Federal Transit Administration

SEPTA will get $15 million for new hybrid buses, the Federal Transit Administration said Monday. The money will be added to existing state and local funds to provide $78 million for 55 articulated 60-foot diesel-electric hybrid buses, SEPTA spokesman Andrew Busch said. The new buses, to be delivered next year, will bring to 527 the number of hybrid buses in SEPTA's 1,400-bus fleet.      - Paul Nussbaum  

Federal officials have determined that SEPTA repeatedly violated regulations governing the disclosure of payments to its Washington lobbyists during the last five years. The agency could face fines of up to $100,000 for each instance. Under federal rules, both SEPTA and the lobbyists have reporting requirements. The lobbyists file with the White House and the U.S. House or Senate, depending on whom they plan to lobby. An Inquirer review showed that the lobbying firms reported that SEPTA had paid them more than $1 million since 2008.

Again there is talk of expanding rapid transit into Northeast Philadelphia. Whether it is a proposal to extend the Market-Frankford El or the Broad Street subway, or a plan to add a commuter rail line, rapid-transit ideas for the Northeast have been tossed about in years past. Then dumped as too costly. The current talk is part of a $187,500 study to gauge public support for such an expansion. On the table are 10 suggestions of how it might be done. City Planning Commission officials have scheduled two workshops this week so residents can voice their opinions.

A decade ago, public opposition killed a plan to bring mass transit to Gloucester County. Now officials at the Delaware River Port Authority are pushing the idea again. This time, they want to make sure they get as many people as they can on board. In public hearings this week and next, the port authority will present three options for extending its PATCO High-Speed Line deep into fast-growing South Jersey. It now connects Philadelphia to Camden County. The bistate agency also will explain two alternative plans to improve PATCO connections to SEPTA in Philadelphia and open up that city's waterfront.

The proposed Schuylkill Valley MetroRail transit line inched a step forward yesterday without the City of Philadelphia's support, indicating a crack in the regional coalition that is planning the $1.4 billion commuter rail service from Philadelphia to Reading. Mayor Street cannot support MetroRail because it would not include service to major cultural institutions, such as the Philadelphia Museum of Art, and to the neighborhood around 52d and Market Streets, said Larry Wilson, deputy senior assistant mayor for transportation.

Boarding in Glassboro, passing through Camden City, stopping at Burlington City and Trenton, state and local transportation planners took dozens of politicos on a slow-moving 1940s diesel train ride yesterday. The transit people were seeking to show the possibilities of a passenger rail line that could enliven commerce, minimize air pollutants, and alleviate traffic, while connecting South Jersey to Trenton along the Delaware River. If they purchase 50 miles of Conrail freight lines, New Jersey Transit officials believe they can have a commuter rail line ready for operation in five years.

Extending the city's subway or elevated lines through Northeast Philadelphia would make life easier for some 35,000 people who ride public transit daily. But the proposed rail line would have a tough time attracting another 20,000 Center City workers who would rather stay behind the wheel, according to a new study done for the city. While a rail line could attract about 5,000 new mass-transit riders, it could cost between $540 million and $2.2 billion, the study found. Those numbers add up to trouble when it comes to convincing the federal government to pick up most of the tab, a consulting firm is telling the city.

Proposed rail projects on the Philadelphia waterfront and in South Jersey got a significant boost yesterday when federal transportation officials announced plans to rescind Bush administration restrictions on transit spending. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the Obama administration wanted greater flexibility to pay for transit projects that could provide an economic boost or benefit the environment. That could make it easier to get federal money for a proposed $1.5 billion light-rail line from Camden to Gloucester County and for a $500 million light-rail line along the Philadelphia waterfront.

Construction will start Monday on a new train station in Pennsauken to connect two of South Jersey's primary passenger rail lines: the Philadelphia-Atlantic City line and the River Line between Camden and Trenton. NJ Transit chief Richard Sarles announced the start of work at a rare South Jersey meeting of the NJ Transit board, which convened in Camden yesterday for the first time in eight years. The board usually meets in Newark, but ventures to a different location once a year.

Federal officials have determined that SEPTA repeatedly violated regulations governing the disclosure of payments to its Washington lobbyists during the last five years. The agency could face fines of up to $100,000 for each instance. Under federal rules, both SEPTA and the lobbyists have reporting requirements. The lobbyists file with the White House and the U.S. House or Senate, depending on whom they plan to lobby. An Inquirer review showed that the lobbying firms reported that SEPTA had paid them more than $1 million since 2008.

"WALKING ON Sunshine," the newest SEPTA Art in Transit piece on the platforms of the rehabbed Spring Garden station, is unexpectedly cheery and colorful. With its snappy, patent-leather shine, it gives the underground station "soul," as one appreciative rider put it. This creation of Philadelphia artist Margery Amdur is one of 21 art projects SEPTA has created systemwide since 1998, when Art in Transit began at the behest of then-new SEPTA general director Jack Leary. Leary came from Boston, which had an art program in its MTA; he wanted art for Philadelphia, too. Everybody up and down the SEPTA line embraced the idea, according to Elizabeth Mintz, who came on board at the same time as Leary and is the authority's director of communications and manager of the Art in Transit program.

SEPTA will get $15 million for new hybrid buses, the Federal Transit Administration said Monday. The money will be added to existing state and local funds to provide $78 million for 55 articulated 60-foot diesel-electric hybrid buses, SEPTA spokesman Andrew Busch said. The new buses, to be delivered next year, will bring to 527 the number of hybrid buses in SEPTA's 1,400-bus fleet. - Paul Nussbaum

TRENTON - Gov. Christie on Thursday canceled plans to build a new rail tunnel to link New Jersey with Manhattan, saying it faced billions of dollars in cost overruns. The project, which was started in June 2009 and projected at that time to cost $8.7 billion, would have been the nation's largest public-works project. Christie said his advisers had determined that the project would cost as much as $14 billion before it was completed in 2018 and that "we simply can't spend what we don't have.

The Christie administration supports a proposed light-rail line between Camden and Glassboro, though it may not honor a $500 million funding promise made by former Gov. Jon S. Corzine. The pledge from the Transportation Trust Fund was "Corzine's commitment, not ours," James Simpson, New Jersey transportation commissioner, said Tuesday. The Christie administration cannot say yet how much it may provide for the $1.6 billion, 18-mile rail line, he said. But Simpson made it clear that the Republican administration supports the project.

The Christie administration supports a proposed light-rail line between Camden and Glassboro, though it may not honor a $500 million funding promise made by former Gov. Jon S. Corzine. The pledge from the Transportation Trust Fund was "Corzine's commitment, not ours," James Simpson, New Jersey transportation commissioner, said Tuesday. The Christie administration cannot say yet how much it may provide for the $1.6 billion, 18-mile rail line, he said. But Simpson made it clear that the Republican administration supports the project.

The Christie administration supports a proposed light-rail line between Camden and Glassboro, though it may not honor a $500 million funding promise made by former Gov. Jon S. Corzine. The pledge from the Transportation Trust Fund was "Corzine's commitment, not ours," James Simpson, New Jersey transportation commissioner, said Tuesday. The Christie administration can't say yet how much it may provide for the $1.6 billion, 18-mile rail line, he said. But Simpson made it clear that the Republican administration supports the project.

Proposed rail projects on the Philadelphia waterfront and in South Jersey got a significant boost yesterday when federal transportation officials announced plans to rescind Bush administration restrictions on transit spending. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said the Obama administration wanted greater flexibility to pay for transit projects that could provide an economic boost or benefit the environment. That could make it easier to get federal money for a proposed $1.5 billion light-rail line from Camden to Gloucester County and for a $500 million light-rail line along the Philadelphia waterfront.

Construction will start Monday on a new train station in Pennsauken to connect two of South Jersey's primary passenger rail lines: the Philadelphia-Atlantic City line and the River Line between Camden and Trenton. NJ Transit chief Richard Sarles announced the start of work at a rare South Jersey meeting of the NJ Transit board, which convened in Camden yesterday for the first time in eight years. The board usually meets in Newark, but ventures to a different location once a year.