Philadelphia, PA: Yes, you read this correctly. After 3 years of being unclear and uncertain of the fate of the route 91, SEPTA has finally officially announced that route 91 has been discontinued.
Well, kinda.
You see as of the February, 2023 timetables, SEPTA finally released an updated PDF timetable for the route 91, which has the route listed as “discontinued” with no times marked in the timetable itself. This was the first time since 2020 that SEPTA actually has outright said the route was discontinued “until further notice” instead of redirecting passengers to the COVID relief page whenever anyone attempted to access the timetable.
However with the updated release of the Bus Revolution’s Spring 2023 updated draft, SEPTA finally announces that route 91 service is no longer provided by SEPTA.
“Route 91 was consolidated. SCI-Phoenix is served by transportation provided by the facility.” – SEPTA
What this means, is that finally SEPTA acknowledges the 91 as a discontinued route, and sees the service as no longer needed, since alternate service is provided.
Here’s a bit of history on the line. SEPTA Route 91 was created in May 1986 as a means to access Graterford Prison from Norristown. With the January 1987 change, service was enhanced to In 1996, service along route 91 was reduced to Saturdays only, as ridership did not meet the demand of service otherwise. With the 2014 spring changes, in preparation of construction for the new SCI-Phoenix facility, route 91 would be slightly rerouted in Trooper to serve both facilties. In summer 2018, Graterford Prison was merged into the newly built SCI Phoenix, which would also mean SEPTA route 91 would serve the new facility (which was already on the same grounds). Finally when the COVID outbreak hit in 2020, SEPTA would run the last buses on route 91, before discontinuing the route in April 2020.
This was the first route to be discontinued since the 205 in 2019.
