PlanPhilly
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