Septa

SEPTA has reached a tentative contract with the labor union representing Regional Rail conductors and assistant conductors. The agreement calls for raises totaling 11.5 percent over the five-year life of the contract, similar to the pattern established by a 2009 contract with SEPTA's largest union, Transport Workers Union Local 234, which represents bus and subway operators and mechanics. The tentative agreement with 390 conductors and assistant conductors must still be ratified by the members of United Transportation Union Local 61 and the SEPTA board.

THREE WEEKS AGO, awaiting trial on vehicular-homicide charges, Wade Lohse walked out of a separate trial on gun charges in Lafayette, La., setting off a courtroom drama. Two weeks after that, while still on the run, Lohse made a shaky conspiracy video in a wooded area, "Blair Witch" style, in which he railed against authorities and the justice system. Then, he posted it to YouTube. "They're lying to you," he says in the video, referring to the government. "They've been lying to you all along.

A standing-room-only crowd packed SEPTA's boardroom Wednesday to criticize plans for a new electronic fare-collection system and proposed fare hikes. Especially unpopular were planned transfer charges, senior-citizen identification requirements, turnstiles for Regional Rail stations, trip limits on weekly and monthly passes, cost increases for paratransit services, and the elimination of bus and subway pass use on weekday trains to the airport. The Nutter administration, which has two seats on the 15-member SEPTA board, said it "has a number of serious concerns with how the [new payment technology]

WILLIE POLLINS called it "crazy. " Judy Mackey called it "dangerous. " Dozens of their fellow riders packing SEPTA's public hearings Wednesday agreed that the transit agency's New Payment Technology fare-collection system, debuting in 2014, could leave a lot of people feeling dumbfounded about smart cards. Pollins imagined a rush-hour smart card-mageddon as thousands of desperate regional-rail riders tried to get through the proposed card-reading turnstiles in time to catch their trains.

WOMEN, AREN'T you tired of having men holler at you out of car windows as you walk down the street? Or maybe you find yourself frightened by male passengers on SEPTA who compliment you on your appearance and then proceed to follow you off of your bus when you get off. My own personal pet peeve is when passers-by notice that you're deep in thought and then walk up to you and say, "smile. " Most of us fume over this type of unwanted attention. But a group called HollabackPhilly has taken to calling it what it is - street harasssment.

Concerned riders quizzed SEPTA officials Monday about proposed fare hikes and a new fare-payment system in the first of a series of hearings around the region. The hikes, if approved by the SEPTA board, would be the first in three years and would boost cash fares to $2.25 on July 1 and $2.50 a year later. The new $200 million electronic "smart card" payment system will replace tokens, passes, transfers, and tickets on subways, buses, trolleys, and trains. "You're going to find out you have a lot of people angry at you," said Douglas Diehl of Drexel Hill.

I was 13 years old when my family moved from Wilmington to the Main Line - 13 when I began riding the Main Line rails. That first overheated summer I boarded at Bryn Mawr to make my way (eventually) to the Wissahickon Skating Club, dressed (preposterously) in turtlenecks, nubby tights, skating skirts, and sweatpants - enough polyester to keep my pigtails damp as I later practiced axels and scratch spins at the rink. After that I rode the rails for the sake of city adventures, or rode them as a University of Pennsylvania student, or rode them home for holidays from a succession of city apartments.

There are lots of surprises tucked in the fine print of SEPTA's plans for fare increases and a new smart-card fare system. Like, if you don't register your "smart" credit card with SEPTA, you will be charged the full $2.50 cash fare for each bus or subway ride, plus an "unregistered account fee" of up to 50 cents. Users of SEPTA's own smart cards will pay $1.80. Or this: You will no longer get an unlimited number of trips on a weekly or monthly pass. And senior citizens from any state in the country will be able to ride free, with photo ID. Public hearings start Monday on fare increases scheduled to take effect July 1 and on a complex new electronic fare-payment system that is to begin its rollout in the fall.

A veteran Philadelphia police officer has been named to a top job in the SEPTA police force. E. Teresa Peay-Clark, 49, of Northeast Philadelphia, will assume the newly created position of inspector of special operations. She will be one of two inspectors, who serve as the top deputies to recently hired Police Chief Thomas Nestel III. Peay-Clark, who will be paid $102,336 a year, will be in charge of investigations, SWAT teams, canine operations, and training. - Paul Nussbaum