SEPTA’s Board today approved the authority’s 2019 Annual Service Plan, which includes a number of initiatives aimed at furthering ongoing efforts to enhance the bus network. This includes the new Route 49 Bus and improvements to a number of existing routes.

The Route 49 will operate from Strawberry Mansion, through Brewerytown and Fairmount to Grays Ferry, providing a direct connection to University City. Input from community outreach events and planning meetings was a key element in the design process of the route, which included several revisions.

The seven-mile north-south route will provide an important connection between the neighborhoods and growing numbers of jobs and health resources in University City – the second largest employment hub in Philadelphia. It will also create a direct transit option between 30th Street Station and the world-renowned cultural attractions located along the Ben Franklin Parkway.

With the launch of last year’s Boulevard Direct in Northeast Philadelphia, the new Route 49 is the second major enhancement to SEPTA’S bus network in less than a year. The Route 49 will be implemented on a one-year experimental basis, with service expected to start in early 2019. Projected ridership for the new route is approximately 3,000 on weekdays.

Other service proposals approved by the Board include:

• ROUTE 80: Includes minor route realignments at each end of the route.
• ROUTE 88: Extends all trips ending at Holme and Pennypack Avenues to the Gregg Street Loop providing a safer off-street layover location.
• ROUTE 96: A new terminus has been built by SEPTA on Railroad Avenue in Lansdale. This routing change addresses access in and out of that location.
• ROUTE 129: An alternate routing to address overcrowding for passengers going to the Keystone Industrial Park in the morning peak.
• ROUTES 204, 205 and 206: Uptown Worthington, in Malvern, will be served on all trips by Route 204, as part of the base route. Route 205 will be discontinued in its entirety, with portions of the current route between Paoli Hospital and Swedesford Road added to a reconfigured Route 206 to address changing ridership demand and to improve operating efficiency.
• Routes 17, 23, 37, 55, 114, 117 and 120: Several changes under Experimental Order authority were made permanent.

For more information about the 2019 Annual Service Plan visit www.SEPTA.org.