A man with matted, tattered jeans and half a t-shirt with a potato sack covering his entire head emerges from the abyss. One hand in his pocket, as if in slow motion, he approaches those waiting for a trolley.
This isn’t a scene from a scary movie. It’s just one of my first-hand accounts as I waited for my SEPTA trolley on 22nd and Market. Someone eventually called the cops, and the men in blue descended into the terminal.
They threatened the sheathed man (with a nightstick) to remove the potato sack from his head, and promptly escorted him out of the terminal.
Aside from that uncomfortable instance, the Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) isn’t so bad… but it has its problems.
For one, the slogan… “We’re getting there.” It’s somewhat clever, but who chooses a slogan that explicitly denotes that their service is anything but great. McDonald’s slogan isn’t “I’m satisfied with it.” It is “I’m lovin’ it.” Gilette is “the best a man can get,” not “the razor that gets the job done with minimal bleeding.”
I’m also convinced that the bus schedule is a cruel joke, because I wait for buses that never come, on average, about once a week. In this instance, “We’re getting there” is just an outright lie.
Am I saying I hate SEPTA? No; I take SEPTA everyday because I have to. But also, I take it because it has its certain charms.
For example, on days when I’m feeling particularly sluggish, I look to the 42 bus to awaken my senses with the scent of fresh urine. On a cold day, what better way to warm up than by taking the 34 trolley west at 9 a.m., where I can stand chest to chest and ear to ear with my fellow Philadelphians.
I’m not expecting SEPTA to transform itself into some exemplary, punctual, sanitary system. I would rather they not lie to me with their incorrect schedules and an unlikely slogan.
I would expect nothing more from a public service. It’s crudeness is what makes it public, and that is why I attend a private educational institution.
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October 25th, 2008 at 4:02 pm
[...] at the eastbound track of the 34th Street SEPTA [...]
October 27th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
What’s funny about the “We’re getting there” signs is the ones I have seen all look like they are from the late 80’s or early 90’s.
I really do think SEPTA has made improvements over the last couple of years, though. And my transportation engineer friend tells me they are consistently held up in textbooks and courses as a strong example of a city mass transit system.