Broad Street Line

Broad Street Line passengers can ride for free from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. today under a partnership between SEPTA and Pepsi MAX to mark the NHL Winter Classic Game at Citizens Bank Park. Between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., passengers can enter for free at the AT&T station at the Sports Complex in South Philadelphia. The program had originally been scheduled to run only from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. today but after the start of hockey came was delayed by two hours until 3 p.m., officials decided to extend the program at AT&T station only.

Fire erupted in a North Philadelphia SEPTA station Tuesday afternoon, shutting down part of the Broad Street line for hours and stranding thousands of commuters during a peak travel time. The fire began shortly before 2 p.m. in a shed used to store construction debris on a subway platform at the Girard Avenue station, Fire Commissioner Lloyd Ayers said. Investigators were still trying to determine how the fire began, but early reports suggested that someone had set a backpack aflame and tossed it into the shed.

A subway rider was stabbed in the stomach by a fellow passenger on the northbound Broad Street line yesterday morning, police said. While the train was in motion, passengers notified the operator that a fight had broken out between two men, according to a SEPTA spokeswoman. The operator called the fight in, but by the time the train pulled into the Ellsworth-Federal station about 10:50 a.m., the assailant had already stabbed the 21-year-old victim once in the stomach with an undetermined weapon, police said.

There stood the Statue of Liberty, towering over a huddled, shivering mass of stranded SEPTA riders in North Philly as he shook his mighty head in sympathy. OK, so it wasn't the actual Statue of Liberty. It was Andrew Davis - a tall Liberty Tax Service employee clad in a pretty convincing costume - who was commiserating with scores of SEPTA riders who were left in the cold for several hours yesterday when a fire on the Girard Avenue subway platform brought the Broad Street Line to a screeching halt.

Day and night, SEPTA operators witness the soul of the city. There are the regulars, Mr. and Miss So-and-so. There are hotel workers, casino workers, and fast-food workers, uniforms rumpled, coming home from the suburbs. There are suited professionals headed to Center City. There are honor students and delinquents. There are girlfriends cradling their babies on prison visits. There are tourists and shoppers. There are drunk partygoers coming out of Old City. There are twitchy addicts headed to Kensington and Allegheny; on the return, their fare is up their arms.

With Phillies, Eagles, Flyers and Temple football at the sports complex this weekend, SEPTA has added Sports Express trains on the Broad Street Line before all events and on the Market-Frankford Line before Phillies and Eagles games as needed. SEPTA will also keep trains running on the Broad Street Line as late as necessary after Phillies games. Here is the rundown of SEPTA's plans: Today Temple football, 1 p.m.: Two Sports Express trains, 12:08 p.m. and 12:18 p.m. Flyers, 6 p.m.: Sports Express departs at 5:08 p.m. Phillies, 7:57 p.m.: Eight Sports Express trains will supplement regular service.

It was the last day of SEPTA's peace offering, and free subway rides looked like a ticket to adventure for three boys out of school for the summer: Jeremy Clark, 11, his brother Laron, 6, and best friend, Ronald McClendon, 11. They boarded the Broad Street Line at Wyoming Station near their homes, got off to play basketball for a bit at 16th and Susquehanna, then spent the rest of the day riding the line, just for fun.

Police have arrested a 20-year-old man on charges of stabbing another man after a fight on a SEPTA train this week. James Hayes, of the 7000 block of Andrews Avenue in West Oak Lane, was going south on the Broad Street Line shortly after 10:30 a.m. Tuesday when he got into an argument with another passenger, authorities said. The dispute escalated, police said, and Hayes stabbed the other man in the stomach. - Allison Steele  

SEPTA is gearing up for a busy day today at the Sports Complex, and for what could be one tomorrow. Seven Sports Express trains will be added to the regular Broad Street Line service. The Express trains will run every 10 minutes, beginning 2 hours before the 7:57 start of the Phillies game. There will also be extra service beginning 1 hour before the start of the Flyers' 7 o'clock game with Toronto. If there is a Game 7 between the Phillies and Giants tomorrow night at 7:57, eight Sports Expresses will run every 10 minutes, beginning at 6:08.

SEPTA AND ITS striking police union returned to the bargaining table Thursday night, but after five hours of negotiations the transit agency ended the session without reaching a settlement. The 219 unionized transit police want a 50-cent hourly raise for their mandatory recertification training, which would cost SEPTA $200,000 annually. SEPTA is offering 15 cents. As the strike began its second full day Thursday afternoon, SEPTA's unionized transit police, who had rallied heartily at City Hall Station on Wednesday night, were invisible there.

AS THEIR STRIKE began its second full day Thursday afternoon, SEPTA's 219 unionized transit police, who had rallied heartily at City Hall Station the previous night, were invisible there. No pickets. No presence. But behind the scenes, intermediaries for SEPTA and the striking Fraternal Order of Transit Police worked to get both sides back to the bargaining table. By Thursday night, they had succeeded. All day long, a hastily assembled force of armed, uniformed SEPTA transit police supervisors, city cops and unarmed private security guards kept the peace on the bustling City Hall concourse and station platforms.

SEPTA'S 219 unionized transit cops went on strike at 2 p.m. Wednesday, just 20 minutes after their final offer was rejected at a bargaining session. SEPTA declined to discuss numbers, but Richard Neal Jr., president of the Fraternal Order of Transit Police, said his union was striking over a "measly" 50-cent hourly raise for mandatory recertification training required of all police officers. That raise would cost SEPTA $200,000 a year, Neal said. SEPTA's final offer of 15 cents an hour was "an insult," he said.

Day and night, SEPTA operators witness the soul of the city. There are the regulars, Mr. and Miss So-and-so. There are hotel workers, casino workers, and fast-food workers, uniforms rumpled, coming home from the suburbs. There are suited professionals headed to Center City. There are honor students and delinquents. There are girlfriends cradling their babies on prison visits. There are tourists and shoppers. There are drunk partygoers coming out of Old City. There are twitchy addicts headed to Kensington and Allegheny; on the return, their fare is up their arms.

The $50 million makeover of Dilworth Plaza will create an inviting gateway to subway stations that will remain considerably less inviting. Unable to pay for a planned $100 million renovation of City Hall subway stations, SEPTA will usher riders from the brighter, airier plaza and concourse to platform areas that will be as they are today: decrepit, dingy, and dim. SEPTA has been trying for years to get money to modernize the nearly century-old...

Broad Street Line passengers can ride for free from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. today under a partnership between SEPTA and Pepsi MAX to mark the NHL Winter Classic Game at Citizens Bank Park. Between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., passengers can enter for free at the AT&T station at the Sports Complex in South Philadelphia. The program had originally been scheduled to run only from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. today but after the start of hockey came was delayed by two hours until 3 p.m., officials decided to extend the program at AT&T station only.

The sports complex will be crawling with fans this week, so SEPTA is stepping up service on the Broad Street and Market-Frankford Lines. The traffic shouldn't be out of control, though, because each night has only one sports event. No concerts are scheduled at the Wells Fargo Center until an American Idol tour rolls in next week. Cars heading to the Shore, though, could compete with Phillies fans before Friday night's game. Here's the rundown: Soccer tonight. At 9 p.m., the United States' men's soccer team takes on Mexico at Lincoln Financial Field.

THE PROBLEM: Some days Sgt. Paul Sprigg takes his motorcycle to work. He cruises down the Roosevelt Boulevard Extension on his way home, skirting traffic and tasting the breeze. But for the last two months, when he approached the part of the highway that runs underneath the Broad Street Line overpass, he'd brace himself. There they were, two constant torrents of water, apparently coming from the subway platform, splashing cars and creating traffic jams as commuters tried to navigate the downpour.

A WOMAN dressed in black and wearing North Face boarded a train at the Cecil B. Moore/Temple University stop on SEPTA's Orange Line and plopped down next to a stranger. Her seatmate was stunned. Although he had admired her from afar, he had never spoken to her, and there she was, sitting next to him on the subway. Later, he kept thinking about her, so he did what people do these days - he logged on to Craigslist, the Internet classified site, and clicked on Missed Connections. He wrote: "I see you around often, especially in the library, and I crapped my pants when you sat down because I have a serious stranger crush on you. Saying hello obviously would have violated the terms of the stranger crush, so I pussed out and looked at my feet.