SEPTA suspends bus, Regional Rail service
SEPTA will suspend service as of 2 p.m. Sunday on Regional Rail, bus and paratransit services. Scott Sauer, SEPTA general manager, said the Market-Frankford and Broad Street lines will continue to run.
“By taking a proactive approach, we will greatly reduce the chances a vehicle becomes disabled and strands customers,” he said. “We are going to need time. We will get to every parking lot, every station, but it will take time to do so.”
SEPTA has 6,000 tons of salt to get the system ready for when service can resume. Sauer expects “significant challenges through the week” and predicts significant trip cancellations and other issues as the week progresses.
Dominic Mireles, director of the city’s Office of Emergency Management, said more than two dozen city agencies are staffing the Emergency Operations Center in the Fire Administration Building.
Officials said there have been numerous car accidents and spinouts on major highways, and that the bad conditions will continue for the next several days.
Police Commissioner Kevin Bethel said officers have towed more than 150 cars from snow emergency routes, and asked people to stay off critical arteries. The city’s 911 lines have seen a lower volume of calls, which the commissioner said is indicative that people are heeding the city’s call to stay inside.
There have already been people “saving” parking spots, and Bethel said they will ticket people who do that. The saving of spots has caused confrontations in the past, and he clarified that the practice is illegal and that violators will be fined.
The fire department has increased the number of medic units on the street to make sure they have enough equipment and personnel. Officials reminded people with space heaters not to use extension cords, and that if you use a generator, to make sure it’s outside and not in a garage.
The city is working to get unhoused Philadelphians off the streets and has opened warming centers to give those without a home a place to get warm. Deputy Managing Director Crystal Yates-Gale said the warming centers will be in libraries during the day and recreation centers during the night. The facilities will be open through the week, with cots and food for people to survive the extreme weather. The city has capacity in the shelter system with 285 additional slots available as of Sunday.