Tis A Season

Here it is, Christmas again.
So Season's Greetings.
Here is, would you believe it, a SEPTA subway, decked out- you can ride on it up and down Broad Street but everyone uses the other cars.....

 

 

 

And here are a bunch of guys in South Philadelphia, who, all on their own, head out to the Italian Market on the last Sunday before Christmas singing carols until inebriation begins to mangle too many verses- they are about mid way through the journey at this point -

 

 

 



Just a few vignettes for the season.
What's this yellow stuff anyway?

BIG CITY TRANSIT

Recently I had the pleasure of  a "behind the scenes" tour by SEPTA (that's South Eastern Pennsylvania Transit Authority, they run busses, subways, els, trolleys and trains in these parts). Hauling hundreds of thousands of people all over the place is an enormously complex task. SEPTA is the sixth largest transit organization in the country and one of the best. Last year they won a bus rodeo for crying out loud.
So here is where they keep an eye on stuff going on....this is just one subway line-

 

 

 

They also have folks watching cameras all over the place to help catch ne'er do wells throughout the five county area. Not to mention glimpsing at the weird folk that on occasion traverse some of our public transit.

Like to tinker with stuff in the garage? Check out where they take care of subway cars-

 

 

 

 



And you can walk underneath these cars in a long trench. Very cool.

 

Here is what connects the subway to the third rail. Get between this and the third rail and there is nothing left but....

 

 

 shoelace nibs and a belt buckle, along with passengers angry at "jumpers".

Safe travels!!