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Monday, November 9, 2009
Strike Over, Noisy Buses Back
What say you, Willie? Take the pledge for quieter buses?

The transit strike is over. Yes, it will be very nice to see the buses and trains running. Children can get to school again. The elderly can reschedule medical appointments they had to miss. And workers too poor (or environmentally sensible) to own a car can stop getting up an hour or two earlier in the morning to map out  a strategy for getting to work. (I'm not sure I can continue to look my bus driver in the eye anymore and be the one to say good morning only to get the same no-response stare. But that's a personal matter I'll have to grapple with.)

It won't be so great, however, to have to hear buses again. It was a small side benefit to a painful week of no public transportation.

But it was lovely to have the city so quiet.

You didn't have to cup your ears on Chestnut Street. You didn't have to hold your breath on Broad. It was ridiculous that SEPTA took the position a few years ago that musicians busking in subways were making too much noise - while its buses were the source of deafening cacophony. I'm not using the word deafening lightly. I'd bet that SEPTA buses are operating at decibel levels high enough to cause permanent damage.

SEPTA has plans for what it says are quieter buses. We can't wait to hear whether the decibels will really fall.

So, now that we've been reminded just how loud and dirty SEPTA's ancient fleet is, can the agency do anything about it? Union boss Willie Brown (pictured), take note: he who takes on that issue might win a grateful public.

Posted by Peter Dobrin @ 6:43 AM  Permalink | 7 comments
Comments   
Posted 07:44 AM, 11/09/2009
Blinq
Also, I would prefer the buses be repainted in earth tones. Something nice and muted.
Posted 08:41 AM, 11/09/2009
cadguy
More quieter buses...more hybrid buses. I'm sure many of the bus drivers and transit workers didn't want to strike (they have kids in school, too). For every grumpy, robotic driver, I've seen plenty in my neighborhood go out of there way for some of their passengers (mostly the older ones). I didn't like the strike, especially the way it happened, but that's more up at the top of the union food chain.
Posted 01:49 PM, 11/09/2009
js5180
Rather than quieter buses, why not just use more trains in place of as many of them as possible? They pollute less than even hybrid buses. Is everyone aware that there is a bus from Olney (a regional rail stop) to Doylestown (also a regional rail stop)? How about Warminster? Willow Grove? All of these could be served by far fewer buses if bus service was used to augment train service instead of replace it. How about instead of the Night-Owls, running the El 24 hours a day with a fare box in the car like it did in the past? Anything but more buses, hybrid, quiet or otherwise.
Posted 01:49 PM, 11/09/2009
js5180
Rather than quieter buses, why not just use more trains in place of as many of them as possible? They pollute less than even hybrid buses. Is everyone aware that there is a bus from Olney (a regional rail stop) to Doylestown (also a regional rail stop)? How about Warminster? Willow Grove? All of these could be served by far fewer buses if bus service was used to augment train service instead of replace it. How about instead of the Night-Owls, running the El 24 hours a day with a fare box in the car like it did in the past? Anything but more buses, hybrid, quiet or otherwise.
Posted 09:47 PM, 11/09/2009
donnybrook
trains are loud. how about the broad street sub line? that is like being on the tarmac next to a jumbo jet. alas, this is the nature of the beast. although, london has trains with rubber wheels and they are much quieter. however, i doubt that septa has much left in the budget.
Posted 09:48 PM, 11/09/2009
donnybrook
plus, laying track gets tricky with cost and placement... we should have hovercrafts.
Posted 12:46 PM, 11/11/2009
dreinterests
meh, the broad st line isn't that loud at all when you're above ground. far quieter than buses, higher capacity. more hybrid buses, fewer bus routs, more trains are definitely the solution. It's worth noting that new subway lines can be built to be much quieter than the old ones such as the broad st line. Or you can put them down deeper (easier to do with TBM's).
7 comments
About Peter Dobrin

Peter Dobrin is a classical music critic and culture writer for The Inquirer. Since 1989, he has written music reviews, features, news and commentary for the paper, covering such topics as expansions for the Philadelphia Museum of Art and Curtis Institute of Music, the Philadelphia Orchestra's 64-day strike in 1996, the emergence of a new performing arts center in Philadelphia, changes in the classical-recording industry and the general health of arts and culture.

Dobrin was a French horn player. He earned an undergraduate degree in performance from the University of Miami, and received a master's degree in music criticism from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University, where he studied with Elliott Galkin. He has no time to practice today.

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