If you have ever considered giving up your car, now is the time.
There’s the price of gasoline, which has shot up by more than 35% since President DonaldTrump launched the war against Iran in February. Even if you never start the ignition, simply owning a car will now set you back an average of $8,000 a year in insurance, maintenance, and loan payments.
And those are just the immediate costs. As a major source of greenhouse gases, cars contribute significantly to climate change, which is already pushing up the price of food and everyday purchases.
So, let’s say you’re ready to ditch your money pit on wheels. Then what?
I’ve been struggling with this question since I moderated a panel this spring with Sarah Goodyear and Doug Gordon, the duo from the popular podcast The War on Cars, who just published a rousing call to arms, Life After Cars: Freeing Ourselves from the Tyranny of the Automobile. The event, held at the capacious Resurrection Philadelphia church in Center City, was sponsored by Philly Bike Action and 5th Square Advocacy, two groups dedicated to promoting alternatives to driving.
Resurrection’s sanctuary was packed — with the converted. When Goodyear and Gordon asked the audience who had traveled to the event by car, only a few sheepish hands went up.
While their bookdoes a great job of detailing the ways cars “ruin everything,” there is little in it to help the car-dependent kick the habit. The problem is, most people have no idea where to start.
Even in the Philadelphia region, which has better-than-average transit and cycling infrastructure, the prospect of living without a car can seem a little like trying to swim without arms and legs. How will you take the kids to sporting events, look after elderly parents, and buy groceries without a vehicle? Our local transit services — SEPTA, NJ Transit, and PATCO — don’t serve every nook and cranny of the region and don’t run as frequently as they should.
Like everything else in America these days, the debate over the role of cars in our daily lives tends toward extremes. Philadelphia urbanists can sometimes come off as unsympathetic, as if they expect people to go cold turkey and swap their vehicles for bikes and SEPTA. Meanwhile, the pro-car lobby keeps insisting, against the evidence, that the car-free life is not practical outside a few transit-rich neighborhoods, like Center City.
But who says it has to be all or nothing?
‘Habituate walking’
My advice: Keep your car — for now, at least — but look for opportunities to get around by other means. Walk to the grocery store. Ride a bike to dinner at a nearby restaurant. Think of these excursions as a trial run. Once you feel comfortable, take the train or bus to work. You may never give up your car permanently, but you will save a bundle on gas and maintenance, reduce congestion, and boost your step count.
That’s how Jane Murray started weaning herself from the car. The Ardmore resident, who now runs a popular Instagram account called @Janewalksardmore, first began taking long walks as a way toexperience her Main Line town on a deeper level. To give shape to her Instagram project, she decided to visit every block in Ardmore and document her travels.
Jane Murray walks along Lancaster Avenue in downtown Ardmore, as part of a project to to walk every street in the Main Line town.Alejandro A. Alvarez / Staff Photographer
The more she walked, the more comfortable she felt leaving her car at home. She now wheels a “granny cart” to Trader Joe’s, a 15-minute walk from her house. Not long ago, she hopped a SEPTA bus to meet friends for quizzo in a pub a few towns away. At the end of the night, she took an Uber home.
Murray’s kids still have to take a bus the four miles to their middle school and she drives them to distant sporting events, but makes a conscious effort to “habituate walking” into her routine. Before leaving the house, she checks her transit apps to see if she can get to her destination without driving. Sometimes, she mixes it up: When she’s running errands, she’ll drive part of the way, then walk the last few blocks. Her Instagram has inspired her neighbors, who pepper her for tips about safe walking routes.
A mobility menu
Living in America without a car is often portrayed as a hardship, something that people on the margins are forced to endure. But, for me, living without a car has been a joy.
I didn’t know what to expect when I impulsively decided to get rid of my aging clunker 30 years ago after being presented with an expensive repair bill. Before then, I had rarely taken taxis or splurged on Amtrak to visit family in New York. Since I would no longer have to pay for car insurance, I promised to allow myself those indulgences. My husband and I were living in Center City, which certainly made our experiment more doable. (I should mention that I was pregnant at the time. I took a taxi to and from the hospital.)
Besides saving a lot of money, not having a car has liberated me in ways I never could have imagined. Bike lanes were virtually nonexistent in Philadelphia in the ’90s; today my bicycle is my main form of transportation. Thanks to the city’s mostly flat terrain, I can easily cycle to interviews and events in far-flung neighborhoods. My ride is equipped with side baskets, allowing me to do my grocery shopping by bike. When my destination is beyond biking distance, or when I have to look presentable, I’ll take SEPTA or reserve a Zipcar from the local car-sharing company. In a pinch, I can always summon an Uber, a Lyft, or a taxi. I still walk a lot, and it’s no exaggeration to say I run into people I know on every outing.
The key here is to think of mobility as a menu of options, rather than a car/no-car binary. While low-speed electric bikes have made it easier to cover long distances, not everyone can, or wants to, bike. Even transit can be daunting for a novice. The fear of crime also deters some people from using SEPTA, even though serious incidents have fallen dramatically in the last decade.
In 2022, Councilmember Mark Squilla (center), former Eagle Connor Barwin, Councilmember Kendra Brooks, and Councilmember Helen Gym took part in a Bike to Work Day event sponsored by the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia to promote cycling as a means of transportation.JESSICA GRIFFIN / Staff Photographer
Eden MacDougall vividly remembers his trepidation when he started commuting from Langhorne, in Bucks County, to Temple University on SEPTA’s Regional Rail. “I kept thinking, how will I know it’s my stop?”
By the time MacDougall graduated in 2022, he was a super-commuter. To get to his new job at Mastery Charter School, where he is an AmeriCorps reading instructor, he had to use three forms of transportation: He started his day by biking two miles from his home to the Langhorne station. After taking a SEPTA train to Fern Rock, he changed to the Broad Street subway, getting off at Erie. The trip took an hour and 45 minutes, but MacDougall, who never learned to drive, loved it. “I’d open up my book and read the whole way.”
Stephen Bronskill, coalition manager for Transit Forward Philadelphia, shows incoming Temple University students how to navigate SEPTA during a tour organized at the start of the new semester. Bastiaan Slabbers / For The Inquirer
Now he lives in Philadelphia and volunteers as an instructor for Transit Forward Philadelphia and the Bicycle Coalition of Greater Philadelphia, which run Saturday tours to help people feel more confident riding SEPTA. Although the events provide practical advice, like how to use a transit app, they’re intended to be fun excursions. MacDougall recently shepherded a group from Roxborough to the Clark Park farmers market, showing them how to change from the Route 9 bus to a West Philadelphia trolley. Along the way, the group got to see SEPTA’s efficient new Wissahickon Transit Center on Ridge Avenue, where 11 bus routes converge.
The two groups, which have been lobbying the state legislature to help SEPTA secure much-needed state funding, started the Saturday tours as an extension of their advocacy work. They believe the exposure to SEPTA’s system can help reset public perceptions.
SEPTA’s new Wissahickon Transportation Center on Ridge Avenue in Manayunk is a major upgrade for the city’s bus riders. The sprawling, $50 million station opened in January 2026 and allows 5,000 passengers a day to switch between 11 bus lines. (photographeed Aug. 2026)Inga Saffron / For The Inquirer
“People had a lot of negative experiences during the pandemic,” Julio Rodriguez, the Bicycle Coalition’s policy director, told me. So, when SEPTA announced it was implementing its long-awaited schedule changes this summer, the transit advocates saw a chance to change the conversation.
Helping SEPTA boost ridership isn’t their only goal, however. Because they believe fewer cars will make Philadelphia a safer, more livable city, they’re organizing similar outings to get people comfortable with bike commuting.
Changing habits
Even while these advocates are gaining adherents, many skeptics remain convinced people will never give up their cars.
But the public’s cheerful response to this summer’s car-free celebrations around Philadelphia suggests that habits can change. Almost 600,000 people converged for World Cup watch parties at Lemon Hill in Fairmount Park during the 39-day FIFA Fan Festival — even though parking was banned. After the games ended, I saw hundreds of people streaming along the Schuylkill River Trail to 30th Street Station, a distance of 1.5 miles. Thousands took transit, rode bikes, or walked to the Ben Franklin Bridge to celebrate its centennial in July.
Thousands of people took transit, biked, or walked on July 11 to parade across the Ben Franklin Bridge to celebrate the 100th anniversary of its opening.Elizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer
For people who switch to alternative forms of transportation, the payback is immediate. But Philadelphia and the region also have much to gain from having fewer cars racing through the streets: cleaner air, less noise, more casual social encounters with neighbors, and less wear-and-tear on infrastructure
The impact on climate change is a different story. Individual actions can only do so much to slow the dramatic shifts in global weather. It’s also a frustrating chicken-and-egg situation. People won’t see car-free living as truly feasible until there is intensive government investment in transit, bike infrastructure, and pedestrian safety.
Until that happens, carry a fare card, sign up for car-share, install a transit app on your phone — and don’t forget to wear ahelmet.
Haverford Square Properties wants to transform an industrial stretch of Lancaster Avenue into a residential and small-business hub, with 420 apartments and more than 30,000 square feet of commercial space across three projects.
The ambitious plan would unfold between 50th and 52nd Street, with the 215-unit Cathedral Yards at 5140 Lancaster Ave. to the northwest and the 160-unit Lancaster Yards to the southeast at 5022-32 Lancaster Ave. Cathedral Yards would take the place of the Greater Bible Way Temple, a church that burned down in 2019.
The two complexeswould comprise four connected six-story buildings, with roof decks and commercial space on the ground floors. A smaller building at 5100 Lancaster Ave. would include 45 mostly two-bedroom apartments, and Haverford Square’s headquarters.
On Tuesday, the Cathedral Park Community Development Association held a meeting about the project. Attendees shared a variety of concerns, but the chief issue was parking. The project has 65 parking spaces for more than 400 units.
“That building is gorgeous, but it has an issue and that issue is parking,” said Kim Fuller, a neighborhood leader. Haverford Square noted that because the project sits directly on a trolley line, and enjoys frequent bus service, parking is less necessary.
Rents will be kept relatively low for new construction, with a one-bedroom unit priced under $1,650 and two-bedroom units under $1,900. Sixty percent of the 420 units will be one-bedrooms, and the rest two-bedrooms.
Haverford Square will offer “workforce rents for, like, a SEPTA driver or city worker,” said German Yakubov, president of the development group.
“[Households] making between 12 and 16 bucks an hour that have two incomes can easily afford a brand new apartment with amenities that they wouldn’t otherwise be able to afford in Center City or Northern Liberties,” he said.
A map of Haverford Square Properties’ three proposed projects along Lancaster Avenue.Wisdomtree Group
“We’re able to control a lot of the costs,” said Yakubov, because Haverford Square has its own construction company and in-house architecture. “And because we’re able to build in other places, we’re able to negotiate better pricing for a lot of our material.”
For this project, low rents are also manageable because the company purchased the land for the three properties for $4.5 million, relatively cheap.
Ten percent of the apartments in Lancaster Yards and Cathedral Yards will have affordable rents as part of Philadelphia’s Mixed Income Housing Bonus program, which allows developers to build denser projects than zoning wouldtypically allow — as long as they include affordable units.
Those 42 units will be available to people making less than 50% of area median income, or under $42,000 a year for a one-person household.
Yakubov says the commercial space is key to the project, and Haverford Square plans to seeksmall businesses in the neighborhood, such asfood truck operators who want to move into a brick-and-mortar space.
“We’re really targeting businesses that have a following already, but don’t have the financial means to open up a brick-and-mortar location,” said Yakubov.
“We don’t anticipate opening any bars. We’re not going to have any places to serve alcohol or smoke shops or sell cigarettes or anything that would be a negative impact to the neighborhood,” he said.
An overhead rendering of Haverford Square’s 160-unit Lancaster Yards proposal, at 5022-32 Lancaster Avenue.Wisdomtree Group
Parking wars
At a Tuesday evening meeting, residents pushed back on the project, some saying the proposed buildings were too tall and others sharing fears of displacement.
But the most significant and frequent feedback was about parking.
Haverford Square proposed 65 parking spaces at Cathedral Yards, and none at Lancaster Yards, highlighting nearby bus and trolley routes.
“Please take it into consideration to eliminate that bottom row [of the building] and put parking in. Parking is so important,” said Fuller, an employee of Councilmember Curtis Jones Jr., who represents the area.
Audible groans rang out when Yakubov noted that many of his company’s tenants do not own cars — partly because they often have rental vouchers that are reserved for lower-income residents.
“No one bought it,” said Mark Harris, of the Cathedral Park Community Development Association, in an email following the meeting.
A rendering of Cathedral Yards, with the remnant tower of Greater Bible Way Temple at the left.Wisdomtree Group
At the end of the meeting, 21 attendees voted to oppose the project before the zoning board, while four were in support. Comments on Zoomwere more supportive of Haverford Square’s plans, compared with the in-person attendees.
Yakubov said on Tuesday that he would consider adding more parking in place of some commercial space.
Zoning approvals
Neighborhood support could be important for Haverford Square’s plans. Although the Philadelphia-based developer already owns the three properties on Lancaster Avenue, they need permission from the Zoning Board of Adjustment to move forward on this project. The board takes community feedback into consideration.
As currently proposed, the project exceeds the allowed number of units and is taller than existing land-use regulations allow.
Yakubov says additional height is needed to accommodate commercial space with high ceilings.
He argues that the zoning board hasrecently given other projects permission to build above height limits along Lancaster Avenue, so he is optimistic.
Although the Haverford Square project does not have many immediate residential neighbors, the nearby One Art Community Center is critical of the developer’s plans. The nonprofit organization sought to buy the Greater Bible Way Temple property to expand their services.
Greater Bible Way Temple sold to Haverford Square properties instead. In advance of Tuesday’s meeting, One Art sent an email to its supporters criticizing Yakubov.
A rendering of one of the many six-story apartment buildings Haverford Square Properties has proposed for Lancaster Avenue between 50th and 52nd Streets.Wisdomtree Group
“We’re concerned about the increased traffic. … We have questions around the increased pollution and parking issues, sanitation issues, and the rise of the cost of living for the current residents,” said Malaika Gilpin, co-director of One Art, at the Tuesday night meeting.
In response to the group’s concerns, Yakubov suggested bringing One Art programming into the commercial space in the proposed project.
Yakubov said zoning board support is not essential to the project. If the project does not get approval, Haverford Square will move forward with a smaller version of the project without commercial space.
“If for whatever reason the wheels fall off and we’re not able to get zoning relief, we’re ready to proceed,” said Yakubov. But, he added, “I think that the commercial component it would be a huge boost to the community and to the city.”
Editor’s note: This story has been edited to update the number of units in the proposed development.
Philadelphia Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. zigzagged the city Monday, visiting seven schools across the city to start the 2026-27 year.
The late-summer weather was perfect, sunny but not sweltering — an important factor in a school system laden with old buildings, where extreme heat sometimes means about a quarter of the district’s 113,000-plus students cannot learn in person or at all,
Watlington is hoping that the back-to-school weather was an omen.
“The way we start is going to be the way that we roll, and the way we finished last year,” the superintendent said. “We started off really well.”
Superintendent Tony B. Watlington Sr. (left) and district board president Reginald L. Streater (right) hold a press conference at McClure Elementary Monday, Aug. 24, 2026 on the first day of school in the Philadelphia School District. Behind them in center is Carlton Williams, just a week into his job as the City’s Philadelphia’s Managing Director (he started Aug. 17)Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
“We want people to stop and digest that for a moment,” Watlington said. “Because people will say, ‘Well, are the scores still too low?’ I’d say absolutely, yes, we’ve got a lot of work to do and it’s not acceptable that two out of three kids don’t read or perform on grade level in math, but we’re getting better faster than the 25 largest school districts, and that’s our goal to be the fastest-improving, so we’re well on our way,” Watlington said.
“We believe it’s important for us to work with parents as equal partners because they are our children’s first teachers, and when we support our parents and families, our kids just do better in school,” he said.
The Parent and Community Ambassador Program will provide small stipends to “key community members and parents who just have a level of influence and cachet that no teacher, principal, counselor, police officer, or superintendent has in communities,” Watlington said. “If we can figure out how to connect with some of these key community folks, it will do nothing but help us to improve student attendance in schools where there may be some tensions or poor communication between families and school staff.”
Johnny Beauchamp (right) waits with his son Johnny (5, not a Jr.) as they arrive early at McClure Elementary Monday, Aug. 24, 2026 on the first day of school in the Philadelphia School District. Young Johnny is going into kindergarten and Beauchamp, a single father, took two days off from his work as a truck driver to make sure he could be there on “the start of the rest of his life.”Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
The aim, the superintendent said, is to address issues like homework completion, or family cooperation with key school initiatives.
“We think that’s a pioneering effort,” Watlington said. “Families first in 2026-2027.”
The program will begin as a pilot in a limited number of schools. Watlington did not provide details about how much ambassadors will be paid or how many schools will participate initially. He said details will be released soon.
About those PSSA and Keystone scores
There has been significant speculation around the release of state test scores. Pennsylvania released preliminary data to districts in the late spring, as it typically does, but Philadelphia has shared only limited student PSSA scores with select staff. Most Philly principals and teachers have not seen the scores, though other districts and schools have not withheld the data.
Wuimarlyn Sanchez, (left) , 7, is greeted by a classmate outside McClure Elementary Monday, Aug. 24, 2026, starting as second graders on the first day of school in the Philadelphia School District.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
The Pennsylvania Department of Education notified districts last week that statewide results, typically available to districts in late August or early September, would be delayed, though the release of the data to parents and the public does not typically happen until the fall.
Philadelphia officials then suggested the state holdup was the reason for their own delay.
Watlington said Tuesday that “we’re just going to wait for the official, verified data to come to us. We’re not trying to hide anything, but we need to get the verified data.”
The superintendent suggested, however, that both statewide glitches in the administration of the test on the first day of PSSAs and the shift to online administration of exams, which research links to decline in student scores, will show an effect when the scores are finally made public.
“My hunch is that, at the end of the day, online testing will have had some impact, but I don’t want to speculate on that across the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” Watlington said. “When the state verifies the data, we’ll release it immediately.”
Some students were unable to access tests for up to 40 minutes on the first day PSSAs were administered.
“All things being equal, I personally would like to be able to do over every single first-day test,” Watlington said. “That’s not really financially or time practical, but in an ideal world that would be my, my superintendent’s wish.”
School selection’s still up in the air
The district’s much-watched school selection process will open this year on Sept. 8 and close on Oct. 30. Watlington said its details are still being worked out, given the state score wrinkle.
Pencils and crayons in the first grade classroom of teacher Lauren Cucinotta at Fanny Jackson Coppin Elementary are ready to write and color Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2026, as she prepares for the start of the School District of Philadelphia school year on Aug. 24.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Students who wish to gain admission to the system’s 37 criteria-based schools typically submit PSSA scores for consideration. Last week, district officials said they would not use PSSAs for school selection.
Watlington said Tuesday that his team was “currently reviewing a number of options about how to handle the fact that we won’t have 2025-26 data in time for our school selection process. So we’re reviewing all of our options. I believe there was a thinking initially that we’d have students who have access to some special test — the Terra Nova, etc. We’ve not finalized a decision there yet, so we don’t want to get ahead of our skis just yet.”
District size, and winning back kids to Philadelphia schools
When Watlington talks about Philadelphia being one of the 10 largest school systems in the U.S., he is counting children enrolled in both traditional district schools and charters — all of which are supported by taxpayer dollars.
Counted together, last year, the district had 113,735 students, and charters enrolled 64,469.
The district’s enrollment grew for the first time in a decade in 2024-25, inching up by a little fewer than 2,000 students. It then lost 794 students last year, which Watlington attributes to a SEPTA strike at the beginning of the school year that caused a pronounced drop in student attendance and, he believes, caused some families to disenroll children from district schools.
“It’s too soon to know exactly where our numbers will shake out, but my expectation and hope would be that we maintain the similar enrollment to last year,” Watlington said. “I expect this school district to grow over time, though.”
Why? Watlington touted Masterman’s recent ranking by U.S. News & World Report as the nation’s No. 3 public high school in the country and the district’s academic gains.
“We just need to tell that story,” Watlington said, “and go out and market ourselves to parents.”
During the bridge closure, cars and bicycles will be detoured to Chestnut and Walnut Streets, according to PennDot’s plans. The agency has said one sidewalk would remain open to pedestrians to cross the bridge during construction.
Six SEPTA bus routes will be detoured in the area for roughly a year starting Monday: buses 31, 44, 49, 124, 125, and L1 Owl.
Parking restrictions are also in effect in the area through 2028 because of the project, PennDot spokesperson Helen Reinbrecht confirmed. Those restrictions affect Chestnut Street between 23rd and 22nd Streets, 23rd Street between Market and Walnut Streets, and Walnut Street between 23rd and 33rd Streets.
PennDot’s multimillion-dollar project is mostly funded with federal money, with 20% of the cost paid for by the state.
Pedestrians can cross, but the Market Street Bridge (at left) is closed to vehicle traffic Monday for a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation project that could span 14 months.Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Bus operators say they worry passengers frustrated over changed routes that take them by surprise and unexpected delays will yell at, curse, or assault them. It has been a persistent problem in recent years.
In some cases, riders accustomed to staying on one bus route will need to transfer to other buses or the subway and elevated trains. That increases the chances of missed connections and delays. And angry people.
“You’re upset because you had counted on the bus,” said Keya Sampson, 52, a bus driver for 12 years. “You have to be at this appointment or you’ve got to punch in on time.”
She is sympathetic, even though delays are outside her control.
“We’re going to end up in a tricky situation because we’re the face of SEPTA,” Sampson said. “They don’t have anybody else to scream at, unfortunately.”
Vulnerable riders
Carlos Guillen, who has worked for SEPTA for 19 years as an operator on buses and the Broad Street Line, noted that SEPTA advises Route 4 riders to take the B, SEPTA’s new name for the subway line,to avoid longer wait times.
“I can see how it can impact elderly and those with disabilities, especially moving down the sidewalk — they’re not the smoothest thoroughfares,” said Guillen, a safety officer for Transport Workers Union Local 234.
He noted a lack of ADA-accessible stations on the B north of City Hall.
Longer term, some bus operators are concerned about the possibility they could be replaced in the future by autonomous driving technology.
“Autonomously driven vehicles have no place in mass transit,” said Joe Coccio, secretary-treasurer of Local 234, which represents more than 5,000 SEPTA employees, including operators on buses, subways, and trolleys. “They’re flawed. They’re unpredictable.” He said they also can be hacked.
SEPTA says it has no plans to use robot bus operators and is hiring human ones as fast as it can. But a spokesperson also said the authority wants to keep its options open.
Most operators are anticipating some confused passengers at first, even though SEPTA has sent out teams to educate people about Phase 1 of the New Bus Network. Maps and cards illustrate the changes, translated into multiple languages.
New color-coded signage is part of SEPTA’s plan to communicate changes to bus routes that begin on Sunday. Tom Gralish / Staff Photographer
Some people won’t get the message.
“People right now don’t even read our destination signs to see if it’s the right bus,” said Ryan Stewart, who operates a Route 35 bus from the Midvale depot in Nicetown.
In the first wave of changes, 30 bus routes will be affected.
Some routes with low ridership or that duplicate nearby service have beeneliminated. Othershave been extended. Some will run more frequently, others less frequently, based on analysis of demand. Two new routeshave been added.
The people who pilot the buses on Philadelphia’s narrow streets know that some small and overlooked issues could undercut the New Bus Network program’s goal of quicker, more efficient service.
Sampson, for instance, has been driving the 63 for the summer. She will be back behind the wheel on Route 4, her regular run for the last four years, this week — as the changes begin.
Route 4 will have fewer buses running. So SEPTA is deploying 60-foot articulated buses, which carry more passengers.
SEPTA had been using 40-foot buses on the route, which has narrow streets and hairpin turns, especially in its northern reaches, where there is a longstanding detour that will not end until summer 2027. Operators think the longer buses will have trouble navigating the route.
Operators have asked SEPTA to look at the issue. “If there’s nothing they can do, it’s going to be a nightmare,” Sampson said. “We’re going to get stuck.”
She knows well the hard turn from Erie onto Rising Sun, an angled intersection with a pub that often has a beer truck parked on the curb. Only one articulated bus at a time can fit down that little stretch of Old York Road. And the church at 10th and Rockland Streets that has packed funerals, with cars parked to the corners.
“How do you ask someone who’s grieving, ‘Hey, move your car’? … At the same time, we do need to make the turn, and it does need to be safe.”
Time will tell
Paul Pollard, a veteran bus operator on Route 61, said he spends precious minutes stuck in traffic on Main Street in Manayunk on his way north to Roxborough during morning peak hours, as parents drop students off at school.
But the schedule assumes his bus can sail through.
“I’ve had people get off my bus, walk two or three blocks down, and go into their job,” Pollard, 49, said. “I’m still sitting in traffic.”
It is “virtually impossible” to meet the schedule safely, he said. The result: late buses and steamed customers.
Time will tell if worries become reality, but operators know that they will bear the brunt of any outrage.
“There’s nobody at SEPTA headquarters getting somebody throwing coffee on them, or spitting on them,” Pollard said.
As the afterglow of the world’s largest sports tournament and the country’s formal 250th birthday party in Philadelphia fades, the city is returning to its regularly scheduled programming.
But those months of celebrations came with significant investments into the city: building up the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, hosting Grammy Award-winning stars, renovating Lemon Hill to welcome half a million people, and, of course, the cleaning and maintenance work that made Philadelphia look fresher than it has in years.
SEPTA and the city partnered to landscape and beautify major traffic intersections, sometimes with a new mural provided by Mural Arts Philadelphia. SEPTA stations alsoreceived a much-needed deep clean and graffiti removal, all before and during the summer celebrations.
PHLASH buses got an extra stop to get to Lemon Hill; fans got free rides on the Broad Street Line after World Cup games. And, just as the international fans packed up their bags to head home, it’s time for many of those features to go, too.
But what about all the things staying in Philly? The city is not getting just generational memories and a summer party out of the deal. Here are some of the major legacy projects remaining in Philadelphia for years to come, perhaps even until the tercentennial celebration in 2076.
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New mini soccer pitches across Pennsylvania
Location: Throughout Pennsylvania.
The project: How does the United States grow the next crop of elite soccer players? By making it easier to play soccer starting at a young age. At least 13 mini soccer pitches are being installed at schools, recreation centers, and parks across Pennsylvania.
The first two of Philly’s mini pitches were installed at West Oak Lane’s Building 21 and the Swenson Arts and Technology High School in Northeast Philadelphia. According to the U.S. Soccer Foundation, which is overseeing the project, each mini pitch costs $150,000 to install.
The U.S. Soccer Foundation has committed $2 million to install mini-soccer fields like this one in Northeast Philadelphia ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup.Kerith Gabriel
Who is behind it: The city and several nonprofits and private companies are backing this initiative, mostly through a $2 million investment from Philadelphia Soccer 2026, the city’s host committee for the 2026 men’s World Cup. Additional backers include the Philadelphia School District, Independence Blue Cross, and Comcast, among others. The U.S. Soccer Foundation is administering the funds and overseeing the installation of the pitches.
The project: The transformation of Fishtown’s TipTop Playground into two mini, enclosed turf soccer pitches, with additional event space and field lighting for night play. The pitches are now open for kids and adults.
Fishtown’s street soccer park will host leagues, free training clinics, and youth soccer programs. Casual pickup soccer is available outside of scheduled programming, led by Street Soccer USA, the organization that helps run such soccer parks across the country.
Who is behind it: You guessed it: Bank of America and Visa. Street Soccer USA will run programming at the park in collaboration with local groups.
Lemon Hill Park
FIFA President Gianni Infantino, center, will visit Lemon Hill Park on Thursday, April 10 for an operational planning tour of Philadelphia Soccer 2026’s FIFA Fan Festival siteJose F. Moreno / Staff Photographer
Location: Sedgley Drive and North Lemon Hill Drive.
The project: Lemon Hill Park received some updates ahead of hosting the official FIFA Fan Festival, and is now getting a much-needed makeover after 39 days of World Cup festivities. The restoration of the grass is underway, with more permanent amenities soon to be constructed.
Some upgrades are complete:
Other upgrades are coming soon:
Who is behind it: Philadelphia Soccer 2026 is committing $4 million to park upgrades, with help from the city, to repair the grass fields, bring new modern amenities to parts of the park, and outfit the space with new electrical service, provided by Peco, to prepare for future large events.
FDR Park’s Ashburn Field
The MLB is renovating Ashburn Field in FDR Park, a city field managed and maintained by the Phillies that hosts a variety of youth baseball programs.Colin Evans / For The Inquirer
Location: 1500 Pattison Ave.
The project: Ashburn Field at FDR Park has been resurfaced with a new turf field, meant to better handle wet weather conditions. The 135,000-square-foot field was built in 1998, using funds generated from the 1996 MLB All-Star Game in Philadelphia.
Who is behind it: Major League Baseball and the Phillies, as part of a combined investment of more than $5 million in various projects tied to the 2026 MLB All-Star Game, including revitalizing the Negro Leagues Memorial Park and mural at 44th Street and Parkside Avenue in West Philly.
Independence National Historical Park
The rotunda inside the First Bank of the United States is pictured on Monday, June 29, 2026 in Philadelphia.Erin Blewett / For The Inquirer
Location: 599 Market St.
The project: Several improvements have already come to Independence National Historical Park and Independence Mall to commemorate the nation’s Semiquincentennial, and more are on the way. They include:
A $3.9 million “Join or Die” sculpture on Independence Mall, inspired by the truncated snake in Benjamin Franklin’s cartoon of the same name. The 46-foot-long granite work is expected to be unveiled this fall.
Beautification and horticultural work. This includes work at the Benjamin Rush Garden at Third and Walnut Streets, which showcases the 1976 Bicentennial Bell, a 10-ton Liberty Bell replica gifted by Queen Elizabeth II.
The reopening of the First Bank of the United States, on Third Street between Walnut and Chestnut Streets. The bank had been closed for 50 years but is now open for visitors thanks to a $43 million renovation.
Who is behind it: Independence Historical Trust, the city, the state, private foundations, philanthropists, and legacy groups.
Germantown Historical Society Visitor Center
Location: 5501 Germantown Ave.
Tuomi Forrest, executive director at the Germantown Historical Society, and Kaila Temple, curator of collections at GHS, at the Germantown Historical Society building located at 5501 Germantown Ave. in Philadelphia, July 21, 2026.Jessica Griffin / Staff Photographer
The project: The Germantown Historical Society has its first visitors center, thanks to a $100,000 renovation of a section of its headquarters. It is modest but will host rotating exhibits, maps and pamphlets, and a gift shop.
Historic Germantown consists of various landmarks and attractions in Northwest Philly, including the Aces Veterans Museum, Awbury Arboretum, and the Germantown White House, where George Washington once lived.
Who is behind it: The Funder Collaborative for the Semiquincentennial, a philanthropic group organized by the Connelly Foundation that donated to many initiatives and projects related to the 250th anniversary celebration.
Whitney Biennial curators travel the length and breadth of the country, paying visits to artists in their studios, surveying their work, and picking creators whose work they think represents the present climate of art making in the country. Together, they bring a once-every-two-years expansive exhibition to New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art, often regarded as the most prestigious and faithful register of American art.
Past biennial curators — the 2024 edition was curated by the Institute of Contemporary Art’s former associate curator, Meg Onli — have embarked on these travels separately, but for the country’s 250th year and the biennial’s 82nd, Whitney curators Marcela Guerrero and Drew Sawyer traveled together.
Whitney Museum of American Art’s Biennial 2026 curators Drew Sawyer, Marcela GuerreroBryan Derballa
“We wanted to just listen to artists and see where they were at, see what they were thinking about, how they were processing recent events,” said Guerrero. They traveled for a bit over a year, nationally and internationally, and visited more than 300 artists.
“The idea of relationality and how do we relate in different ways” at political and interpersonal levels, is a theme that eventually emerged from their survey, Guerrero said.
While in the past some curators have traveled as far as Hawaii, Guerrero and Sawyer’s short travel to Philadelphia in the winter of 2024 proved equally fruitful.
“Philly was such a productive trip and very coherent in terms of what we were hearing from artists on gentrification, displacement, and the cost of living,” Guerrero said.
Artists in Philadelphia, Sawyer noticed, “seem to be particularly preoccupied with ideas of infrastructure” and there exists a strong sense of connection among them. Several of the city’s artist are graduates of the MFA programs at the University of Pennsylvania and University of the Arts, taught by the same professors like Michelle Lopez (whose work is included in this year’s biennial) and Sharon Hayes (whose work was a part of the 2024 biennial).
Maia Chao, “Being Moved,” 2026. Performance, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, May 14–17, 2026. Commissioned by the Whitney Museum of American Art.Julieta Cervantes
Performance artists Maia Chao and Jonathan González, both of whose works are part of the biennial, live in West Philadelphia and are friends and collaborators. Emilio Martínez Poppe attended Penn and studied with Lopez, and was particularly interested in the idea of infrastructure from the perspective of the labor of public sector employees to help build and maintain our social and civic architectures.
“A kind of certain institutional critique, I would say, was common” among Philadelphia artists, said Sawyer.
“One of my biggest takeaways is the real vibrancy of the artistic scene in Philadelphia,” he said.
Here are the Philadelphia artists whose works appear in the Whitney Biennial.
West Philadelphia-based artist Maia Chao’s performance pieces “Being Moved’ and “Scores for the Museum Visitor” are part of the 2026 Whitney Biennial.Amelia Golden
Maia Chao
“Scores for the Museum Visitor,” “Being Moved”
Maia Chao’s performance art emerges from studying social behavior. Where some might see the mundane walk from home to work, she sees choreography, a rhythm, and an interaction of the body with its surroundings.
Her biennial performance piece Being Moved, choreographed by Lena Engelstein, takes inspiration from how museum visitors interact with the art. “It reframes the focus from the art itself to the visitors’ experience,” she said. The title refers to both “this potential to be moved by an artwork,” but also “of the ways that the institution makes us move, makes us move our bodies, and makes us behave in the presence of extremely valuable assets.”
That tension of the push and pull of a museum — where its mission might seem inviting and welcoming but once inside, rules around how to behave, what to touch abound — is at the center of Chao’s piece.
Maia Chao, “Being Moved,” 2026. Performance, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, May 14–17, 2026. Commissioned by the Whitney Museum of American Art.Julieta Cervantes
When visiting the biennial beyond Chao’s performance schedule, visitors view Scores for the Museum Visitor as a set of prompts, an invitation to create “micro performances” of their own.
Among the scores are: “Identify another museum visitor. From afar, copy their movements as closely as possible.” “While holding a museum brochure, clasp your hands behind your back. Drop the brochure.” “Find a bench. Take a seat. Imagine the artworks slowly falling to the floor.”
“These are invitations to kind of transgress the rules, [for] engaging with the artwork, or interpreting and encountering an artwork,” the artist said.
Maia Chao, “Being Moved,” 2026. Performance, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, May 14–17, 2026. Commissioned by the Whitney Museum of American Art.Julieta Cervantes
Chao first caught the curators’ attention with Agents of Deterioration (2024), made in collaboration with Ethan Philbrick, a performance piece commissioned by the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden. Sawyer was drawn in by Chao’s “legacy of institutional critique through affective registers.”
“There’s a real kind of commitment to the institution, even as Maia is critiquing it, which we felt was important in this moment where there’s, from many different directions, an eroding of faith in institutions. We were really interested in the way she both critiques and pushes institutions to do better,” he said.
Artist and Penn professor Michelle Lopez whose “Pandemonium” is part of the 2026 Whitney BiennialKelsey Valencia, Denniston Hill Residency
Michelle Lopez
“Pandemonium”
Pandemonium is a fully Philadelphia piece of art. It was made in collaboration with the Moore College of Art and Design and the Franklin Institute, supported by the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage and the University of Pennsylvania, filmed at Northeast Philadelphia’s RAIR (Recycled Artist in Residency), premiered at the Fels Planetarium and the Galleries at Moore, and inspired by artist Michelle Lopez’s earlier work exhibited at the ICA.
“Philadelphia is just a really supportive environment for artists,” said Lopez, who is an associate professor of fine arts at Penn’s Stuart Weitzman School of Design, where she leads the sculpture program. “I could not have made that work in New York.”
The video project, as Lopez says, came from a desire to “situate the viewer in the eye of a storm so that they could feel, on a somatic level, what it was like to have their environment really collapse around them.”
At the Whitney Museum, Pandemonium plays on a domed screen on the ceiling of the gallery and demands that the viewer sit below it and look up. What they witness is things moving around with a violent force against the sky — debris, newspapers, packaging, clothing (including Lopez’s own and her son’s old underwear), and other markers of extreme human consumption.
In order to make this mayhem happen, Lopez, who is trained in sculpture, built a tornado machine using a robotic contraption, industrial fans, and leaf blowers. Together they created a simulation of a tornado at RAIR which was then filmed and eventually screened in the Fels Planetarium.
“A lot of the work imagistically, came from seeing images of tornadoes and hurricanes wiping out towns. I was really interested in the way nature could collapse culture,” said Lopez, who lives in South Philadelphia.
Installation view of Whitney Biennial 2026 (Whitney Museum of American Art, March 8–August 2026). Michelle Lopez, “Pandemonium,” 2025.Jason Lowrie/BFA.com
While a Whitney gallery is nowhere close to the grandeur and wonder of the Fels Planetarium, the 360-format video manages to suck in a viewer who feels almost weightless as the feeling of being thrown around by the forces of nature is simulated.
When the curators visited Philadelphia for studio visits, “top on our list was Michelle Lopez,” said Sawyer. “We were aware that she had been working on this major moving image project that departed from what she’s most well known for, which is sculpture. So we were really excited to meet with her, especially because her work had not been a part of the biennial before.”
Artist Emilio Martínez Poppe, whose work “Civic Views” was on display in the City Hall courtyard last year. This year, it’s a part of the Whitney Biennial.Neal Santos
Emilio Martínez Poppe
“Civic Views”
Like Lopez’s Pandemonium, artist Emilio Martínez Poppe’s Civic Views is an artwork that is only possible because the city of Philadelphia exists. Several Philadelphians have already seen Martínez Poppe’s workwhen it was on view last year in the City Hall courtyard.
Martínez Poppe was then studying city planning and working toward an MFA in visual art from Penn when he was mulling over the future of city planning graduate students who’d go on to join the public service workforce.
It was in conversation with professors that he found out that the oldest surviving daguerreotype in the country, which is stored at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania, was taken by Joseph Saxon, who was a public sector employee working for the U.S. Mint.
“That was shot out of the U.S. Mint, where the Widener Building is today. He’s following Daguerre’s technological recipe, he uses it to photograph what he sees through the window. Unlike Daguerre, who was a theater entrepreneur, Saxton was a public sector employee who was doing something he was not hired to do,” said Martínez Poppe. “He was hired to work on the newly nationalized currency and he was tinkering with this invention in his office, and that view is one of the only real entry points that we have into his position at his job there, which is interesting.”
Emilio Martínez Poppe looks out the windows at the Department of Behavioral Health and Intellectual disAbility Services office on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025 in Philadelphia. Emilio Martínez Poppe is working on a project curated by Jameson Paige that documents the views from municipal service buildings. The project also includes interviews with city workers.Monica Herndon / Staff Photographer
Inspired, Martínez Poppe visited municipal buildings all across Philadelphia and photographed views from the inside out so he could document what city workers see from their windows. Alongside, he conducted “dozens of long form, anonymized interviews” with city workers from more than 20 agencies.
“I would ask them, what was your perspective of city government before working here, who taught you about the value of public sector work? Often, so many people would tell me it was their mothers.”
Civic Views is a result of those conversations — a coming together of anonymized interview snippets and photographs displayed in a scaffolding-like structure in the middle of a Whitney gallery. “It’s the scaffolding that dissolves the authoritative center, even in the Whitney Biennial,” said Martínez Poppe.
An installation view of Emilio Martínez Poppe’s “Civic Views.”Summer Surgent-Gough
“The public sector is vulnerable to radical change, for better or worse. With my work, I want to say that it’s time to seize the means, seize our technology to create the world that belongs to us,” the artist, who now works for the New York City Mayor’s Office as a civic arts programs coordinator, said.
“We need to assume that responsibility. That’s why the project centers the voices of workers and how their positions shape their views. But also how their views shape the structures that we are living in and living through.”
On the curators’ Philadelphia visit, Guerrero recalled seeing Civic Views and people of the city interacting with it. “It was very touching,” she said. Her favorite part about the work is that it uses “the tropes of the camera, of the interview, of bureaucracy, but then upends it completely.”
Installation view of Whitney Biennial 2026 (Whitney Museum of American Art, March 8–August 2026). “Civic Views” (2024) by Emilio Martínez Poppe, “Philadelphia Housing Authority, South,” 2024; Emilio Martínez Poppe, “Philadelphia Department of Sanitation, North,” 2024; Emilio Martínez Poppe along with works of Kainoa GruspeJason Lowrie/BFA.com
“You see how important the job of a public servant is,” she said, “and how you know they’re in kind of a double bind because they’re the face of the government and also they receive the same services they provide … their kids are in the public school system, they depend on the Department of Sanitation.”
She finds this complexity “beautifully translated” in Civic Views. “You can really put yourself in the shoes of the person who’s speaking and feel the care that really goes into this type of work that should not be overlooked.”
Artist Jonathan González whose performance piece ‘magic hour — golden time’ is part of the 2026 Whitney BienialRudy Gerson
Jonathan González
“magic hour — golden time”
Like Chao, Jonathan González’s work also sees a two-pronged approach with performance and photography. Three Super 8 photographs, A, B, and C, mark the locations, across the museum, of the three-hour long performance piece presented by González and their co-artists.
“Each photograph shares with the performers how to perform the work,” said González, who also lives in West Philadelphia. Magic hour-golden time, they said, “is a double leaning. Magic hour comes from the usage in broadcast television when you have the highest viewership. And golden hour is that moment of the sunset. And so the piece is merging this experience of looking out and also being seen over three hours.”
Jonathan González, “magic hour–golden time,” 2026. Rehearsal performance, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, May 12, 2026. Commissioned by the Whitney Museum of American Art.Julieta Cervantes
From three terraces around the museum, the performers follow the sun’s movement for three hours. In the first hour, the performers “embody the architecture that surrounds the museum” and makes up the city’s skyline. The second hour, they said, “is a procedure of call and response … the dancers dance with every dance you’ve ever danced, and take information from one another as dancers, as well as from the pedestrians.”
The final hour, González said, is performed on an inaccessible terrace. “It can only be viewed from across the street, you cannot see it from the museum. It’s called the ‘Endless Bow,’ and it’s 60 minutes of bowing to the sun and bowing to the world and bowing to the performance.”
Philadelphia, the former University of the Arts professor said, gives them “the capacity to slow down to hear these voices, and have dreams, visions come to you.” The city allows them the time to spend time in the studio with friends like Chao and inspires them to “collaborating not toward a particular product or aim, but much of the time experimentation.”
Jonathan González, “magic hour–golden time,” 2026. Performance, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, May 12, 2026. Commissioned by the Whitney Museum of American Art.Julieta Cervantes
“Just the fertile nature of Philly as a historical Black geography has been really important for me to really situate the questions of time and what happens to a city at the late stage of industrialization, and to really think critically about what a group can do, what mutuality is,” they said.
“Certain artists just stay in your mind, and you want to come back and see what they are working on,” said Guerrero recalling her first tryst with González’s work. “The work felt so mature. There’s this notion of how, through improvisation, you can be attuned to your surroundings. In the case of their performance, they make these other effective strategies [for attunement] that don’t always rely on the senses, and that is something that is very present in the show.”
The Whitney Biennial 2026 is on view through Aug. 23 and on partial view, which will include all of the Philadelphia artists’ static works, through Oct. 12. The Whitney Museum of American Art, 99 Gansevoort St., New York. whitney.org
“Who’s running now?” Krasner said at a Thursday news conference where investigators announced they had identified the suspect as 22-year-old Zymire Hughes — and said it was possible he had already fled Pennsylvania.
It was the latest development in a nightmare-fueled story that has garnered national attention as images and videos of a man harassing pedestrians in the babylike mask went viral on social media this week.
Krasner said his office has issued a warrant for Hughes’ arrest for assault and related crimes.
The charges stem from the Aug. 12 morning that a man in a Chucky mask harassed and scared more than a dozen people near City Hall, including a 40-year-old woman who Krasner said was “severely injured” when she fell while running from Hughes in fear.
In all, investigators said, Hughes is accused of harassing around 16 people between 5 and 5:30 a.m. that morning.
Police documented the behavior through a host of camera angles due to the large number of security cameras monitoring Center City streets.
They saw a masked Hughes begin the harassment near 10th and Chestnut Streets that morning, where he approached a man who appeared to cower on his knees in fear, said Capt. Jason Smith of the Central Detective Division.
After Hughes harassed others in the Center City area, authorities said, his behavior culminated when he chased the woman as she jogged near City Hall.
Hughes asked the woman if she was “ready to die” during the confrontation, according to Smith.
After the woman fled, Hughes went into a Dunkin’ Donuts store near 13th and Chestnut Streets. He then entered Suburban Station, Smith said, where two SEPTA transit officers told Hughes to remove the mask.
He lifted the mask slightly but did not remove it. He calmly walked away from the officers, surveillance footage shows.
“He does successfully evade them,” the captain said.
Hughes later rode SEPTA’s 33 bus to his apartment near 23rd and Venango Streets, surveillance footage shows.
But Smith said investigators believe Hughes may have already fled the state.
Detectives learned he left his apartment with packed bags two nights ago. It is possible he may have gone to Los Angeles or Las Vegas, where he has connections through an employer, Smith said.
Meanwhile, they continue to consider whether Hughes was motivated to film the stunt and post content on social media.
Detectives have linked two TikTok and one Instagram accounts to Hughes. But the accounts do not include posts related to his alleged behavior from last week.
Investigators also do not believe Hughes intended to physically harm those he harassed, they said, given that he did not produce a weapon during any of the interactions.
Krasner said that Hughes could not run forever, and that additional charges could come as investigators urge anyone harassed by Hughes that morning to come forward.
The young man is currently on probation in Philadelphia for a criminal case out of Montgomery County, Krasner said, adding that he considered Hughes’ behavior last week to be a violation of those conditions.
“You think it’s funny to scare people?” the district attorney said in a message directed to Hughes. “Well, get ready to get scared by us.”
You say you want a revolution? That’s not quite what SEPTA’s proposing. This weekend, the region’s transit agency will roll out the first phase of its New Bus Network, the bus system’s first significant update since the agency was formed in the 1960s.
Sound familiar? Once dubbed Bus Revolution, the project began in 2021 after transit agencies around the country saw massive declines in ridership. SEPTA’s Bus Revolution was set to launch in 2025 but faced significant community pushback and coincided with the state funding crisis that halted many planned transit initiatives. It was officially shelved in November 2024.
Later phases of the plan, which will roll out in 2027, will impact other neighborhoods. The number of bus routes in SEPTA’s system will drop from the current 124 to 106 when all four phases are complete.
SEPTA says the changes are needed to modernize the system and make it easier to use.
To help you navigate the changes that will impact how you navigate the city, we’re here to breakdown down all 30 impacted routes.
This route remains the same but with reduced service.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekdays
6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Every 16-25 minutes
Every 30 minutes
Saturdays
8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Every 22-25 minutes
Every 30 minutes
6
Cheltenham-Ogontz to Olney Transportation Center
On weekdays, route 6 will have increased service during peak hours, but a reduced service otherwise.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekdays
6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Every 11-13 minutes
Every 10 minutes
Weekdays
9 p.m. to midnight
Every 20 minutes
Every 30 minutes
Weekdays
midnight to 4 a.m.
Every 30-40 minutes
Every 60 minutes
SEPTA also rolled out new signage that identifies certain routes as “frequent red”, indicating a bus is scheduled to arrive within 15 minutes or less on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
17
Front-Market to 20th-Johnston
Route 17 will be shortened and no longer operate on its old route from 20th Street and Johnston Street down to the stadium complex or the Navy Yard. SEPTA recommends Navy Yard commuters take route 45 instead.
This route will also operate with reduced service overnight.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekdays
midnight to 5 a.m.
Every 30 minutes
Every 60 minutes
SEPTA also rolled out new signage that identifies certain routes as “frequent red”, indicating a bus is scheduled to arrive within 15 minutes or less on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
25
Frankford Transportation Center to Front-Spring Garden
Route 25 is essentially being cut in half. The old route ran down Delaware Avenue to Columbus Commons. The new route will terminate at the Spring Garden Market-Frankford Line station. The old route from Spring Garden to Columbus Commons will be serviced by the new route 76.
Route 25 will now operate for 24 hours a day, as part of SEPTA’s late-night OWL network.
This route will also have increased service.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekdays
6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Every 20-30 minutes
Every 15 minutes
Weekends
6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Every 30 minutes
Every 20 minutes
SEPTA also rolled out new signage that identifies certain routes as “frequent red”, indicating a bus is scheduled to arrive within 15 minutes or less on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
32
Broad-Carpenter to Ridge-Lyceum
Route 32 will have slightly reduced service with fewer buses overall. All route 32 buses will terminate at Manayunk, as opposed to the previous schedule where half would terminate at 33rd Street and Cecil B. Moore Avenue. There’s also a slight route extension into Roxborough for school service.
35
Manayunk Roxborough Loop
Route 35 will be discontinued on Aug. 23. SEPTA recommends riders take route 61.
According to SEPTA’s operation statistics, route 35 is the seventh most expensive bus based on the average cost per passenger.
39
Richmond-Cumberland to 33rd-Dauphin
Route 39 will remain the same but with reduced service on weekdays and slightly increased service on Saturday evenings..
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekdays
6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Every 20-30 minutes
Every 30 minutes
Saturday
5 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Every 40-60 minutes
Every 30 minutes
44
Front-Market to Ardmore
Route 44 will no longer run along its old route that would sometimes terminate at Gladwyne. Beginning Aug. 23, all 44 buses will run to Ardmore, with select trips stopping at Narberth.
This route will also have reduced service.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekdays
9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Every 15-30 minutes
Every 60 minutes
Weekends
6 a.m. to midnight
Every 30 minutes
Every 60 minutes
45
Navy Yard/Broad-Oregon to 12th-Noble
Route 45 will be extended to the Navy Yard to cover for the changes to route 17.
After 9 p.m. the route will have reduced service on weekdays.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekdays
9 p.m. to midnight
Every 20 minutes
Every 30 minutes
46
58th-Baltimore to 63rd-Malvern
Route 46 will have increased service on weekdays.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Saturdays
9 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Every 20 minutes
Every 15 minutes
Sundays
9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Every 30 minutes
Every 20 minutes
SEPTA also rolled out new signage that identifies certain routes as “frequent red”, indicating a bus is scheduled to arrive within 15 minutes or less on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
47
Whitman Plaza to 5th-Godfrey
Route 47 will merge with route 47M and have increased service.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekdays
6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Every 8-9 minutes
Every 7-8 minutes
All days
Midnight. to 5 a.m.
Every 45 minutes
Every 30 minutes
SEPTA also rolled out new signage that identifies certain routes as “frequent red”, indicating a bus is scheduled to arrive within 15 minutes or less on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
47M
Whitman Plaza to 7th-Spring Garden via 9th
Route 47M has been discontinued and will now be served by a more frequent route 47.
The merger of these two routes includes a realignment so that the northbound 47 runs on Seventh Street, as opposed to Ninth Street. Southbound buses will still run on Eighth Street.
49
33rd-Dauphin to 40th-Baltimore
Route 49 will look very different from its old route. It will no longer serve Gray’s Ferry. SEPTA recommends riders take route 79 instead.
Route 49 will also operate on many different roads. The most notable change is taking 33rd Street instead of 29th Street. in Strawberry Mansion and Brewerytown.
These changes are paired with generally reduced service.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekdays
8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Every 18-22 minutes
Every 30 minutes
Saturdays
8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Every 22 minutes
Every 30 minutes
Sundays
9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Every 22 minutes
Every 30 minutes
52
49th-Woodland to Wissahickon Transportation Center/50th-Parkside
Route 52 will no longer follow its old route to Gladwyne. SEPTA cites low ridership and doesn’t offer an alternative route.
SEPTA also rolled out new signage that identifies certain routes as “frequent red”, indicating a bus is scheduled to arrive within 15 minutes or less on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
53
Carpenter Station to Richmond-Westmoreland
Buses on route 53 will no longer follow the old route that terminated at Sedgwick Street and Wayne Avenue. Instead, service will end at Carpenter Regional Rail station. There are additionally a bunch of small differences across the route. For example, route 53 will now serve Roosevelt Boulevard. on the western side of Hunting Park.
The 53 will also continue past G Street and extend into Port Richmond.
54
Richmond-Cambria to 33rd-Dauphin
Buses on route 54 will have reduced service during weekdays and increased service during evenings.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekdays
9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Every 15-18 minutes
Every 20 minutes
All days
9 p.m. to midnight
Every 45 minutes
Every 30 minutes
57
Whitman Plaza to Fern Rock Transportation Center
The old route 57 occasionally would terminate at Packer Marine Terminal, that service will be discontinued.
During weekends the route 57 will run at a reduced service.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekends
All day
Every 10-12 minutes
Every 15 minutes
Service along Crescentville and Cheltenham Avenues will be reduced to every hour.
SEPTA also rolled out new signage that identifies certain routes as “frequent red”, indicating a bus is scheduled to arrive within 15 minutes or less on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
60
Wissahickon Transportation Center/35th-Allegheny to Richmond-Westmoreland
Most of route 60 will continue to go down Allegheny Avenue, but it will not follow its old route where some buses stopped on Delaware Avenue and Lewis Street.
The 60 will occasionally take an extended route and continue to the Wissahickon Transportation Center. The schedule is roughly split 50:50 whether a bus will continue to this new terminus or stop early at 35th Street and Allegheny Avenue.
Route 60 will also see increased service.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekdays
6 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Every 10-15 minutes
Every 10 minutes
SEPTA also rolled out new signage that identifies certain routes as “frequent red”, indicating a bus is scheduled to arrive within 15 minutes or less on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
61
9th-Market to Ridge-Summit
Route 61 will be extended to Upper Roxborough. This is primarily to cover for the discontinued route 35.
62
9th-Market to Andorra
Route 62 will be discontinued. SEPTA recommends riders take routes 9, 27, or 61 as an alternative. According to SEPTA, route 62 was the fourth most expensive route to operate, costing an average of $45 per passenger.
64
50th-Parkside to Pier 70
Previously, route 64 would occasionally terminate at 49th Street and Woodland Avenue. Under the new network, all trips will terminate at Parkside Loop. The 64 will also no longer take the old route’s detour into Grays Ferry.
Route 64 will operate at a increased service.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
All days
6 a.m. to 9 a.m.
Every 12-18 minutes
Every 12 minutes
All days
9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Every 20 minutes
Every 15 minutes
SEPTA also rolled out new signage that identifies certain routes as “frequent red”, indicating a bus is scheduled to arrive within 15 minutes or less on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
72
Cedarbrook Plaza to Frankford Transportation Center
72 is a brand new route that mostly operates on Cheltenham Avenue and will run every 30 minutes.
73
Frankford Transportation Center to Richmond-Westmoreland
Route 73 will now run at a reduced service from every 20-25 minutes to every 30 minutes.
Additionally the route 73 will no longer be part of the OWL network, ending 24-hour service on the line. SEPTA recommends riders take route 25 for overnight buses.
76
Rising Sun-Olney to Columbus Commons
Route 76 is a brand new route that will mostly run along Delaware and Frankford Avenues every 30 minutes. This route replaces service removed from the newly aligned route 25.
78
Express from Cornwells Heights to Center City
Route 78 will be discontinued due to lower ridership. SEPTA does not recommend an alternative bus.
According to SEPTA figures, the 78 was the most expensive bus to operate in their network. It has an average of 2.4 passengers per hour, costing the agency $394 per rider.
79
Columbus Commons to 29th-Snyder/40th-Market
Route 79 will occasionally be extended into West Philadelphia. Roughly every other bus will continue to 40th and Market Streets, instead of the current terminus of 29th Street and Synder Avenue.
SEPTA also rolled out new signage that identifies certain routes as “frequent red”, indicating a bus is scheduled to arrive within 15 minutes or less on weekdays from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m.
80
Express from Horsham to Olney Transit Center
Route 80 will be discontinued. SEPTA stated that “ridership has declined significantly since 2019 and the same connection can be made with a transfer on local routes 22, 51, and 310.”
According to SEPTA data, route 80 was the third most expensive route to run, costing the agency $50 per passenger.
89
Front-Dauphin to Arrott Transit Center
Route 89 will be discontinued. SEPTA says route 89 is “duplicative of other routes,” and offers “routes 3, 5, 25, 39, 41, 43, 53, 56, 75, 76, and K as alternatives.”
105
Paoli/Rosemont to 69th Street Transit Center
Route 105 will extend to Paoli for roughly every other bus, essentially merging with the now discontinued route 106.
The old route that serviced Suburban Square will no longer operate. There are also minor alignment changes in Overbrook.
Route 105 will operate at a increased service.
Days
Times
Previous
Now
Weekdays
All day
Every 30-60 minutes
Every 30 minutes
Weekends
All day
Every 60 minutes
Every 30 minutes
These changes will take effect on Aug. 24.
106
Paoli to 69th Street Transit Center
Route 106 will be discontinued on Aug. 24.
Do you still have questions about the changes to SEPTA’s bus network? Read our Q&A guide for details on how to contact SEPTA, information about future alterations in 2027, and much more.
Methodology
The animating buses on the diagram are an approximation of the number of buses active at 9 a.m. on a weekday schedule.
Old routes are accurate to SEPTA’s bus network on Aug. 4.
For simplicity, if a route can have different terminuses, we show all possible paths the bus operates on.
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Staff Contributors
Design, Development, and Data: Sam Morris
Reporting: Sam Morris and Erica Palan
Editing: Cynthia Henry
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Police are searching for a person in a horror-movie mask who has harassed multiple Center City pedestrians in recent days.
Officials say the suspect — a young man who police believe may be filming the encounters for social media — approached a 40-year-old woman near City Hall last Wednesday and made threatening comments while holding his hand behind his back.
The incident unfolded around 5:30 a.m. on the 1500 block of JFK Boulevard while the woman was out for a jog, authorities said.
The frightening encounter caused her to stumble and injure herself as she fled to a nearby SEPTA station.
