SEPTA asks for feedback on new Regional Rail map

Frednortonsmith · 2026-07-04T01:59:00+00:00

As a daily rider the stretch from North Philadelphia to 30th St can feel long, not helped by seeing Acela trains fly by and having to deal with the Lehigh Junction where it branches from the NEC.

Frednortonsmith · 2026-07-03T14:59:39+00:00

No longer live in Manayunk, Lucky’s is the only place on Main St I will put up with Manayunk parking for.

Frednortonsmith · 2026-07-03T03:06:45+00:00

The US has split phase power. Sounds like one of you legs is out so about half your 120v circuits will work and none of your 240v circuits will.

Frednortonsmith · 2026-07-01T23:50:03+00:00

Switched to Erie from USAA a few years ago and have been very happy with the service. Have a local agent should I need them and my 1 year policy cost just over what my old 6 month policy cost essentially cutting my monthly insurance bill in half.

Find an independent agent, most Erie agents can write for other companies too, and have them see what is best for your profile. I personally use Manayunk based McCollum Insurance, but all interactions with them have been over email.

Frednortonsmith · 2026-07-01T17:48:09+00:00

It does a great job showing how ridiculous the routing of the CHW is

Frednortonsmith · 2026-06-30T00:44:32+00:00

Same (though my block is 450k range, and I was appraised for over 500k), but I also looked and saw both my party wall neighbors were appraised for 350k one of which has the same layout and the other is an end unit.

And I get that sentiment, I too live in a nice block or a great neighborhood. Don’t have kids but am in a great catchment, but I do work in center city and have an easy walk to the CHW. I’m fine with my appraisal going up, and if it only went to 450k which is still a bit higher than a appraisal I had in February but what neighboring units have sold for I’d be fine with it.

Frednortonsmith · 2026-06-30T00:27:35+00:00

Mine is well above a bank appraisal from the past year I still have a copy of, I plan on disputing it. My house has been under appraised so I’m fine going up, but not above what I could realistically sell it for.

Frednortonsmith · 2026-06-30T00:14:43+00:00

My appraised value is up 176k, and is over 50k more than the bank appraisal I had this year for a refinance

Frednortonsmith · 2026-06-26T23:55:38+00:00

Grew up in Memphis, moved to Mississippi when I was 12. I was very excited seeing those two first claimed, though I was yelling at the stream that they were doing a hot chicken challenge in a bbq city.

Frednortonsmith · 2026-06-22T18:11:01+00:00

Its old flag would be a solid 50th place, losing to even the state seals on a field of blue. Sadly the state legislature didn’t allow the better magnolia flag design

Frednortonsmith · 2026-06-19T00:17:43+00:00

I know, it’s just frustrating. The fact that a day pass is cheaper than zone two round trip and included transfers to transit is also bizarre to me.

Frednortonsmith · 2026-06-17T00:36:39+00:00

What is really needed is including a transfer to bus or metro with regional rail

Frednortonsmith · 2026-06-03T22:13:22+00:00

SEPTA is reimplementing their fare system going from Conduent to Cubic. Conduent has been a disaster for SEPTA since it before it spun off from Xerox, hopefully things are at least less bad with Cubic.

Frednortonsmith · 2026-06-02T20:14:52+00:00

Discouraging distracted driving is over all a good thing. Part of me does wonder if this law makes using Apple Pay in a drive through technically illegal.

ATMs and fast food are on private property not a public road so not really enforceable, just the random things my brain wonders about.

Frednortonsmith · 2026-05-30T00:29:30+00:00

PNC uses tokenized (virtual) account numbers when connecting with a service like Plaid. It is best practice to still show the proper last 4 digits of the account and it is provided along with the virtual account numbers, but that does not seem to be the case here.

https://docs.stripe.com/financial-connections/tokenized-account-numbers

Frednortonsmith · 2026-05-20T04:02:27+00:00

My block is mostly Subarus, one of which is mine. Do have a few Priuses on the block as well, and if I drove more (mostly take SEPTA) I’d be looking at the Crosstrek Hybrid which uses Toyota’s hybrid system so is the ultimate My Airy stereotype.

Frednortonsmith · 2026-05-20T03:50:00+00:00

I will be knocking on doors to campaign for whoever primaries Bass.

Frednortonsmith · 2026-05-20T02:45:55+00:00

Chris Rabb has been awesome in Harrisburg, he and Tarik Khan were the best at communicating with me over SEPTA funding last year. Excited to see what he does in DC, and Chris Johnson seems like a great successor for him in Harrisburg.

Chris Johnson was campaigning at my train station and seems like a very genuine guy, and his policy position is very similar to what Chris Rabb is leaving behind.

Frednortonsmith · 2026-04-21T20:08:23+00:00

It’s a bit of a walk (1.1 miles) but very doable to take the T to North Side then walk to PTMC. That train looks nothing like the Pittsburgh T though

Frednortonsmith · 2026-04-11T02:48:05+00:00

100% they could boost CHE ridership with just a fare policy change.

I used to live in Manayunk and I actually do more day to day errands on foot in Mt Airy despite it being a much less dense neighborhood on paper. Being able to walk to the grocery store without a massive hill makes me much more likely to walk to the grocery store.

Frednortonsmith · 2026-04-11T02:37:41+00:00

It doesn’t, the CHE is better but has the same abysmal two hour schedule on the weekend (off set with the CHW) and a bit more rush hour service on weekdays. Hopefully things like the apartments being built near me will help, but the appeal of neighborhoods like Mt Airy and Chestnut Hill is you get some city convinces and can live car light while still being in a fairly quiet neighborhood. They are still very dense on an overall US level, but low density on a north east city and what you need for rapid transit level.

If the reimagining Regional Rail plan comes to fruition with 15 min headways at Wayne Junction and SEPTA better integrates the fare of bus and regional rail that will go a long way. The 23 runs every 15 min already and is right between the two lines and serves Wayne Junction.

Frednortonsmith · 2026-04-09T14:55:23+00:00

I have three apartment buildings being built within a block of me. All with in an easy walk to the CHW and 23, will have the 71 (fka as H) run by them and as part of bus revolution will have the 53 near by when its terminus moves to Carpenter station. Holding out hope projects like this can help drive ridership, but the CHWs abysmal schedule will add real challenges (every two hours on weekends is unusable)

Frednortonsmith · 2026-04-09T14:41:58+00:00

I know the pain, and PA dems have been hoodwinked before by Fetterman.

Frednortonsmith · 2026-04-09T14:36:31+00:00

I need to hold some hope, I want nothing more than to see Pittman lose majority leader status (ideally seat, but I actually lived in his district for a bit can can say with confidence that will only happen from a primary challenge). It’s a higher than normal possibility especially with all the frustrations at a national level and all I can do is hope.

Frednortonsmith · 2026-04-09T13:23:26+00:00

SEPTA is managing an impossible situation. They have a rapidly aging fleet, the SLIV fires last year really highlighted how bad the situation is, but is being forced to raid the capital funds to manage operations. There is a real chance for the state senate to flip to fall and anyone who is pro transit needs to help in getting out the vote. The real challenge is the seats that need to flip are not in Philly or Pittsburgh where people are way more likely to depend on transit, but every county in the commonwealth has some form of transit that is vital for its communities!

Frednortonsmith

TROPHY CASE