SEPTA is axing seven bus routes, introducing two new ones and making a plethora of other changes this weekend as part of the first phase of its bus network redesign.
Routes 35, 47M, 62, 78, 80, 89 and 106 will be eliminated when the alterations go into effect beginning Sunday, Aug. 23, according to the authority.
One of the new buses, the 72, will connect Frankford Transit Center and Cedarbrook Plaza, primarily along Cheltenham Avenue. The other, Route 76, will run between South Philadelphia’s Columbus Commons and the intersection of Rising Sun and Olney avenues. Both are scheduled to operate every 30 minutes, SEPTA representatives said.
For the first time in more than a decade, SEPTA will serve the Navy Yard seven days a week, with the extension of the Route 45 bus. The route currently terminates at Broad Street and Oregon Avenue.
The bus will make nine stops within the Navy Yard complex. PIDC, which operates the mixed-use campus, says it will continue to operate shuttle buses to NRG Station and Center City. Route 17 currently serves the Navy Yard on weekends, though that section will be discontinued once the 45 is extended.
Meanwhile, every other Route 79 bus will run to University City, ending at 40th and Market streets instead of Snyder and Vare avenues.
Instead of culminating at G Street and Hunting Park Avenue, Route 53 will continue east to the Richmond and Westmoreland Loop. On the westbound side, the bus will now go to Carpenter Station on the Chestnut Hill West Line. Trips to Broad Street and Hunting Park Avenue are being discontinued.
Route 25 is being truncated and will now only run between Frankford Transit Center and the Spring Garden Station on the L, rather than continuing through Old City to South Philadelphia. Riders can access Pier 70 and Columbus Commons via the new 76 bus, according to SEPTA.
Authority officials said Route 52’s limited service to Gladwyne is being eliminated due to low ridership. Route 44 will also no longer go to Gladwyne, and trips to Narberth will only run during the weekday morning and evening rush hour.
SEPTA intends to cut Route 49 service in Grays Ferry, with the southernmost terminus now being at 40th Street and Woodland Avenue. The bus is also being realigned to run on 33rd Street instead of 29th Street in North Philadelphia.
Route 57 will no longer serve the Packer Marine Terminal, and the 50 will not go to Delaware Avenue and Lewis Street. The latter is being extended westward from 35th Street and Allegheny Avenue to Wissahickon Transit Center.
Authority officials said Route 61 is being extended to Ridge and Summit avenues in an attempt to serve riders who would have used the 35 bus.
Two routes, 105 and 106, are essentially being combined into a 105 bus that will run every 30 minutes from 69th Street Transit Center to Rosemont, according to SEPTA. Every hour, a trip will leave from or head to Paoli. The route will shift from Malvern and Lancaster avenues to Haverford and City avenues in Overbrook.
There are several other more minor realignments and frequencies are being altered on some routes. Updated schedules, along with maps and a specialized trip planning tool, are available at septa.org.
Most of the changes are going into effect Sunday, Aug. 23; the new Route 105 configuration will begin the following day, SEPTA stated.
In May, the authority’s board approved an annual service plan that incorporated the first three phases of the New Bus Network. Additional rounds of alterations are slated to be implemented in February and June, with a fourth, and possibly final, phase being planned for fall 2027.
Once completed, SEPTA’s new bus system will have 18 fewer routes and 30% more buses designated as frequent lines, meaning they come at least every 15 minutes, authority representatives have said.
SEPTA began redesigning its bus network, as part of a project previously referred to as “Bus Revolution,” in 2021 in an attempt to reverse declining ridership.
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